JORDAN. The Jordan National Population Strategy (JNPS).

Principle Elements in the National Strategy for Population in Jordan

1. The Strategy’s basic principles are derived from the Shari’a or Muslim Law, the constitution, and the National Charter.

2. The Strategy is based on the values of democracy and human rights. It blends well with the values of Jordanian society which exert influence on the nation’s political and development agendas.

3. Favourable change in the population’s characteristics is one of the Strategy’s objectives, considering that population issues are at the heart of social and economic development and their end objective.

4. The reinforcement of the right of families to produce an appropriate number of children and to have access to information and family planning methods in order to make their decisions freely, in line with the religious and cultural values.

5. The Strategy postulates sharing the effort with society in facing difficulties in matters of population, and stressing the role of voluntary organisations in supporting and promoting population programmes.

6. The Strategy takes into account the balance between environmental and population variables and pays attention to the interdependence and mutual interaction between population, the natural resources base, and development and their repercussions.

7. The Strategy envisions the institution of a balanced regional development scheme whereby the population is induced into a more balanced geographical distribution that achieves a more efficient interaction between the people, the land, and capital resources.

8. The provision of information, and the utilization of Mass Media channels, and the constant updating of public education on population issues are given primary roles in the enhancement of the Strategy’s effectiveness.

9. Care for maternal and infant health plays a primary role in the Strategy considering that it contributes to a healthy, cohesive society where the family can prosper and progress.

10. The National Strategy on Population goes hand in hand with other related national development efforts, especially the National Strategy on Women in its various domains.

Section I. Reproductive Health

A. Maternal and Child Care

Objectives

· Lowering birth-induced maternal deaths.

· Lowering the infant mortality rate.

· Addressing and limiting the incidence of disabilities and handicaps in people.

Procedures

· Setting up a centralized national information system dealing specifically with infant and maternal morbidity and mortality.

· Supporting and modernizing maternal health services through the provision of material care clinics both during pregnancies and after child birth in all hospitals.

· The provision of mobile maternal care clinics to cope with emergency cases in rural and remote areas.

· Supporting and modernizing child-care services in clinics, health centres, and hospitals, and providing them with incubators.

· Continuous support and modernization of medical education for personnel providing maternal and child health care.

· Supporting research studies on maternal and child care and the preparation of special research projects and programmes to detect causes of infant and maternal deaths.

· Implementing the Childhood National Strategy.

· Setting up a pioneering health education programme for mothers.

· Issuing legislative law regarding pre-marital medical check-ups.

· The provision of health care services to handicapped and people with special needs.

· Setting up centres for the care of the handicapped and for people with special needs.

B. Family Care, Family Planning, and Birth Spacing

Objectives

· Expansion of family planning services and an increased use of

· Increasing rates of the use of family planning methods.

· Enhancement of the role of civil and voluntary organisations in the provision of family planning services.

· Making the best use of available opportunities for the introduction of family planning schemes in society.

· Provision of effective health education and communication methods to educate people about the importance of family planning and birth spacing.

Procedures

· Implementation of the National Work Plan of Birth Spacing..

· Establishing birth spacing clinics in all health care centres.

· Encouraging mothers to use birth spacing and prolonged breast feeding.

· Directing concerted efforts at raising the levels of awareness and knowledge about population and family planning through comprehensive, media campaigns utilising all available means of communication to foster a true understanding among people of the nature and importance of family planning.

· To increase the role of civil and voluntary organisations in raising awareness about birth spacing.

· Cooperation and coordination amongst the various health sectors private, public or non-governmental in the field of family planning.

· Encouraging studies and researches on family care and planning, and birth spacing; and publishing and disseminating their results through seminars and the various media channels.

Section II. Population, Information and Communication

Objectives

· Spreading awareness about population issues: their implications, impact on the progress and standards of living, and the realization of balanced, sustainable development for society as a whole, with the objective of creating new positive attitudes towards population issues.

Procedures

· Developing and varying population information programmes, venues and messages in the mass media channels (Journalism, ratio and television), and increasing time and space allotment for population information in them.

