Jordan Times
Thursday, June 17, 1999
UNDP teams with government of Japan to boost earning potential of Jordanian women
AMMAN (J.T.) — Female students at two community colleges will soon benefit from a new educational programme that will improve their prospects of finding work and boost their earning potential in the increasingly competitive Jordanian job market, a UNDP statement said on Wednesday.
Minister of Planning Rima Khalaf and Jorgen Lissner, resident representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed the project agreement to develop a modern curriculum for community colleges last week, the statement said.
Funded by a cost-sharing arrangement between the government of Japan and UNDP, the four-year pilot programme will introduce new courses in non-traditional subjects, giving female graduates the choice to pursue careers that would supply the labour market's evolving needs.
Students will learn a combination of vocational skills that will help them secure immediate employment, universal skills that are applicable to a global economy as well as entrepreneurial skills to encourage self-employment.
According to UNDP, in spite of enjoying the second highest female literacy rate in the Arab World, Jordanian women rank only eighth in the region for their share of the labour market. Moreover, the agency adds, job cuts in the public sector and a labour supply that exceeds market demand have left Jordanian working women lagging in the employment race.
“They suffer from a high unemployment rate of 28 per cent — more than double the rate of 13 per cent for men, and nearly double the official rate of 15 per cent,” the statement said.
An independent study conducted in 1996 put the Kingdom's unemployment rate at nearly 27 per cent.
Last week the Department of Statistics said it was preparing to conduct a survey of the jobless in the country.
According to UNDP, although the majority of Jordanian women enrol in two-year community colleges, they are still unable to find jobs after graduation due to stiff competition from university graduates who have completed similar courses.
“The problem is compounded by an educational system that has not kept pace with the rapidly changing needs of the market — many well-educated women are discovering that their specialised skills are no longer needed in today's economy,” the agency said.
To overcome the mismatch in labour supply and demand, the Jordanian government sought UNDP's assistance in designing training programmes for community colleges that would enable women to compete in the labour market, and to pave the way for educational reform.
The programme will be developed in cooperation with Al Balqa' Applied University which oversees public community colleges in Jordan.
According to Lissner, community colleges were specifically targeted in the test to evaluate the effectiveness of the new curriculum.
“The highest rates of unemployment are reported among community college graduates, and such career-oriented technical colleges offer an ideal venue for short-term projects to upgrade the skills of female workers entering the labour market,” he explained.