Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Sami Houraniis a young Jordanian entrepreneur who turned his back ona lucrative and prestigious job in robotic surgery to establish an ambitious youth platform. He is a motivated and proactive young man in his small country, where youth unemployment and exclusion have become a major concern for policy-makers, a concern that is echoed across the Middle East and North Africa.

The prevailing senseof loss among youth in the southern Mediterranean served as an inspiration for EU officials involved in cooperation, leading to the creation of the NET-Med Youth programme, an ambitious project focused onyoungbeneficiaries, where each individual counts.

Hourani is one of many Jordanians who benefited from this three-year project. Through training and day-to-day guidance, the project helped take his business to another level, capable ofcompetingin a cutthroat market.

Young men and women in the southern Mediterranean region suffer from high unemployment and low representation in public and political spheres, disinterest in civic engagement, exclusion from mainstream media, and economic marginalisation. NET-Med Youth is ajointEU-UNESCO response to these issues,according to Dareen Abu Lail,an Associate Project Officer with the project.“The NET-Med Youth project has done great work withlocal assets, developing them according to local needs. It is clearly a unique project with a substantial added-value forthe country,”said Abu Lail.

"I would see NET-MED Youth in the future focusing on the policy level. Anevidence-based approach will help us to work more with youth organisations, to make recommendations for the government to develop youth policies," she added.

EU partners in the project believe youth in the region have great potential,butneed guidance and training to realise their goals, and that’s precisely what the project seeks to achieve: empowering youth to help them engage in the creation and implementation of national policies on education and employment that focus on their rights, responsibilities and potential.