The National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) and the Jordan Payments and Clearing Company (JoPACC), successfully completed the inaugural training session for the Olive Festival (2023) Vendors designed to enhance and promote the adoption of digital payment methods during the upcoming 2023 Olive Festival. Celebrated as one of the Kingdom’s preeminent non-profit events, the Olive Festival, which is attended by thousands of visitors each year, provides a platform for farmers, rural women, factories, field schools, olive pressers, and emerging companies in the incubator of agricultural innovation and agricultural entrepreneurship from across the Kingdom's governorates to exhibit, promote, market, and sell their agricultural products.

Participants in six different governorates, namely Amman, Balqa, Zarqa, Irbid, Karak, and Ma'an, who will be joining the National Olive Festival and the Rural Products Exhibition 2023, will benefit from the training. The objective is to enhance their digital financial literacy, as well as train them in opening and using financial accounts and accepting digital payments during the festival.

Dr. Nizar Haddad, the Director General of the National Agricultural Research Center, expressed gratitude for the collaboration between the public and private sectors in developing participants' skills to utilize digital payments and boost trade exchange with festival visitors. The training courses, lasting for a week, will be hosting around 200 participants in the first phase.

In addition, and in accordance with its participatory approach with players in the financial sector, JoPACC has coordinated with financial institutions and other stakeholders to allow them to promote their digital financial services to vendors so that the training experience is both comprehensively informative and altogether practical.

In her capacity, Her Excellency Maha Bahou, CEO of JoPACC, emphasized the critical significance of these outreach programs that target the less fortunate groups of society across all age brackets, adding: "We aim to empower marginalized segments by staying abreast of the evolving landscape of digital payments and providing them with access to the necessary tools they need. This will not only improve their quality of life but also save them time, effort, and money typically associated with cash transactions. By promoting financial inclusion, our efforts will enable these communities to expand their customer base and strengthen their ability to weather financial crises.”

Through collaborative outreach programs and a strong sense of partnership between the public and private sectors, JoPACC and NARC are making meaningful strides in assisting the most vulnerable members of Jordanian society, empowering them, increasing their financial awareness, and ultimately helping them maintain their livelihood and improve their quality of life. NARC works openly with all the Kingdom's institutions to effectively serve the purposes of sustainable development, which are embodied in these training courses held in coordination with JoPACC.