Jordan. A year of dedication, with a smile

The “Ibtisam” project in Jordan: a year of dedication in the schools of Irbid and Amman.
After a year of commitment, the “Ibtisam” project, named after the Arabic word for “smile”, is coming to an end. This educational programme was designed to help refugee children and their peers in the Jordanian host community. It was financed by the Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development (AICS) and focussed mainly on two schools: the Khawla Bint al-Azuar Institute in Sahab on the outskirts of Amman and the Hawara Institute in the northern Governorate of Irbid. The project rebuilt school infrastructure and coordinated socio-psychological assistance for boys and girls.

The project adopted a twin-track approach: rebuilding public school infrastructure, while also working on capacity-building for teachers and psychologists in the schools with a high ratio of Syrian refugees.

The initiative was designed to promote the integration of disabled boys and girls, as well as identifying children with post-traumatic stress disorder. The training materials were drawn from the “Mental health in schools” module prepared by the World Health Organisation, with the approval of the Jordanian Ministers for Health and Education.

This was the first use of the module  in Jordanian public schools and it was considered a great success. The Education Ministry requested an expansion of the project to 6 more schools.

We were very happy with the results of our work, especially since we also helped ‘train the trainers’ to allow the continuation of this kind of work in the future.

Participants included many teachers and psychologists from neighbouring schools in the same governorates, thus creating a strong local network.

In the case of the schools in Sahab and Irbid originally identified by the project, rebuilding work focussed mainly on better sanitation facilities and access for disabled people, as well as new desks. TOT (training of trainers) was provided to 28 Education Ministry employees,who in turn trained 264 teachers and psychologists from 8 different schools.

Before the Syrian war, the Khawla Bint al-Azuar Institute was attended only by girls, but now it is attended by hundreds of Syrian boys, thanks to the Jordanian daily ‘roster’ system.

Here the children from each ‘roster’ can meet during a special social cohesion activity called  Photovoice – this is a photography course, designed to encourage 24 boys and girls to express themselves through photography; they were all provided with cameras and encouraged to voice their feelings in a series of assignments on themes including tolerance, friendship, the future etc.

Some of the best photos were selected for publication in a booklet, as a means of self-expression and their feelings about their renovated school.

“When I grow up, I want to be a doctor. That’s how I see my future.” Jordianian 9-year-old Mohammed says, commenting on one of his photos.

“When I grow up I want to be a photographer like my dad,” says Abd el-Ghani, a 12-year-old Syrian boy who took some of the best photos of the whole workshop.

The “Ibtisam” project, gave these children and many others something to smile about again. Long may it last.