Khaberni - The President of the Senate, Faisal Al-Fayez, confirmed that His Majesty King Abdullah II has a significant interest in the nation's youth, believing in their ability to make a positive change for building a Jordan capable of facing challenges. Youth are the backbone of the nation, its present, and its future; they represent a strong, pioneering society and are fundamental to comprehensive development.
This was stated during his patronage on Sunday at the Senate, of the graduation ceremony of the sixth session of the Parliamentary Fellowship Project, implemented by the King Abdullah II Fund for Development in partnership with the Parliament, attended by the Chairman of the Fund's Board of Trustees, His Excellency Engineer Hadithah Al-Khraisha, in a step reflecting a continuous national commitment to empower youth and enhance their role in political life, in line with the path of political modernization in the Kingdom.
Al-Fayez said that His Majesty the King, in his speech to Jordanians on the occasion of the country's seventy-sixth Independence Day, emphasized the importance of the youth's role in building Jordan's future, stressing the need to fulfill their aspirations and enhance their public participation, saying "the new Jordan will belong to the young generations, as they are the ones charting its path with their ambition, knowledge, and openness to the future," hence there is a clear political decision to activate the youths' role and empower them politically, economically, and socially, making them partners in shaping their and their nation’s future.
President of the Senate pointed out that enabling youth and translating the royal attention requires standing by them and supporting them in building young leaderships capable of making the change, through increasing awareness of national issues and challenges and expanding their participation in public life, through programs, ideas, and policies targeting their integration in society to become a force, investing their capabilities in serving their nation and its Hashemite leadership, in addition to supporting their initiatives and overcoming obstacles that hinder their participation in various aspects including economic, political, and social realms; the youth sector represents the key to political reform and comprehensive development.
He added "I realize that our youth face great challenges, most notably tough economic and living conditions, and an uncertain future in the current circumstances of our nation, along with issues related to social justice and the spread of terrorism, extremism, drugs, and hate speech," emphasizing the need to re-evaluate different past policies dealing with youth, and to develop new strategies that speak to the minds of youth in a contemporary language, that guide them forward, embrace their creativity, deal with their ideas with an open mind, and push them to believe in the future, away from despair, frustration, and exclusion.
Al-Fayez noted that addressing youth issues is a shared responsibility, calling on official and civic institutions to play their role in facing these challenges, by opening new horizons for them, with the aim of building aware Jordanian youth capable of actively participating in the development of their country, youth who can handle modern era changes with awareness, openness, and a strong national sense.
Al-Fayez congratulated all graduates of the Parliamentary Fellowship Project, wishing them success in their professional lives, and said I hope that the fellowship project with the Parliament has achieved the intended benefits for the graduates and contributed to developing their skills and providing them with the practical experience necessary for integrating them into the job market.
He also appreciated the significant efforts made by the Fund, and the work done by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Hadith Al-Khraisha, the General Manager Samer Al-Malfouh, and all the staff, in serving the Jordanian youth, and choosing quality programs that enable them to acquire necessary skills through practical training, to qualify them for public work.
On his part, the General Manager of the Fund, Samer Al-Malfouh, during the ceremony, confirmed that the Political Modernization Project sponsored by His Majesty King Abdullah II constitutes a comprehensive national pathway targeting the establishment of a modern political system capable of responding to future transformations and challenges, indicating that the Fund has embarked on implementing a range of programs and projects supporting the outcomes of modernization starting from its role as an institutional umbrella supporting national efforts in various fields.
Al-Malfouh indicated that empowering youth is at the core of the Fund's programs as it is a national priority, contributing to enhancing participation in public life, producing a moderate national discourse capable of facing challenges, which contributes to preparing youth leaderships capable of making an impact and participating in building the future.
It is noted that the "Parliamentary Fellowship" project comes within the programs of the Fund aimed at integrating youth in political life, through providing them opportunities to work as research assistants to deputies, tasked with research and preparing information and studies supporting the discussion of bills or issues, thereby enhancing awareness of the legislative and supervisory role of the Parliament.
During the current session, the project was developed to include the Senate, as part of the project development plan and its expansion, in addition to the introduction of a new selection mechanism that involves 30% of participants affiliated with parties.
At the end of the ceremony, Al-Fayez handed the certificates to the participants in the project, which involved (45) young men and women from various governorates of the kingdom, and the stages of the project extended over (6) months, two months of theoretical training and (4) months of practical phase, during which the participants had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the legislative and supervisory role of the House of Representatives and enhance their participation in public life.
