Queen Rania inaugurates new Zaha Cultural Centre branch in Mafraq

AMMAN — Her Majesty Queen Rania inaugurated a new branch of the Zaha Cultural Centre during a visit to Mafraq Governorate on Monday, where she met with a number of recipients of a Royal Hashemite Court grant.

Her Majesty toured the new cultural centre in the presence of Deputy Head of the Greater Mafraq Municipality Sami Basbous and Director of the Zaha Cultural Centre Rania Sbeih. Queen Rania stopped by some of centre’s facilities, including the Karameesh Room, which offers intellectual and social skills development courses for children aged three to five. Her Majesty also spoke with a number of the centre’s employees, as well as mothers of child beneficiaries.

The centre currently offers training sessions aimed at meeting the needs of the local community and its children between the ages of six and 16. The sessions vary from handicrafts workshops to academic programmes in architectural drawing and English language and include behavioural modification courses as well, according to a statement sent by Her Majesty’s office.

During her visit, Queen Rania met with a group of women from Mafraq and learned about their business and small project ideas.

The centre was established upon the directives of His Majesty King Abdullah when he visited Mafraq in 2016, and funded by the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation in partnership with the municipality of Mafraq and the Zaha Cultural Institute.

Welcomed at the Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein Stadium by the Governor of Mafraq Yasser Odwan, founder of the Community Centres Association (CCA) Sari Nasser, CCA President Firyal Saleh and head of the Mafraq Youth Directorate Mohamad Khawaldeh, Her Majesty listened to beneficiaries talk about the small businesses they had established through Royal grants and with support from local civil society organisations.

Queen Rania commended the role of the organisations in empowering local communities, stressing that they are best positioned to understand and respond to their community’s needs. She also reassured the beneficiaries of the support they will continue to receive in the future.

To date and through the grant scheme, 13 civil society organisations have provided 144 families in Mafraq with loans to help them establish their own income-generating projects with practical guidance from the CCA. Beneficiaries were chosen based on criteria, which ensured that grants are allocated to those most in need, according to the statement.

During her visit, Queen Rania also stopped by the home of grant recipient Manal Abu Qdeiri, who used the funds she received to start a home-based business selling clothing and food, generating an income of JD500 a month.