Roundtable gives voice to Jordanian, Syrian youth

AMMAN — Youth RESOLVE, a group of leading aid agencies responding to the Syria crisis and funded by the European Union, has given Syrian and Jordanian youth a seat at the table with Jordanian government officials in a “one-off” roundtable event.

Held on Monday at the European Union Delegation, the youth-led roundtable brought to light key issues that were identified by the group, along with recommendations for change, a statement from the EU said.

Equipped with quantitative research, the Youth RESOLVE group, made up of 10 Syrian and Jordanian youths, presented their findings related to youth participation and economic opportunities to government officials, including the Secretary General of the Ministry of Youth Thabet Al Nabulsi.

Earlier in the year, some of the Youth RESOLVE group attended the Brussels III conference — a key EU-UN-chaired conference supporting the future of Syria and the region — to participate in the “Day of Dialogue”. During the conference, the group of youths aged 18-25, raised important questions to international leaders on the lack of access to decision making and accountability mechanism in the region and the economic challenges that create tensions between host communities and refugees and stifles social cohesion. 

The youth have since prepared policy papers to influence change in Jordan.

"The European Union stands by national efforts to improve young people's participation in all spheres of life, including their active engagement in the development of their local communities and response to the challenges," Corinne Andre, the head of cooperation at the European Union Delegation, was quoted in the statement as saying.

The event aligns with the launch of the Jordan National Youth Strategy 2019-2025 released on July 8. The Ministry of Youth-led strategy covers seven themes, including youth entrepreneurship and economic engagement, youth and effective citizenship and youth rule of law and good governance, which relate directly to the themes identified by the youth, the statement said

The roundtable is a chance for youth to build on the strategy and offer their insights on effective implementation, read the statement.

“A better future for the region is impossible without the youth; they need a space to express themselves and skills to become meaningfully involved in decision making. We believe their input will help us build a better future to help Jordan recover and thrive in the face of the Syrian crisis,” head of the Youth Resolve consortium, Alexis Adam de Matharel, said.

Mohammad Al Dridi, a Youth RESOLVE participant from Sahab said: “We are the change pillars along with being the source of the unstoppable power that is able to come up with innovative and leading ideas. For youth to create a positive effect and impact in their homelands, civic participation is considered as a first step in creating this change. And as a Jordanian youth who participated in #syriaconf2019 conference, this was considered as a turning point where the gap can be reduced between decision makers and youth.”

Dridi continued: “And here lies the importance of the roundtable where youth, themselves, are going to voice out their obstacles and problems and to start working on them with decision makers to come up with the best solutions that improve youth situation." 

The Youth RESOLVE consortium is a youth-focused multi-partner regional initiative that is implemented across Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq with the objective to reduce tensions between refugees and host communities, the statement said. 

The project identifies actions to build resilience, offers education opportunities and creates social cohesion and livelihood opportunities to limit marginalisation and hopelessness. In Jordan, the project is implemented by Generations for Peace, Questscope and World Vision and is financed by the European Union’s Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis, the “Madad” Fund, the statement concluded.