Royal Court Chief Yousef Issawi on Saturday attended the launching of a Royal initiative to empower underprivileged and low-income families in Aqaba and Wadi Araba.

The initiative seeks to improve the living conditions and incomes of low-income households through offering the support necessary to enable them to establish small productive projects, providing them with finance and proper training, with focus on women and youth, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The launching ceremony, hosted virtually at the Royal Court, witnessed the signing of agreements between the Jordan River Foundation, the supervising side on implementing the initiative, and 16 associations in Aqaba and Wadi Araba.

The initiative targets some 213 families in Aqaba and 30 in Wadi Araba through establishing 243 small productive projects, where beneficiary associations will re-finance other production projects for new families according to the rotating finance fund’s mechanism.

Issawi, who is also head of the follow-up committee for the implementation of Royal initiatives, said that the pandemic did not stop the implementation of Royal initiatives, adding that His Majesty King Abdullah’s top priority is securing better lives to all Jordanians.

Issawi noted that developing local communities and providing jobs for youth and enhancing their roles in productive projects require directing the support in a way that enables the targeted groups of people.   

Social Development Minister Ayman Mufleh said that the initiative highlights the importance of programmes and projects that target self-employment for families and youth, so as to contribute to creating an effective productive force in the economy and providing jobs for youth and jobseekers.