Second Youth Tech Festival in Jordan: Report from the Field

Asma Khader surrounded by participants at Youth Tech Festival II

In 2009, WLP’s First Annual Youth Tech Festival brought 110 young men and women from all over Jordan to Amman to acquire hands-on skills in using emerging technologies to advocate for social change. The nine-woman technology training team coached the young adults in creating their own engines of social change.

Worldwide, young people are using YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, website creation and blogging to connect and talk about the world they want to see and will have to live in.

In 2009, the first Tech Festival participants created advocacy campaigns addressing social issues such as eliminating violence against women, increasing youth volunteering, stopping drug and child abuse, fighting sexual harassment, eradicating early marriages, preventing traffic accidents, and ending domestic violence. The young people learned new and better ways to research, present and promote their findings. Today, the same media outlets and many new ones enable young people to communicate, connect, and collaborate with people worldwide with the click of a button.

We believe that investing in education for young adults guarantees active and effective participatory citizenship, which is critical for the upcoming electoral process and the future. Young adults with information technology skills and means will expand their knowledge and understanding, equipping themselves with the power to make social change.

This year, Sisterhood Is Global Institute/Jordan (SIGI/J), in partnership with WLP and the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW), targeted 175 young adults age 19-25 from across the kingdom for the Second Annual Youth Tech Festival from August 7-8, 2010. Meeting in Amman, they learned to use new media outlets to educate themselves and others on the upcoming elections, focusing on women’s political participation.

They learned about prospective candidates and also acquired new skills through hands-on practice. The participants then went home not only with sharper technical abilities but also with a new understanding of the importance of women’s political participation and equal opportunity in changing their local communities.

We hope these young women and men will harness their new information technology powers to become advocates for women’s issues in their respective communities.

Festival Highlights

The conference started with a ceremonial inauguration and speeches from local partners, participants, and government representatives, followed by a short documentary on the first conference held in 2009. Three very interesting theatrical sketches on the conference theme of women and elections followed, entertaining the attendees but also shedding light on common public attitudes toward women’s political participation. The sketches encouraged women to take charge of their future and urged the public to embrace these initiatives.

Formal sessions began with presentations on political and development matters, as well as media and technology usage. Representatives from the Ministry of Political Development, attorneys and activists spoke first, and then opened a discussion with the participants and answered their questions. Several said they were astonished by the level of understanding and awareness those young men and women have, and by their eagerness to influence change in their communities.

A session on media and communications included discussions with bloggers, media representatives and others who elaborated on the potential of the different outlets and how they have best been used in neighbouring countries.

On the last day, participants were given three hours to develop a product idea, collect information and footage on it and design and submit their media message in a format that uses the technology outlets they had been trained to use. The outcomes were fascinating. Participants’ innovative ideas demonstrated a deep understanding of community challenges and issues and showed their broad and ever-broadening perspective on resolving those challenges.

A panel of experts and representatives from conference partners then reviewed the proposals for the Second Youth Tech Festival awards. The Governorate of Zarqa received the first place award, Tafeeleh won second place and Jerash received third place. However, all participants, organizers, and partners were winners. They all developed a new understanding of the importance of women’s political participation to further development. Organizers and partners saw the huge potential in Jordan’s young people when they have access to knowledge and participation and the opportunity and venue to express themselves.