Context and Problem

In Jordan, high youth unemployment rates, especially among young women, have highlighted a critical mismatch between the skills taught in the education system and the labor market demands. By 2013, youth unemployment reached 34%, with young women facing rates three times higher than their male counterparts. The limited access to job training, career advancement opportunities, and gender-based occupational segregation further deepened the issue. INJAZ, established in 1999 under Save the Children and formally launched as an independent NGO in 2001, sought to bridge this gap by empowering youth through entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and work readiness programs.

Solution

Injaz developed and implemented a comprehensive three-pronged strategy that includes skills development, entrepreneurship, and volunteerism.

Skills development involves targeting secondary school students with courses on leadership, teamwork, communication, and financial literacy. This pillar utilizes an integrated experiential learning methodology, such as simulations and real-world problem-solving activities. These programs were delivered through partnerships with schools, including public, private, military, and special education institutions.

Entrepreneurship and employment programs link university and college students with private sector mentors and resources to develop social and business enterprises. Moreover, job placement services, resume-building workshops, and interview training through Link2Job initiative were also offered. Support for registered student enterprises was also provided, increasing the odds of long-term success for them.

Third, volunteerism and private sector engagement, which was done by recruiting over 27,000 corporate volunteers to deliver training and serve as mentors, institutionalizing volunteering within corporate social responsibility programs, and developing structured training programs to ensure high-quality volunteer-led sessions.

Besides this, the program built partnerships with government entities, diversified funding sources, transitioned to self-sustainability through donor contributions and an endowment fund and utilized an adapted and localized curriculum to meet the needs of Jordanian youth and businesses.

Impact

Graduates of INJAZ programs reported a 19% unemployment rate, significantly lower than the national average of 32%, and only 13% of INJAZ alumni waited more than a year for a job, compared to 70% nationally. Moreover, the program reached over 1.2 million youth across Jordan in 2015, and the program has been implemented in 208 schools, 41 universities, 119 youth centers, and multiple social institutions. The program was also able to build the countries largest network of corporate volunteers, engaging 3,170 annually.