Ammon News - Her Excellency the British Ambassador, Bridget Brind OBE, presented the UK Newton Prize 2020 today to the “Our Past, Our Future, All Together in Faynan” winning project team, represented by Dr Fatima Al-Nammari from the University of Petra.

Ambassador Brind said: “Congratulations to the research team from Jordan and the UK for winning the Newton Prize 2020 for their innovative project that both protects Jordan’s past, by preserving the history and culture of Faynan, and contributes to Jordan’s future, by supporting the women of Faynan and local tourism. The UK is proud to support the Newton prize which recognises excellent research and innovative partnerships that promote the economic development and social welfare of communities”.

Dr Fatima Al-Nammari and Dr Steven Mithen from the University of Reading submitted their proposal in partnership with the Department of Antiquities and the Council of British Research in the Levant. The research team will dedicate their £200,000 award to help 50 women from the local community in the Faynan area access skills and training opportunities to develop the Faynan Heritage Women’s Cooperative as a social enterprise and to generate income for their households.

Dr Fatima said, “The Faynan Our Past Our Future project has ambitious targets that the prize will facilitate. The prize fund will help in supporting priorities identified by the community, thus building community trust. As a poverty pocket, such small interventions make a difference”. This award will be an extension to their research in the area, which was funded under the Cultural Heritage for Sustainable Development call delivered by the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the UK and the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Jordan as one of the Newton-Khalidi Fund programmes.

The Newton Prize was established by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in the UK to celebrate the best partnerships between the UK and Newton Fund countries, and to encourage new international collaborations to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges. The Newton Prize 2020 provides a total of £1 million divided into five awards to recognize the excellent research and innovation the Newton Fund has invested in across Jordan, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa and Turkey.