The Higher Population Council and Share-Net Jordan conducted two workshops in the southern region of the Kingdom. The first workshop was held on May 17th, 2023 at the Princess Basma Centre for Human Development in Aqaba Governorate. The second workshop was held at Al-Hussein Bin Talal University in Ma’an Governorate on May 18th, 2023.

The first workshop aimed to inform the participants about the demographic landscape in Jordan and introduce the Knowledge Platform for Sexual and Reproductive Health of Share-Net Jordan. During the workshop, the ‘Guide to Parents in Sexual and Reproductive Health of Adolescents’ and also a short video on ‘Awareness of Children about Sexual and Reproductive Health’ were launched.

The Director of Health in Aqaba Governorate, the Director of Education and Director of Youth in the Governorate, a representative of the Directorate of Social Development, practitioners in the fields of reproductive health in these directorates, and representatives of a number of civil society institutions and non-governmental organizations working in the field of family health in the governorate such as Princess Basma Centre for Human Development, Aqaba Women's Association, the Coastal Women Association, the Goodwill Association, the Ideal Food Centre, and the Local Community Health Committee participated in this workshop.

The second workshop aimed to maintain the knowledge of Share-Net Jordan members in the south about developments on the Knowledge Platform for Sexual and Reproductive Health of Share-Net Jordan. Members of Share-Net Jordan in the southern region, academics from the faculties of medicine and nursing from Al-Hussein Bin Talal University, Mu’tah University and the University of Jordan/ Aqaba branch, participated in the workshop. Also present were practitioners in the field of sexual and reproductive health from the Ma'an and Tafila Health Directorates, the Family Health Care Institute in Karak. Dr. Muhammad Al-Rasai’, Vice President of Al-Hussein Bin Talal University for Administrative Affairs gave a welcome speech at the opening of the workshop.

Prof. Dr. Issa Al-Masarweh, Secretary General of the Higher Population Council stressed the importance of communicating with partners in the southern region, informing them of the demographic landscape in Jordan and its effects on development and national needs, disseminating knowledge in the field of population and promoting its use in decision-making, and receiving feedback from the participants on emanating population issues.

During the two workshops, Ali Al-Mutlaq, Director of the Studies and Policies Unit at the Higher Population Council/ Coordinator of Share-Net Jordan, gave an overview of the platform's achievements for 2022 and the plan for 2023, priorities and future directions for Share-Net Jordan for the coming year. Ghaleb Al-Azza, Technical Director and Principal Researcher of HPC, presented the outputs of the project improvement program using the participatory approach, as in preparing a guide to parents on sexual and reproductive health for their adolescent children, and a short video ‘Educating Children about Sexual and Reproductive Health.’ Both the guide and video, prepared by Jordanian experts in the field of health, education and psychology, aim to enhance dialogue between parents and their adolescent children.

The guide and video were initiated according to recommendations of a number of studies prepared by the Higher Population Council and Share-Net Jordan, in addition to academic studies prepared by Jordanian researchers in cooperation with prestigious international universities, all of which called for strengthening the role of parents in educating their children about their sexual and reproductive health.