Project profile — Launching Economic Achievement Program for Women in Jordan

• Jordan (100.00%)

• Government And Civil Society, General: Ending violence against women and girls (15180) (5.00%)
• Social/welfare services:
Social/welfare services (16010) (15.00%)
Employment policy and administrative management (16020) (5.00%)
• Business And Other Services: Business support services and institutions (25010) (75.00%)

• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (not targeted)
• Gender equality (principal objective)
• Children's issues (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (significant objective)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)

This project aims to support women’s economic empowerment in Jordan, which shows some of the lowest rates of women's political and economic participation in the Middle East Region. The project fosters entrepreneurship among school girls and supports women-led business start-ups. It also seeks to address high unemployment rates by improving the enabling environment and promoting a culture of entrepreneurship for Jordanian women in impoverished areas. Project activities include: (1) developing a business incubator for women that includes training, mentoring, advisory services and networking; (2) developing entrepreneurial module training to be delivered throughout Jordan (women entrepreneurs are targeted in this training in both the formal and informal sectors); (3) delivering a Leaders and Entrepreneurs program which includes a national competition and after-school clubs for girls throughout Jordan (school boys are also engaged and sensitized through various initiatives); and (4) sensitizing and building the capacity of decision-makers and key women and men stakeholders (from government, private sector, academia and civil society) to integrate women’s employment and entrepreneurial needs.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased productivity and job opportunities generated by women; and (2) reduced gender-specific barriers to women's entrepreneurship and to women entering into and remaining in the workforce.

Results achieved as of the end of the project (February 2023) include: (1) a Jordanian University signed an agreement with the Launching of Economic Achievement Programme (LEAP) project partner and INJAZ to pilot a social entrepreneurship course and implement it as a fully accredited university- level course; (2) 43,555 students (of whom 77% women and 23% men) took part in the new and revised gender-sensitive entrepreneurial programs and entrepreneurship community-building initiatives at the school and university levels; (3) supported the establishment of the first women-focused incubator in Jordan that provide targeted business support services to women-led start-ups. The incubator created an innovative entrepreneurship eco-system that provides a full suite of women-centered services and expanded its business services portfolio to 13 types of targeted gender-sensitive services. Jordan’s Ministries of Education (MoE), Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship (MoDEE), and Labour (MoL) recognized the incubator; (4) created 120 job opportunities (85 for women and 35 for men) by the Women-Led teams, double the target of 63 job opportunities; (5) 3,061 individuals (50% women) attended incubator program events in which 108 mentors were identified and trained; (6) delivered 1,209 gender-sensitive entrepreneurship programs at schools and universities, and 444 stakeholders reported an increased capacity to address barriers related to women’s employment and entrepreneurship; (7) 46 private sector organizations joined a network of New norm business partners to act as agents of change and cultural transformers to help further promote gender inclusion and non-discrimination between women and men in the workplace; and (8) five of those organizations are implementing new gender-inclusive human resources policies and procedures, with others aiming to emulate this new model. The operationalization of the incubator resulted in a transformative change in the conditions of female entrepreneurs in Jordan who, prior to LEAP, lacked access to space and entrepreneurial services tailored to their specific needs. Both the incubator and INJAZ are now positioned as key players in the Jordanian entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem and recognized by Jordan’s Ministries of Education, Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, and Labour.

• Proactive disclosure