· Focusing the attention to people who control mass media networks (programme managers, news editors, writers, producers, economic analysts, and journalists) on population issues through organising Population IEC seminars, workshops and meetings.

· The inclusion of population issues in the official public information strategy and according such issues a secure place in mass communication and television programming.

· Use of scientific methodology when planning for population IEC programmes.

Section III. Women and Development

Objectives

· Lowering illiteracy rates among females.

· Increasing the rates of female enrolment in vocational training and secondary and higher educational.

· Increasing the rates of female participation in the labour force and in economic activities generally.

· Lowering the rate of female unemployment.

· Increasing female participation in the social and political life.

Procedures

· Increasing the number of female illiteracy centres and developing their curriculae, and encouraging women to join.

· Increasing women’s awareness and knowledge about marriage, divorce, pregnancy and child-birth, and giving them decision making freedom.

· Developing the educational and vocational counseling services, and encouraging female student enrolment in secondary and higher education and in vocational training in accordance with the requirements of the national job market.

· The provision of support services to working women, in particular nurseries and kindergartens.

· The institution of legal reforms in support of women’s work rights and participation in social and political life.

· Implementation of the National Strategy for Women in its legislative, political, economic, social, health, and educational aspects.

Section IV. Education

Objectives

· Realizing the objective of comprehensive basic education for all, and limiting drop-out rates among students.

· Quality improvement of basic education, and equipping students with the minimal life and education basic skills.

· Increasing the enrolment rate at secondary level and linking the latter to the requirements of development and the needs of society.

· Increasing vocational training and education and improving their standards to enhance graduates’ chances of joining the labour force at a high level of skill and productivity.

· The elimination of illiteracy especially among rural women.

Procedures

· Developing and activating the programmes and procedures aimed at limiting school drop-out rates at the basic education level.

· Strengthening the links between the school and the local community and concentrating efforts on solving the problems faced by individual students.

· Provision of protective and curing programmes for students with special educational needs, with the objective of raising their performance standards educational.

· Enhancing the interaction between the school and the family and between parents’ committees and schools.

· Establishing a trend in favour of vocational training early on, at the basic education stage.

· Modernizing vocational training systems and programmes them to a level compatible with the national job requirements.

· Instituting public awareness and education programmes on the importance of vocational training and its role in development.

· Developing teachers training programmes to raise the standard of their performance.

· Instituting an incentive scheme for teachers and instructors to raise the standard of their performance in the education process.

· Making use of the 1994 Population and Households Census to identify illiteracy concentration areas and locations, and illiteracy magnitude in each, with the objective of reviewing and updating the National General Plan of Confronting illiteracy.

· Facilitating and encouraging the enrolment of illiterate people, especially women, in literacy programmes in illiteracy concentration areas.

· raising awareness among illiterate people regarding population issues through special public information campaigns aimed at particular segments of the illiterate population, women in particular.

· Increasing the proportion of educational programmes transmitted by television and radio to housewives.

Section V. Population and Labour Force

Objectives

· The development of human resources and the regulation of entry to labour market.

· Increasing women’s rate of participation in the labour force.

· Reducing unemployment rates.

· Encouraging a substitution in favour of local labour in the various sectors of the economy.

· The encouragement of work in the various domains and levels of technical and vocational professions, where the supply of local labour is lacking.

Procedures

· Conducting studies on the requirements of the Jordanian labour market in order to redirect educational, vocational, and training programmes to meet the market demand.

· Encouraging investments in labour intensive projects to create new job opportunities.

· Opening foreign labour markets to Jordanian labour, especially the highly skilled and trained, to decrease unemployment rates at home and increase workers’ remittances from abroad.

· Encouraging women to enter the labour market through the provision of support services.

· Regulating the foreign labour market and encouraging local businesses to recruit local labour.

· Training local labour in the various professional domains and level to substitute foreign labour.

· Establishments of specialised vocational training institutions to train the handicapped and incorporate them in labour market.

· Activating the rules, laws and legislations pertaining to prohibition of child labour.

