Jordan

ICT in National Development
The Government of Jordan has taken steps to integrate ICT in national development programmes. Within this context, a national network of Jordanian Information Technology Community Centers (JITCC) was set up, covering the entire country. UNDP was the principal partner of the Jordanian Government in this programme which involved both the private sector and civil society.

UN Volunteers collaborated in this far-reaching programme from its earliest phases:

An International UN Volunteer (IUNV) working in a similar initiative in Egypt (Technology Access Community Centers, or TACCs) undertook two missions to Jordan in September and November of 2000. His main tasks were (1) to draw on the experiences from Egypt for the design of the Jordanian Telecenter Network, considering the potential roles of volunteers and, (2) along with Jordanian authorities and UNDP Amman, explore ways in which UN Volunteers can support national development plans.

Two National UN Volunteers (NUNVs) were recruited to support the first telecenter in Jordan, located in the village of Safawi, in the isolated Bedouin-populated area of the Northern Badia. One is an ICT specialist, and supported the ICT infrastructure of the center. The other is a gender specialist, and helped women in the community benefit from the telecenters and provided outreach to the community in general.

 

Technical Support and Workshops
From September to January 2003, an IUNV from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, placed under a special agreement under UNITeS, provided technical support to UNIFEM as well as the Arab Women Connect (AWC) in maintaining and developing websites. He helped prepare documents for online publishing, dealt with website-related correspondence and assisted in the organization of workshops and forums.

 

Education in ICT
Two National UN Volunteers (NUNVs), funded by the Japanese Trust Fund, worked as part of a team of sectional specialists in the National Telecenter Network Project. They identified existing educational material online and supported local educators in developing content which could then be accessed through the telecenters.