Jerash. In a small training space, big stories take shape for women seeking an opportunity, a new skill, or a different path to improve their own and their families' income. Training at the Women's Empowerment Unit affiliated with Al-Mu'arrad Municipality is no longer just courses that end when their hours are up; it has become a gateway for women in the area to acquire skills they can build on in work, production, and starting projects.
اضافة اعلان
Over the first six months since the unit's women's training center opened, around 600 trainees benefited from the training programs it offers, a figure reflecting the scale of interest among women in the area in training and qualification opportunities, and the need to provide programs close to where they live that respond to their needs and aspirations.
The Ability to Produce
Yusra Al-Ayasrah says her training experience at the women's empowerment center was an opportunity to acquire new skills and make good use of her time learning something that could later become a source of income, noting that having a center close to the area encouraged her to participate. She said the hands-on training gave her a chance to develop her abilities and discover new ideas she could use in practical life.
She believes the value of such programs isn't limited to the information trainees receive but also lies in discovering their own abilities and giving them the confidence to take a new step, calling for these programs to continue and diversify to meet women's interests.
Zainab Bani Hamdan affirms that the training gave her the chance to benefit from skills she hadn't sufficiently possessed before, explaining that taking part in the courses made her better able to think about the possibility of turning what she learned into a future job or project.
She adds that having a dedicated women's training center in the area represents an important opportunity for women, especially since many of them want to learn and develop their abilities, but family circumstances or difficulty with transportation may prevent them from joining programs farther away. She noted that the most important stage after training is providing opportunities that help trainees apply what they've learned, whether through markets and exhibitions or through support and guidance, so that acquired skills don't go unused.
Student Sawar Mohammad says the training experience opened new horizons for her and made her more interested in developing her skills and putting them to practical use, noting that the training gave her a chance to learn in a suitable environment and meet women with different experiences, which created space for exchanging expertise and ideas.
She believes that continuing and expanding such programs could help a larger number of participants, at various levels, discover their abilities, especially if the courses were paired with programs to support projects, marketing, and management.
Khaled Bani Ahmad, one of the beneficiaries of the training programs, notes that the concept of empowerment and qualification can extend more broadly to the local community through acquiring skills and using them in work and production, especially with practical training programs tied to community needs, affirming that training represents an opportunity to develop abilities and use them in practical life, and that the center's success depends on continuing and updating its programs according to market needs.
Responding to Local Needs
Director of the Women's Empowerment Unit at Al-Mu'arrad Municipality, engineer Safa Al-Zoubi, affirms that the establishment of the women's training center came in response to a genuine need among women in the area for training and qualification, explaining that the main goal is to reach as many women as possible and equip them with skills that can help them enter the labor market or start their own projects.
She says: "This active training activity comes at a time when the Al-Mu'arrad area is home to more than 45 projects and initiatives in the field of women's empowerment, reflecting a growing local trend toward strengthening women's presence in productive and social sectors and turning latent capacities and energies into real, sustainable job opportunities." She noted that reaching around 600 trainees within just six months of the training center's opening is a clear indicator of the idea's success and the scale of need for it.
She explains that this number encouraged the unit to consider expanding and developing its programs in line with women's interests and the local community's needs, noting that women's empowerment cannot be achieved through theoretical training alone, but requires moving women from the learning stage to the application and production stage, since the success of any women-led project needs more than just skill and requires knowledge of how to manage a project, calculate costs, set prices, market, and deal with customers, and that these aspects are taken into account in the training programs.
Al-Zoubi points out that the unit aims for training programs to be a first step that can be followed by other stages, including supporting ideas and projects and helping women market their products and reach markets, especially since the nature of the training programs is chosen based on women's needs, with care taken to diversify fields so trainees can choose the skill that suits their abilities and interests. She notes that a woman who receives training and acquires a new skill then has multiple options, whether using the skill at home, working through a small project, developing an existing project, or using it to gain a job opportunity.
She believes the number recorded during the first six months isn't just a count of trainees, but reflects the scale of community interest in women's empowerment programs, noting that the unit seeks to build on this interest by increasing programs and targeting different categories of women, especially since the women's empowerment initiative projects in Al-Mu'arrad provide an important base that can be developed in the future by creating links between them, encouraging cooperation among their owners, exchanging expertise, and opening new outlets for marketing products.
The unit's director points out that the main challenge after training ends is a woman's ability to turn what she learned into an ongoing project, which requires more attention during the post-training phase through guidance, follow-up, marketing, and connecting projects with supporting bodies, noting that the unit works to encourage women not to stop at acquiring a skill but to think about how to use it economically.
She explains that many small projects can start with limited capacity and then gradually develop as experience grows and the customer base expands, stressing the importance of online marketing in supporting women's projects, since social media has allowed project owners to reach customers beyond their local area, which can expand the market for local products and increase the chances of project success.
The importance of the training center isn't limited to the economic side, according to Al-Zoubi, but extends to the social side as well, as the center provides an environment where women meet to exchange expertise and experiences, which helps build self-confidence and encourages women to try new experiences. She noted that many women have good skills and abilities but need the right place that gives them the opportunity to learn and experiment, and the center, for its part, tries to provide this space within the Al-Mu'arrad area so women don't have to bear the burden of traveling to distant areas to get training.
She explains that the center's proximity to women is an important factor in increasing participation, especially for women with family responsibilities, or those who may not be able to travel continuously to training centers outside the area, affirming that the unit views women as essential partners in the local development process, and that investing in their skills doesn't benefit them alone, but its impact extends to the family and community if the woman manages to find a source of income or start a project that provides other opportunities.
