Leadership training for women in public sector launched

AMMAN — The Ministry of Public Sector Development on Sunday launched the third cycle of its programme to build the capacities and leadership skills of women working in public agencies.

Speaking at the launch ceremony of the programme, where he was deputising for Minister Khleef Al Khawaldeh, the ministry's secretary general, Mowafaq Hajjaj, said the programme equips female employees with the tools they need to break through, adding that merit is the basis for competition.

The three pillars of the programme’s executive plan are studying and analysing the situation of women in the public sector; holding training sessions to build their leadership capacities; and reviewing the legislative frameworks governing women’s work in civil service to provide recommendations.

The initiative, which is held in partnership with USAID-Takamol and the Jordanian National Commission for Women, includes six training sessions that were completed last year and two that have concluded since the beginning of this year.

Hajjaj emphasised that the programme, which targets 32 women employees in this cycle from various agencies, is "flexible" as it takes the evaluation and recommendations of participants into consideration in order to improve the quality of provided training in each cycle.

The programme is five-weeks long and aims to equip participants with skills on leadership and strategic planning, human resources management, building creative work groups, public sector work ethics and project management.

Participant Maysoon Makahleh from the Health Ministry said she was taking part in the training programme in order to improve her planning and negotiation skills, as she often required such skills to deal with her colleagues, especially her male counterparts.

"Female workers often have better ways of addressing emerging issues and therefore must be allowed to fill senior positions," she told The Jordan Times.

Another participant, Ghadeer Iskandarani, from the Prime Ministry, agreed.

"I hope this programme will add to my existing knowledge and skills and that it would qualify me for a higher position," she said.