Jordan Times
Monday, March 20, 2006
King calls for
suggestions on poverty alleviation measures
AMMAN (Petra) — His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday urged community leaders in
Palestinian refugee camps to suggest projects that would help ease poverty and
unemployment in their areas.
"I have met with your fellow citizens and I asked them, as I have asked you, to
contribute to the decision-making process through participating in drawing up
strategies and programmes that would help reduce poverty and unemployment, which
have become two urgent problems facing the Jordanian society," the Monarch told
the notables at a meeting in the Royal Court yesterday.
"What we want you to do is to suggest mechanisms and programmes and communicate
them to the Royal Court and the government," as solutions to the problems the
camps face.
The Monarch called for increased efforts to address other grievances, including
problems related to healthcare and education.
He highlighted the need to focus on the young generation and provide youth with
suitable education opportunities, with focus on quality education that meets the
market demands and future requirements.
The community leaders outlined their demands, pointing out problems they face
with regard to basic services.
Prior to the meeting with the King, the camp leaders met with Prime Minister
Marouf Bakhit, who pledged that the government would do its utmost to address
these grievances.
The leaders took turns to speak about the conditions of their camps.
They also thanked the King for initiatives that helped relieve the harsh living
conditions of camp residents.
The leaders highlighted a project to build concrete residential units to replace
tin shacks for poor families in the camps, and the inclusion of the country's 13
refugee camps in the Ministry of Planning's Social Safety Net, a programme to
improve the quality of life in underdeveloped areas through infrastructure and
other projects.
The King has also directed authorities to allocate 300 seats at public
universities for high school graduates in the camps. So far, 1,500 students have
been covered by the initiative.
In addition, King Abdullah has donated a plot of land to build a charity clinic
in Wihdat, which has so far served 60,000 residents in the camp and offered its
free services to residents in villages south of Amman.
The Palestinian refugee camps have also received food parcels under the
"Hashemite Charity Caravans" programme, which covered all underdeveloped areas
in the Kingdom.