91Â鶹¹ú²ú¾«Æ·×ÔÅÄ

From 1 July to 30 November 2019, young Jordanians from Amman, Zarqa, Ajloun and Jerash gathered to take up a social innovation challenge on culture, citizenship and peacebuilding. The idea was to boost their creativity and engagement in order to solve a social issue affecting their community. The challenge allowed participants to create five local flagship initiatives, using a comprehensive approach that involved interactive trainings on active citizenship, problem solving, creative thinking, storytelling and project management.

The activity, organized by the youth-led NGO in the framework of the , co-funded by Canada, aimed to harness youth agency and advance their skills in leadership, design thinking, and project management in order to implement creative and sustainable cultural initiatives that contribute to peace and promote a sense of identity. It gathered 13 young participants from different socioeconomic, educational and cultural backgrounds, selected through an online call for applications and nominated for their passion and motivation towards solving societal problems.

The participants started to build their own social initiative during a five-day workshop that took place from 28 July to 1 August 2019 at V-Business Center in King Hussein Business Park, in Amman. After getting to know each other, they engaged in activities that tackled the topics of identity, culture, and dialogue. They were then divided into groups based on their geographic areas: East Amman, Zarqa, and Ajloun, and started to reflect on the main challenges that face their communities. After selecting the main issue that they wanted to tackle, participants started to develop their ideas by creating visions and missions for their proposed initiatives. They used the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time bound) approach to set their goals, completed SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis for their proposed actions. Putting into action what they were learning about project management, participants  developed action plans and budgets.   At the end of the workshop, each group was able to pitch its own initiative to the other groups.

The five teams had four months of mentorship to finalize their concept and to organize field visits. As a result, the following flagship initiatives were launched:

• Discover Ajloun (Ajloun): With the mission of documenting and highlighting the rich heritage of Ajloun, the initiative aims at creating and promoting that identifies over 116 cultural, tourist, and historical sites of the governorate.

• You Belong Here (East Amman): The initiative aims at widening the perspective of young people towards places around them by enabling them to see the historical and artistic side of the heritage of their country. The initiative collaborates with experts to conduct workshops and field visits to cultural and historical places.

• Circle (East Amman): The initiative contributes to the handicraft scene in Jordan in a sustainable way. Utilizing old and unwanted clothes to create accessories, sustainable bags, and more, Circle seeks to set an example for artisans in recycling, while providing an alternative academic opportunity.

• Faces from Zarqa (Zarqa): With the mission to document the artistic and cultural scene of Zarqa, this initiative is focused on publishing and promoting stories of artists and artisans from Zarqa via Facebook. The initiative, provides an alternative platform to give visibility to talented artists, who otherwise might not have a similar opportunity.

• Our Stairs – Our Heritage (Zarqa): This initiative focused on doing murals in the old city of Zarqa with elements that represent the city and its people, with the mission of reflecting the rich cultural diversity of the city and fostering social cohesion.

All initiatives focused on increasing a sense of belonging, fostering mutual understanding and acceptance by using cultural, historical, and artistic themes contributing to peacebuilding. This project provided an opportunity for these young, motivated active citizens to polish their skills, meaningfully engage in their communities, and understand that they have a key role to play in creating a brighter future.

***

The UNOCT-UNOCT project  co-funded by Canada, aims to activate the transformative power of education, science, culture and media to build the intellectual immunity of young people. One of the keys to achieving this is to mobilize them as actors of prevention, to develop social and cultural revitalization programmes within their communities.

 is a Jordanian youth-led organization and hub for social innovation, whose aim is to develop an extensive network by which ideas and suggestions are discussed, debated and used to enact change and reform. The organization tends to promote a culture of social innovation in which free speech, human rights, social equality and educational opportunity are widespread and accessible to all.