UNICEF, INJAZ sign agreement for joint Volunteer Incentives Programme

AMMAN — UNICEF and Injaz signed a joint “Volunteering Incentives Programme” agreement to provide vulnerable youth with access to volunteer opportunities, according to a statement from the UN agency.

The agreement signed by UNICEF’s Representative Robert Jenkins and Injaz CEO Deema Bibi aims at expanding employment prospects for vulnerable young people by facilitating their access to professional engagement opportunities, the statement said.

As part of the programme, an online match-making platform, will be developed to enable young people to create profiles, undergo an online volunteering, life and employability skills and career essentials trainings and look for opportunities that match their preferences. 

The programme is also designed to motivate the active youth on the platform by allowing them to accumulate points based on their volunteering work and redeem these points with rewards. These incentives include, but are not limited to, certificates of experience, internship, apprenticeships, trainings, and paid jobs, according to the statement.

“Young people constitute a major asset for Jordan and this project seeks to help them explore their potentials,” Jenkins was quoted in the statement as saying.

“UNICEF will continue working with the government and civil society to provide better opportunities to build youth capacities,” he added. 

The programme aims to reach at least 50,000 vulnerable adolescents and youth aged 10-24 years in 2018 with and one million youth by 2022. 

“INJAZ welcomes this strategic partnership with UNICEF, which aims at promoting and strengthening the culture of volunteerism among youth at a national level; this partnership will indeed have great impact on Jordanian youth, and the country at large,” Bibi said in the statement.

Bibi also asserted that “volunteerism has always been a key component in the successful implementation of INJAZ programmes since its inception, with over 30,000 volunteering opportunities in schools, universities, colleges and youth centres, through partnerships with the public and private sectors and civil society organisations”.

Bibi went on to explain that per the agreement, an online platform will be established to target youth in Jordan with the aim of matching them with available volunteering opportunities in the private sector and civil society organisations.

To achieve objectives of the project, UNICEF and Injaz will work with key stakeholders including the Government of Jordan, donor community, private sector, the civil society and youth to strengthen the institutional frameworks for youth volunteerism, volunteer management and youth volunteering incentives mechanisms, concluded the statement.