Ammon News - Minister of Agriculture Khaled Huneifat and Director General of the Jordan River Foundation (JRF) Enaam Barrishi Monday signed agreements to provide grants to Jordanians and Syrian refugees within a joint project called "Small-Ruminants Investment and Graduating Households in Transitions."

The project, which is funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), involves two phases. The first phase included agreements with 795 beneficiaries in the governorates of Mafraq, Jerash, Ajloun, Amman, Irbid and Madaba within the agricultural, production, construction, service and trade sectors.

In its second phase, the project aims to provide financial grants to beneficiaries so that they can establish sustainable and income-generating small projects, and create suitable job opportunities. It looks to improve the small ruminant sector (sheep and goats), help Syrian refugees and Jordanian host communities, support people with disabilities, empower women economically and socially and foster a culture of entrepreneurship based on societal need.

The project's activities aim to enable the beneficiaries to establish productive projects or expand their existing projects to improve their standard of living, improve their living and economic conditions, support the stability of their families after rehabilitating them and enhancing their capabilities, in addition to providing guidance services to help develop their projects, overcome challenges, reap the benefits of grants and achieve project sustainability.

The second phase of the project creates job opportunities for no less than 222 beneficiaries within the framework of job networking with the private sector. The JRF had also signed about 50 strategic agreements with private sector companies to provide suitable job opportunities for members of the local community.

Huneifat said that the ministry succeeded, through the project, in reaching the target groups, including the children and residents of the Jordanian countryside and the Syrian refugees with the aim of achieving food security and securing sustainable livelihoods.

The project's activities, he noted, are part of government efforts to achieve the strategic priorities in the Jordanian economic growth plan 2018-2022 and to achieve a 5-percent growth in the Gross Domestic Product by focusing on developing the agricultural sector, in addition to supporting the Jordanian response plan to the Syrian crisis.

The ministry is carrying out a gradual strategy in its approach to lifting people out of poverty to achieve growth, progress, and improve the living, social, and economic lifestyle and self-development of rural families, through agricultural and vocational training for the target families to enhance their capabilities and skills and to enable them to manage their projects in an optimal, economic and sustainable manner, the minister added.

The ministry is also working to provide unconditional cash support to the poorest families to facilitate their involvement and participation in the project's activities, and then, later on, provide them with conditional financial grants to purchase devices, equipment, and production inputs to establish income-generating and sustainable productive projects, in addition to linking them to jobs in accordance with their scientific, technical and skillful abilities and skills.

Through the project, the ministry provided financial grants to establish productive projects to about 1,154 beneficiary families in the Mafraq, Irbid, Jerash, Ajloun, Madaba and Amman governorates, and 136 young men and women from these families became part of the labor market and were paid through the project, after receiving practical business training from employers directly.

For her part, Barrishi stressed the importance of following up on the beneficiaries after receiving the grant or getting hired, helping them address and overcome any challenges they may face, and providing the necessary support and guidance.

She added that the foundation believes in the importance of sustainability to empower communities, indicating that 50 business mentors have been contracted to provide guidance services for beneficiaries.