VZCZCXYZ0024
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAM #2517/01 3221520
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 181520Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6302
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 4188
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 3124
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD 6317
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 2236
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 1934
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 5705

UNCLAS AMMAN 002517 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR IIP/NEA-SCA HIGGINS; NEA/PPD AGNEW; NEA/ELA GREGONIS (ADDRESS) 
STATE PASS UDAID 
 
E.O. 12958 N/A 
TAGS: EAID PREL PHUM ECON SOCI JO
SUBJECT: JORDAN:  USAID Global Engagement Follow-up 
 
Ref: A) Amman 2516 B) Amman 2515 C)  Amman 2487  D) Amman 1676 
 
¶1. This cable is the fourth of four cables following up on the 
October visit to Amman of NSC Senior Director for Global Engagement 
Pradeep Ramamurthy.  It outlines aspects of Embassy Amman's efforts 
to advance goals emphasized in the President's June 4 speech in 
Cairo. 
 
¶2. USAID/Jordan is actively engaging with Jordanians to advance the 
President's vision that "education and innovation will be the 
currency of the 21st century."  This year alone, the Mission's 
education and economic growth programs reached more than 85,000 
Jordanian youth with job and life skills training, internships, and 
job placement help.  With the launch of an innovative, 
cross-sectoral partnership with the International Youth Foundation, 
this number will grow each year with the expansion of services and 
training to Jordan's most marginalized young people.  This sharp 
focus on opportunities for youth is complemented by USAID's broader 
emphasis on women's rights, human rights, and economic opportunity, 
three other priority Global Engagement themes. 
 
ENGAGING YOUTH 
-------------- 
 
¶3. President Obama said in Cairo, "no development strategy can be 
sustained while young people are out of work."  In Jordan, a 
majority of the unemployed are ages 15-29, and over 70% of the 
population is under age 30.  Paired with increasing urbanization, 
resource scarcity, and gender issues, Jordan faces tremendous 
challenges as it enters the 21st century.  USAID/Jordan enjoys a 
strong and longstanding partnership with the Government of Jordan 
that is focused sharply on addressing these current and future 
development issues. 
 
¶4. USAID's strategy, linked closely to Jordan's action plan for 
national development, the National Agenda, centers on a balanced 
portfolio of human capacity building, policy, and infrastructure 
investments in education, health, water, environment, governance, 
economic growth, and energy.  Crosscutting youth and urban poverty 
alleviation initiatives unite these sectors to address Jordan's 
pressing urbanization and demographic challenges. 
 
¶5. USAID has had particular success in programs that provide 
education for employment opportunities.  These programs collectively 
served more than 85,000 Jordanian youth in 2008 through job fairs, 
internships, and job/life skills training.  In 2010, this number 
will increase with the addition of an International Youth Foundation 
(IYF) program that equips Jordan's most marginalized youth with the 
tools that they need to prepare for employment in competitive 
industries.  Engagement with youth includes: 
 
- support to the Ministry of Education in graduating students well 
prepared for the job market through school-to-career programs, a 
management information curriculum stream, teacher training, and 
giving the youngest students an excellent start through a modernized 
early childhood education system.  USAID also provides extensive 
support for building and renovating schools equipped with up-to-date 
facilities and technology; 
 
- INJAZ, a Jordanian effort to boost entrepreneurship skills among 
high school students that reaches 50,000 youth per year; 
 
- MAHARAT, a similar effort on the university level that links 
university graduates with the job market through training, mentoring 
by local business leaders, and internships; 
 
- a new youth program led by IYF that serves marginalized, 
out-of-school, and/or unemployed youth ages 15-24 with programs 
aiming to build job and life skills so that they may  lead healthier 
lives and engage more fully in economic and social life and in 
Jordan's development; and 
 
- a major public outreach push to connect youth with USAID-supported 
programs.  USAID support for International Youth Day in August 2009 
brought over 2,000 youth from across Jordan to Jerash for a day of 
awareness-building activities on USAID development initiatives. 
 
PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS AND WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶6. The Royal Court and Government of Jordan have publicly championed 
girls' education and women's employment and empowerment, and taken 
important steps to strengthen the criminal code to address "honor" 
crimes and to increase sentences for rape and harassment (ref Amman 
2307 and 1884).  Both in government and the NGO community, Jordan 
has increasingly strong voices for women's rights. 
 
