New JRF project expands female protection system across Kingdom

AMMAN — The Jordan River Foundation (JRF) last week launched a new project on case management and empowerment services for women and girls, seeking to expand and strengthen the national and sub-national protection systems aimed at vulnerable groups in the governorates most affected by the Syrian refugee crisis. 

Funded by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the project will be implemented through the Queen Rania Centre for Empowering Communities based in Aqaba, where the organisers will offer activities such as parenting, self-empowerment, relational needs, expressive and life skills trainings, in addition to awareness raising sessions on protection issues

“These programmes will empower women and girls by providing them with the relevant skills, tools, attitudes, and knowledge to address their concerns, mitigate the impact and prevent the recurrence of protection threats — with  special focus on sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) in all its forms,” JRF Project Manager Yara Musleh told The Jordan Times by e-mail. 

A total of 5,023 women and girls across the governorates of Tafilah, Aqaba and Mafraq, as well as east Amman, will benefit from the new programme, according to Musleh. 

 “This project builds on the successful implementation of a previous OCHA-funded project in 2017,” Musleh noted, explaining that the organisation is now planning to expand its services to the south while upgrading its activities in east Amman and Mafraq in order to “better serve women, children and youth”. 

OCHA Fund Manager Amani Salah said that the launch of the project in Aqaba “further demonstrates OCHA’s solid partnership with JRF”, noting that the collaboration between both organisations began in 2017 with the creation of safe spaces for the provision of family and child protection services. 

“What started in 2017 is now evolving into better empowerment services for women and girls, specifically concerning SGBV,” Salah continued.

"Through the Jordan Humanitarian Fund, OCHA seeks to strengthen its partnerships with national institutions and community based organisations, enabling them to integrate into the humanitarian sector and to obtain the necessary funding to provide basic services within their projects and programmes," the official added.