Planning Ministry says Iradah Centre has provided more than 32,000 jobs since launch

AMMAN — The Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation’s Centre for Productivity Enhancement, "Iradah", has contributed to launching more than 14,000 small and medium-sized enterprises since its establishment in 2002, Planning Minister Mary Kawar said on Thursday.

While delivering a speech during a ceremony to distribute Iradah’s 2018 awards for distinguished projects, Kawar added that the established businesses had provided more than 32,000 jobs nationwide, according to a ministry statement. 

The minister said that Iradah also offered plans to support services through technical, administrative, financial, marketing and quality control training, as well as 11,000 training activities that benefited more than 230,000 citizens.

She also said that Iradah had trained more than 9,300 graduates in the private sector, and some 20 per cent of them were hired by host institutions. Most of the new ventures were also owned by young people, according to the statement.

The ceremony honoured six exceptional advisors — two from Iradeh centres in each region of the Kingdom — as well 12 owners of distinguished projects.

The government seeks to reduce the effects of economic challenges on local communities and place more attention on the
socioeconomic development process by adopting and supporting policies to increase citizens’ productivity, the statement added. 

Kawar expressed her appreciation for all Iradah personnel and the Royal Scientific Society, in addition to project owners, stressing the ministry’s keenness to continue supporting such ventures to boost self-reliance and address poverty and unemployment.