AMMAN — For the past 10 years, more than 20,000 young people
from the southern governorate of Karak have benefited from programs organized
by the Creativity Club, but the NGO is about to close down due to a “severe
financial crisis,” it founder has said.
اضافة اعلان
In remarks to Al-Ghad and
Jordan News, CEO and founder
Hussam Al-Tarawneh, said the club “is going through its worst times ever,
financially speaking,” as support from both the government and the private
sector has stopped.
The club, he noted, does not receive fixed donations from
any party and relies on funding for specific projects funded by donors.
Since the outbreak of
COVID-19 15 months ago, “we have not
received a penny from the private sector”, Tarawneh said, acknowledging that
the entire social entrepreneurship sector suffers because of the economic
repercussions of the
pandemic.
Failing to pay adequate attention to this sector as key to
economic development is a major problem suffered by NGOs and charities across
the board, according to the activist, whose organization offers free-of-charge
training in the fields of robotics, electronics, and AI, as well as in art,
music, graphic design, theater, and photography, among others.
In previous remarks to
Jordan News, Ayman Mufleh, the
minister of social development, said that COVID-19 — and the subsequent safety measures imposed
to contain the pandemic — impacted all charitable organizations by affecting
their flexibility of movement and sources of income.
There were 6,522 NGOs registered in the
Kingdom as of
December 2020, of which 3,952 (61 percent) were affiliated with the ministry.
Tarawneh claimed that his club has a unique mission, namely,
nourishing scientific, artistic, and technological talents through programs
targeting age categories from 6 up to 24. He described the organization as an
incubator of talent. The training, he added, prepares beneficiaries to join the
labor market or start their own businesses. This is not to mention the boost
the programs give to the sense of community among youth, who become better
citizens, instilled with a sense of civic duty.
Asked about a solution to the funding dilemma for NGOs,
Tarawneh suggested that the country needs to update relevant legislation to
better regulate corporate social responsibility and render donations to the
non-for-profit sector mandatory.
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