The UAE’s Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation Partners With Jordan’s Crown Prince Foundation To Boost Youth Employment In The Kingdom

Jordan has one of the youngest populations in the world, with nearly half of its citizens under the age of 24. While this represents a massive wave of talent entering the workforce each year, it has also led to a rapid increase in the absolute number of unemployed youth.

This is the gap that Nomu Al Ghurair aims to bridge as a new program that’s been designed to train Jordan’s youth in fields like digital skills, technical and vocational fields, green industries, entrepreneurship, and career readiness. With it targeting more than 5,600 Jordanian and Arab youth across the Kingdom, Nomu Al Ghurair aims to help them move into employment, self-employment, or further education.

The initiative is backed by two heavyweights: the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation (AGF), the region’s largest privately funded philanthropic foundation based out of the UAE, as well as Jordan’s Crown Prince Foundation (CPF), which, since its launch in 2015, has reached 2.2 million young Jordanians through its programs and facilities. Speaking with Inc. Arabia, AGF CEO Sonia Ben Jaafar explained how Nomu Al Ghurair has been designed to help bridge the gap between education and employment for youth in Jordan.

“Jordan has a young, educated population, yet many young people continue to face challenges in transitioning from education into meaningful employment,” Ben Jaafar said. “Employers are increasingly looking for practical, job-ready skills alongside technical knowledge, creating a need for programs that bridge this gap while responding to evolving labor market demands. Nomu Al Ghurair was designed to address this challenge by connecting young people with market-relevant skills, career guidance, and pathways to employment, entrepreneurship, or further learning. What distinguishes the program is its partnership model. It brings together the AGF and the CPF, combining AGF's regional expertise in education and youth employability with CPF's deep understanding of the Jordanian ecosystem and its extensive network of local implementing partners.”

Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation CEO Sonia Ben Jaafar.

Participants in the Nomu Al Ghurair program will be able to choose from five pathways, namely, “Vocational, Digital, Entrepreneurship, Forward, and Green.” Ben Jaafar said that this would give them the chance to “pursue learning that reflects both their aspirations and the needs of Jordan's economy,” with each pathway designed to respond to areas of growing demand within the labor market. “Beyond technical training, participants will benefit from career guidance, employability support, and connections to opportunities that can help them transition into employment, self-employment, or further education,” she added. “By leveraging established local partners and existing community infrastructure, the program is designed to maximize reach, while ensuring the training remains relevant to local labor market needs.”

To get the program up and running, Ben Jaafar shared that CPF will be utilizing its network of specialized implementing partners, allowing the program to reach youth in both urban centers and underserved communities. Looking at it from a long-term perspective, Ben Jaafar is hopeful that the program creates a model that can continue to evolve and inspire similar initiatives across the region. “Success will ultimately be measured by the opportunities created for young people after they complete the program,” she said. “That means seeing participants move into sustainable employment, start their own businesses, or continue their education, with the program targeting at least 65 percent of participants achieving positive career outcomes within six months of completion.”

Ben Jaafar also emphasized the program's longer-term ambitions for Jordan's workforce and employment landscape. “Beyond individual outcomes, we hope Nomu Al Ghurair contributes to strengthening Jordan's talent pipeline by equipping more young people with the skills employers are looking for today and in the future,” she said. “Equally important is demonstrating the value of a partnership-driven, demand-led model that brings together philanthropy, national institutions, implementing organizations, and employers around a shared objective. Beyond supporting thousands of young people directly, our long-term ambition is also to help strengthen the broader ecosystem for youth employability in Jordan, creating a model that can continue to evolve and inform similar initiatives across the region.”

Pictured in the lead image is a scene from the signing of the partnership between the UAE's Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation and Jordan’s Crown Prince Foundation. All images courtesy Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation.