Ministry of Youth offers platform to enhance young women’s leadership skills

AMMAN — The “Qiyadiyah” programme, which aims at boosting the performance of young Jordanian females, was launched by the Ministry of Youth (MoY) on November 11 with the support of UNICEF Jordan.

Qiyadiyah seeks to encourage young females aged 14-24 from the Kingdom’s 12 governorates to make a positive impact on other young Jordanian girls using their leadership skills, MoY Spokesperson Amani Majali told The Jordan Times on Wednesday.

“This programme puts the focus on young Jordanian girls through promoting leadership concepts which will direct them to take part in community work, prepare strategies and achieve creativity,” the spokesperson said.

A committee will choose 12 girls, one from each governorate, to receive training through the programme’s camp and then represent their area, Tamam Riyati, a member of the programme’s executive committee, told The Jordan Times over the phone on Wednesday.

“The basis of our work and ideas are built on His Majesty King Abdullah’s vision, which calls for supporting youth as the change and hope of Jordan,” Riyati stressed.

“Qiyadiyah’s almost 7-day camp will provide the participants with opportunities to express themselves through effective projects that will help them in building plans and strategies, in addition to empowering them personally and professionally,” Riyati said.

Over a period of five months, the programme committee will review applications, then conduct interviews to determine which girls are “ready to influence others while taking into account their values and beliefs”, she added.

So far, more than 800 applications have been received on the ministry’s official website, according to the committee member.

Qiyadiyah is tailoured to meet the needs of young Jordanians who have vision, are passionate and take others’ perspectives into consideration, to be able to strengthen young girls’ awareness of their importance in society, Riyati said.

“We focused on females as our society prioritises men for positions that determine leadership characteristics. Because of this, women and girls may lose interest in developing these skills,” Riyati added.

This programme will be the ministry’s “first trial”, and if a satisfactory outcome is seen, it will become an annual undertaking, she said.