Design and Launch of a Business Incubator for Women
Client: UN Women
Implementation year: 2013
ConsultUs Work
At ConsultUs, we consider the low level of political and civic participation of women in the region as alarming and disturbing element for achieving a dynamic society with high potential for achieving sustainable growth and development. Women play a pivotal role in sound community development as in reality they are the assets that lead shaping communities. Understanding women as community assets is important, especially in emergency situations. Women who engage in civic action are more likely to adopt positive life trajectories than those who do not, which reflects not only on them as women but also on their entire families including their spouses and youngsters.
Our ‘Civic Engagement Program’ had trained and mentored Syrian women refugees with the aim to become actively engaged on a variety of important issues in the Syrian community in the future.
Our approach for providing training and capacity building for civic engagement included the following:
- Creating consensus among men and women regarding the important roles of women in the targeted community
- Providing training that is carefully customized to the targeted population
- Developing initiatives that support the sustainability and expansion of trained concepts and skills.
Project Background:
Jordan has absorbed a big number of Syrian refugees, who are facing critical challenges, from meeting the cost of living and accessing basic services to acclimating to their host communities and coping with intense psychosocial distress.
Women and children make up 80% of Jordan’s Syrian refugee population and are considered vulnerable to an increased risk of sexual, physical, and psychological abuse, and have limited opportunities to access safe spaces or social services.
By increasing awareness of the women around a number of civic and critical engagement issues, women will begin to understand the importance of their role and to see the impact of their involvement in the community as a whole. Civic engagement training gives women the skills and confidence to play an active positive role in the society and increases the role and profile of women’s civic engagement.
