IRC-KHF Oasis project empowers women through training, social change initiatives

AMMAN — With a focus on women’s empowerment to foster sustainable careers, the Information and Research Centre-King Hussein Foundation (IRC-KHF) has helped young females and women to realise their untapped potential through providing them with access to social change training.

As part of the Oasis project, funded by UN Women, the IRC-KHF has directly targeted 100 women of which 10-15 were refugee women within host communities. 

The project aimed to achieve women’s empowerment by enabling women to contribute to more income generation, according to IRC-KHF.

The training was conducted at the Oasis centres situated in five host communities including Madaba, Al Salt, Irbid, Ramtha and Aqaba.

On a larger scale, the ultimate objective of the project was centered on introducing social change initiatives in every region.

“The overall objective of this project is to enhance civic engagement by establishing an active local community for young women in five oasis centers,” IRC-KHF head of communications, Dima Al Qutub, told The Jordan Times.

The project sought to provide the participants with tools to become more financially empowered, and to make a positive difference in their daily living and beyond, according to Qutub who highlighted that the IRC-KHF provided trainings on civil and economic rights, gender roles and gender justice, negotiation skills, fundamentals of communication and media, social media techniques and tools, entrepreneurship and advocacy.

Seven initiatives have been launched, with each governorate hosting one, except for Salt and Aqaba, where two initiatives have been launched in each. 

The initiative mainly addressed issues facing women in their local communities such as transportation challenges and access to female health services providers.

According to Qutub, the IRC-KHF trainings lasted for five months, starting in April up until end of October.

Based on the recommendations of the UN Women organisation, 20 women were selected from each Oasis centre out of the five targeted centres.