¶7. Yet challenges persist; girls and women in Jordan enjoy equal 
opportunities for education, but are less likely than their male 
peers to enter the labor force and to engage actively in leading 
their communities, whether in politics or via informal networks. 
Jordan ranked 113 of 134 countries in the World Economic Forum's 
2009 Gender Gap report; the low rankings persist from previous years 
and are largely due to women's low rates of employment and political 
participation.  Cultural attitudes towards women in the workforce 
limit women's employment choices. Perpetrators of "honor" killings 
have historically avoided harsh sentences, claiming their acts were 
committed at the height of passion and thus merit judicial leniency. 
 USAID supports women's rights and participation through: 
 
- capacity-building support for civic organizations engaged in legal 
and social service provision and awareness-raising activities for 
victims of violence; 
 
- training a growing number of women judges. Over 50% of Judicial 
Institute graduates in 2009 were women, up from 43% just two years 
ago; 
 
- rule of law assistance that has improved the Criminal Code to 
prohibit judges from shortening sentences in "honor" cases and to 
increase penalties for rape and harassment; 
 
- support to civil society in improving legal protections for women 
under the Personal Status and Labor laws; 
 
- support for capacity-building training for women parliamentarians, 
local officials, and candidates; 
 
- an active focus on increasing women and girls' participation in 
training activities across the portfolio of USAID engagement, with a 
particular focus on workforce development.  Examples include 
promoting women's participation in the tourism and hospitality labor 
force via training and job placement programs; and 
 
- planned upgrades to local-level social services and assistance to 
girls, women, and families in poor urban areas via a cross-sectoral 
poverty alleviation initiative. 
 
TOWARDS GREATER ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶8. King Abdullah envisions his country moving swiftly into regional 
and global markets, as a center for 21st century information 
technology and service industries.  Jordan has indeed made 
tremendous progress in this sphere, signing a Free Trade Agreement 
with the U.S., joining the World Trade Organization, and increasing 
both foreign and domestic investment markedly over the past several 
years.  Current challenges include a skills mismatch between 
Jordan's labor force and its employers' needs, vulnerability to 
global and regional downturns due to heavy dependence on imported 
food and energy, extreme water scarcity, poorly controlled 
government expenditures, and a less than fully supportive 
macroeconomic climate for economic growth.  USAID assists via: 
 
- a wide range of workforce development initiatives that work form 
the policy to the people level to enhance capacity in Jordan's labor 
market.  These programs include innovative public-private 
partnerships at the local level that pair Jordanians with jobs in 
their communities; 
 
- tourism development programs that work with the Government of 
Jordan, the private sector, and the Royal Society for Conservation 
of Nature to enhance Jordan's competitiveness as an international 
destination and attract students to jobs in tourism, Jordan's most 
competitive industry.  These programs are particularly notable for 
their contributions in reducing gender barriers that have 
traditionally prevented Jordanian women and girls from looking to 
this sector for future employment; vocational training programs 
engage families to reduce the stereotypes and stigma often 
associated with these jobs; 
 
- planned local economic development initiatives linked to a broader 
urban poverty alleviation effort that will unite government, 
business, civic organizations, and city residents in improving their 
neighborhoods and livelihoods through microenterprise activities, 
training, investment promotion, and capacity-building; 
 
- support for improved revenue collection and government budgeting; 
 
- a water program that blends infrastructure investments in smarter 
water sourcing including wastewater treatment/reuse with policy-side 
interventions and public engagement to promote conservation and 
efficient use; and 
 
- a new energy program that balances policy with public-private 
partnerships to leverage Jordan's tremendous potential to tap 
renewable energy resources to meet its population's needs. 
 
ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 
------------------------ 
 
¶9. USAID is closely engaged with Jordan on multiple facets of Global 
Engagement, notably youth, women's participation, human rights, and 
economic opportunity. Cross-cutting energy, youth, and poverty 
alleviation programs hold tremendous promise as new elements of the 
U.S. assistance partnership with Jordan, and could benefit from 
additional resources via Global Engagement. 
 
BEECROFT