SIGI announces grant to fund women-owned economic projects

AMMAN — Aiming to prevent women from imprisonment for failure to meet their financial obligations, a local organisation started an economic project to fund small, women-owned projects. 

Solidarity Is Global Institute (SIGI) put forward a grant named after their late executive director Asma Khader, who passed away in December 2021.

The idea behind the funding is to help women refrain from obtaining a loan, since many ends up being unable to repay their debts and end up imprisoned, said SIGI Executive Director Inam Asha.

Asha was referring to what has been known as Gharimat, in which indebted Jordanian women were unable to pay back loans taken to support their families. The ordeal surfaced in Jordan in 2019.

Asha spoke during a SIGI event at the Geneva Hotel on Wednesday to recognise the work of 40 women from various governorates and Syrian female refugees. 

A special committee will award 20 of the 40 women with small grants to develop their economic projects, Asha told the gathering.

Also during the event, SIGI recognised the work of 20 Jordanian men and women who left an impact on people’s lives, society and their communities.

The recognised individuals included ministers, judges, activists, reporters and heads of civil society organisations.

The women’s organisation handed the awardees cultural pieces and crafts that were the work of male and female inmates at various correctional and rehabilitation facilities.

The event is part of a three-year project of SIGI’s Economic Empowerment Unit, and part of a project on the Protection and Economic Development of Syrian female Refugees and Jordanian Women (Sanabel 2).

The Sanabel 2 project is supported by the European Regional Development and Protection Programme (RDPP), which includes the governorates of Mafraq, Irbid, Zarqa and Amman.

The Sanabel 2 project aims to strengthen the economic empowerment and participation of women in Jordan, including female Syrian refugees, by raising their awareness about the legal guarantees related to protecting their labour and entrepreneurial rights.

Khader, the awards’ namesake, was a former minister, veteran lawyer and leading human rights activist, and passed away on Dec. 20, 2021, following a brief battle with cancer. She was 69. 

Khader served as the JNCW secretary general in the 2010s and most recently served as the executive director and adviser of SIGI. 

Khader also served on several boards and committees such as the Royal Jordanian Committee for Human Rights, the Royal Committee to Establish the Centre of Freedom and the Royal Drafting Committee for the Jordanian National Charter. 

Khader served as minister of culture and the government spokesperson in the mid-2000s.

Encyclopedia.com described Khader as a woman who will be remembered as a prominent human rights lawyer and advocate in Jordan, as well as for her legal and developmental work with women and children.