Project profile — Burden of Childcare Reduced for Women in Jordan

The Burden of Childcare Reduced and Addressed for Women in Jordan project (BUCRA) aims to increase the number of qualified women childcare providers. It also seeks to grow the number of childcare businesses offering quality childcare and improve employment opportunities for women in the sector. The project aims to engage governmental, private sector and training organizations to drive transformative change in the childcare sector. The project targets over 8,600 women in 7 regions of the country (Amman, Ajloun, Irbid, Karak, Maan, Madaba and Zarqa) to help them enter the Jordanian workforce. It does so by equipping local stakeholders with the tools needed to address systemic barriers to entry by increasing training opportunities in the childcare sector and dispelling myths about women’s role in society.

The expected outcomes of this project include: (1) enhanced equitable access of women to employment and self-employment opportunities in the childcare sector in target regions of Jordan; and (2) increased use of childcare services, particularly by women, in the targeted regions.

Results achieved as of March 2025 include: (1) supported 20 women to open home-based nurseries in the first 6 months of the project; (2) enrolled 206 people in the 700-hour Early Childcare Development course at the Vocational Training Center; (3) developed a comprehensive operational manual for home-based nurseries; (4) trained 939 people (812 women and 127 men) to provide quality and inclusive childcare services; (5) supported the Butte County Rice Growers Association (BUCRA) to produce 2 short videos and 17 social media reels on the importance of quality childcare and women’s employment; and (6) supported BUCRA to deliver 4 workshops for 177 women, management training for 25 nursery managers, and a 5-day training for 91 women who graduated to build skills for the childcare sector.