Section VI. Population, The Environment, and Natural Resources

Objectives

· Reducing the imbalance between water supply and demand.

· Reducing the imbalance between the local demand for and the local supply of food products.

· Increasing the level of efficiency in the utilization of local energy resources.

· Achieving a better balance between the population size and environmental conditions.

· Achieving a better balance in the geographical distribution of the population between urban and rural areas.

Procedures

· Increasing the level of efficiency in the management of water and energy resources.

· Rationalization of consumption of water and energy.

· Expanding the construction of dams.

· Increasing productivity efficiency and the level of technology used in agricultural production.

· Encouraging scientific research in the areas of energy, environment, and the natural resources.

· Implementation of the National Environment Strategy for Jordan.

· Instituting a unified and cohesive law for the protection of the environment.

· The promotion of environmental education and awareness among individuals.

· The reduction of population pressure on urban areas and the provision of incentives for the movement of the population towards rural areas.

Section VII. Population and Housing

Objectives

· The provision of suitable housing at a suitable price for every Jordanian household.

· Limiting the expansion of luxury, high-cost housing.

· Encouraging private and public sector investment in housing projects corresponding to the needs of low-income families.

· Protecting the environment and reducing the exploitation of agricultural land for the purposes of housing projects.

· The provision of basic infrastructure for housing, namely transportation, communication, education, health services, recreational facilities, sewage, and refuse collection.

Procedures

· Conducting studies on urbanisation and the growth of cities to assist in urban planning.

· Preparing a comprehensive plan for l and use covering all the country.

· Extending housing planning and programmes for low-income families.

· Instituting careform package with the objective of encouraging the private sector to invest in the low-income families housing projects.

· The adoption of policies that limit the diffusion of luxury housing.

· The execution of the cities structural plans in phases, with the objective of better utilization of facilities and services.

The Institutional Framework for the Implementation of the National Strategy on Population

The Mechanism of Implementation

The NPC, through the General Secretariat, assumes the task of following up sectoral strategies with all parties concerned therewith. The General Secretariat both co-operates and co-ordinates with the said parties in the implementation of the various components of the Strategy. Ministries, institutions, universities and voluntary organisations each plan and implement that part of the Strategy directly relating to its area of specialization in a manner which best achieves the objectives of the overall Strategy.

The NPC envisages the following to be the necessary measures for the effective follow-up of the implementation of the Strategy:

1. The NPC will highlight issues relating to population and will act to win the support of organisations involved in tackling population problems.

2. The NPC will give top priority to the implementation of the terms of the strategy through the establishment of working groups and the appointment of liaison officers to maintain contact with organisations in the governmental, civil, and voluntary sectors concerned with population issues in order to keep active all efforts towards achieving the Strategy’s objectives.

3. The NPC will seek to secure population issues a prominent place in national social and economic plans and to assume an active role in drawing up the latter in order to emphasize the importance of population in development planning and the importance of achieving balance between population and resources.

4. The NPC shall draw up a plan every year detailing the various activities it intends to implement over the forthcoming 12 months given the priorities and opportunities prevalent at the time.

5. The NPC shall sustain a concerted effort at maintaining dialogue and interaction between government, civil, and voluntary organisations concerned with population programmes and shall call periodic meetings to this end.

6. In view of the government’s decision of 27 December 1994 to regard the NPC as the referential point for population programmes, activities and information, the NPC shall gather information from a host of organizations (official, civil, and voluntary) on the population issues and activities and shall document and process the data at the Population Information Centre with the objective of following up, evaluation, and conduction of analytical studies and researches based thereon.

7. The NPC shall support the holding of conferences, seminars and workshops to highlight population issues in all areas of relevance.

8. The NPC shall encourage research studies on population including field surveys and the collection and documentation of data.

9. The NPC shall undertake evaluation reviews of the plans and objectives achieved and shall access the difficulties obstructing fuller implementation of the plans.

10. The NPC shall embark on concerted communications to link up with international, regional, local, Arab, and foreign organisations to exchange experiences and information and to participate in drawing up programmes and activities relating to population issues.