8th batch of IWF women leadership enhancement programme graduates

AMMAN — Planning and International Cooperation Minister Imad Fakhoury on Saturday took part in the 8th graduation ceremony of the International Women’s Forum-Jordan’s (IWF) Leadership Enhancement and Mentoring Programme (LEMP), according to a statement from the Planning Ministry. 

LEMP-8, an IWF chapter initiative supported by Global Affairs Canada,  took place in Amman between October 2016 and March 2017.

During the ceremony, Fakhoury stated that LEMP-8 contributed to building  public officials’ work abilities for 30 women and improved their leadership and administrative skills, enabling them to assume higher positions within their institutions. 

The planning minister praised the Canadian government’s support of the programme, and its continuous support to Jordan’s development priorities, resilience and vital sectors.

“Canada is committed to ensuring that women and girls are included and empowered in all aspects of our support to Jordan,” Canadian Ambassador to Jordan Peter MacDougall said.  

“When women and girls are provided with the resources to achieve their full potential, they can be powerful agents of change, development and peace,” the ambassador added.

Fakhoury said: ”We are pleased with the excellent partnership developed between the Government of Jordan, IWF Jordan and the Canadian side towards providing training and mentoring programmes and advancing opportunities for women in leadership, while also creating a profound, positive and sustainable change in the lives of women leaders today and tomorrow.”

Women’s economic and political empowerment, in addition to gender equality and mainstreaming, are high on the Jordanian government’s agenda, the minister said, adding that the government, with the support of its key international and local partners, is developing programmes and initiatives promoting these issues. 

Women’s leadership ought to be encouraged in the public sector on the basis of merit, professionalism and expertise, Fakhoury said, adding that LEMP-8 affects both the public sector’s reform efforts and women empowerment, both of which he said are critical pillars for the transformation agenda as stipulated in the Jordan 2025 Vision, the government action plan, and the Executive Development Programme 2016-2019.

“Yet, more efforts are needed to further enhance the status of women in our societies, and to allow for their active and full participation,” the planning minister said, listing a number of necessary measures.  

Among them are expanding access to quality education and training, promoting the development of women-owned businesses, increasing women’s financial literacy and asset development, and addressing comprehensive women’s healthcare.

Fakhoury noted that his ministry continues to lead by example with about 50 per cent of the ministry’s staff being women, and about 41.7 per cent of the ministry’s senior management are women.

He added that the ministry provides its staff with training opportunities to advance their leadership, managerial and technical skills with full equal access. 

IWF trained 30 mid-career women from three ministries — Municipal Affairs, Public Works and Housing, and Water and Irrigation — over the past six months, in partnership with Global Affairs Canada.  Workshops, whose participants included women from Amman and other governorates, were carried out at the Ministry of Public Works by successful Jordanian women.  

More than 160 women have been trained in the fields of IT, judiciary, nursing, education and others.

“We are particularly pleased to be supporting the train-the-trainers component, which we believe will help ensure the sustainability of this important programme,” Head of Cooperation at the Embassy of Canada Karen Mollica said.

“Throughout my career that spans over 25 years, nothing is more satisfying to me than seeing the success of LEMP graduates,” said Nabila Morcos, LEMP chair, adding, “when I train, I share my knowledge, but, most importantly, I increase my knowledge and I am always in awe of the resilience and power that the young Jordanian women express.”

“Even though I have 15 years of management and leadership experience, I felt that this IWF training programme introduced leadership in a much more scientific and precise way. I have never attended any other programme as tangible and beneficial in leadership skills as this one,” said LEMP trainee Lama Majali, from Ministry of Municipal Affairs.

“I gained a real knowledge in leadership skills that enabled me to communicate better with my co-workers and senior management. My main challenge is that I felt that my male coworkers sometimes felt threatened with my newly acquired knowledge. But we resolved the issue in a meeting where I used the communication techniques that were taught to us in this LEMP Programme,” said LEMP trainee Lulu Masalha, from Ministry of Water and Irrigation.