Wednesday, January 30, 2019

HPC Secretary General, Dr. Abla Amawi, highlighted the need to incorporate the population dimension in national and local planning so as to take into account the size, structure and basic needs of the population to develop results based strategic plans, thereby achieving the vision for decentralization and advancing sustainable development goals.

Amawi noted that the program implemented by HPC in cooperation with USAID-Tawasol (28-31/1/2019) on awareness and training in incorporating the population dimension in local plans of northern governorates (Irbid, Jarash, Mafraq) aims to incorporate population-related indicators and dynamics in national and local development plans helps to expand the options of projects that governorate councils can list in their executive plans (2019-2022) on the basis of the population indicators of each governorate to help realize and invest in demographic dividend which is expected to reach its peak in 2040.

Director of programs at HPC, Dr. Sawsan Al Da’aja, said that the program is a continuation of a project that targeted initially nine governorates (Ajloun, Madaba, Tafilah, the Capital Zarqa, Balqa, Ma’an, Karak and Aqaba) to integrate population indicators in local development plans and aimed to raise awareness and raise youth capacity in family planning and reproductive health.

HPC Director of Studies and Policies, Ali Al Mutlaq, overviewed the population, social and economic indicators for northern governorates, while Dr. Qais al Khlaifat presented a training in integrating population indicators in governorate executive plans (2019-2022).

The program targets the heads and deputy heads of the (Irbid, Jerash, Mafraq) governorate council committees, and the Executive Council consisting of the directorates of “Youth, Health, Education, Labor, Environment, Agriculture, Tourism and Antiquities, the Mayor of the Greater Municipality, Public Works, Water, Social Development, Culture, Industry and Trade”. It also aims to disseminate knowledge about the demographic window of opportunity, policies to realize it, population-related indicators at the governorate level, and provide participants with skills to formulate social strategic goals and related population sectoral goal, setting performance indicators to measure the achievement of goals, writing project description cards that will be included in the executive plans of the governorates, and allocating a budget for family planning and entrepreneurship.