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Foreign aid for gender equality in Jordan refers to programs funded by governments or NGOs that aim to promote equal access to education, economic empowerment, and political representation in Jordan.

History
Promoting gender equality and empowering women was one of the millennium development goals. The Jordanian government agreed to work towards these goals in 2000 along with other countries around the world, then in 2015 pledged to continue its work towards closing the gender gap and ending gender-based violence.

The work on gender inequality in Jordan has improved in the past 11 years. But the problem today lies in the discrimination within the laws, the amount of educated women that can find proper employment or in the lack of political representation. Besides that, there is a lack of laws that criminalizes domestic violence. Different gender equality development projects has been helping with shedding the lights on gender based issues and raising the issue in media and in political debates.

https://borgenproject.org/womens-empowerment-in-jordan/

Indicators
There are many measures of gender equality, most incorporating some combination of educational, economic, political, and health indicators. For example, the Gender Development Index is based on the Human Development Index, incorporating measures of life expectancy, education, and per capita income. The Global Gender Gap Index is another measure of gender inequality calculated by the World Economic Forum constructed from four indices measuring "economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment."

Workforce participation As of 2014, under 16% of women in Jordan were employed or looking for formal work.

USAID
USAID provides large amounts of funding [add amount] for programs relating to gender equality in Jordan [citation needed]. Among the goals towards which they work are equal political representation, equality of economic opportunity, prevention of gender-based violence, and expanded access to healthcare. USAID works with the government of Jordan and several civil society organizations to support the work for women's empowerment.

The USAID Takamol-gender program had the aim to mainstream gender at policy, national and community levels to strengthen advocacy for girl and female empowerment with media, the civil society and government ministries. It is funded by USAID and implemented by IREX. The programs created a social dialogue on gender roles and stereotypes that has been reaching a huge amount of viewers on social media, supports an open dialogue through workshops in the community, provided better employment opportunities and supported the establishment of women politicians.

IREX
The International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX) is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC that funds projects around the world. Its stated activities in Jordan include building connections with the local communities, universities, government ministries, the Jordanian national Commission for women and national level civil society organizations with a view towards closing the gap between community members and policy-makers. Its website highlights programs supporting young Jordanian leaders to become experts on gender issues, teaching students how to work against gender stereotypes, and fostering inclusion. IREX considers its work against gendered stereotypes important due to the fact that children in Jordan are exposed to the stereotypes at a young age through media, culture and formal education. The USAID Takamol program helped the ”Haya Cultural Center” to publish a series of children's books to counter gendered stereotypes that children often encounter. The stated goal of the books is to start conversations between children about their own lives and homes, and to foster a more open discussion and critical thinking. As the project was expanded to a broader audience, members obtained experience in leading discussions aimed at raising more gender-sensitive individuals in Jordan. Enabling youth in Jordan, and women in particular, to get more involved in political and economic policymaking is another way IREX aims to foster youth participation. One contributing factor to low participation in Jordan is lack of representation of young women in the political process. This program provided funding to community based organizations for activities focusing on gender-related political, economic and social development.

IM
IM is another organization that works on development programs agains gender inequality in Jordan. They support the local organization that works with the political, economic and social rights for women. The grassroots level and the mobilization movements and their capacity to build a civil society that works toward a democratic society is the focus. The traditional patriarchal norms, practices and even legal discrimination in conservative societies are the roots for the gender discrimination. That is the reason for IM supporting civil society organizations working to raise awareness and advocating the government for making a change. IM also helps with changing the structural discrimination by helping partners that works on addressing the stigmas and the norms in the societies.

The goal for IM is to work with local partners so that the change can be from within the society so that they themselves can work to get their rights and make their own possibilities. The work for a more just society is believed to be reached by activist, right holders and local organizations that will help strengthen each other.

( https://manniskohjalp.se/en/region/middle-east/jordan )

Global Affairs Canada
Global Affairs Canada is a foreign affairs department of the Government of Canada, and is a major donor to the cause of promoting gender equality and women's rights in Jordan. In 2016 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that $45.3 million will be dedicated to assist local governments of Jordan and other Middle Eastern countries with supporting projects that promote the empowerment of women as well as overall economic development. One of those initiatives is The Middle East Women’s Voice and Leadership Program where over a five year period $5.5 million will be allocated to support grass roots women's organisations in Jordan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Through a partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) the Government of Canada is supporting the Women’s Comprehensive Health Centre in Amman that works as a reproductive health care clinic where women can get access to reproductive health services as well as gain qualified support following sexual and gender based violence. According to Canada's Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) education has a significant link with gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, therefore the Government of Canada is among top ten donors to education, between 2014 and 2016 administering around $14 million to the education sector and incentives in Jordan. In addition, various Canadian NGO's, including World University Service of Canada (WUSC) and the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE), partner with Global Affairs Canada to deliver projects in Jordan that are designed to help women to access the labour market, thus promoting their economic independence.

DANIDA
Danish International Development Agency, an arm of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark used for Denmark’s development cooperation, has established a project with the Middle East and North African countries called The Danish-Arab Partnership Programme (DAPP), the new phase of which focuses specifically on promoting gender equality and stimulating women's economic and political participation in Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. Since 2005 DAPP has been partnering and assisting different Jordanian and international organisations such as the Jordan Chamber of Industry, Jordanian National Centre for Human Rights and the Jordan National Red Crescent Society in activities promoting women's rights. Incentives range from enhancing  women's access to the labour market and establishing female business owner network to encouraging female participation in journalism.

Challenges
Whilst different organisations are actively investing in programs related to promoting gender equality in Jordan, they are facing various challenges.

One of the main difficulties that donors face is the struggle to ensure that gender remains the key focus for the development programmes. Often gender is conceptualised as a cross-category, being merged with other topics, like human rights, environmental or health issues. Such practices 'mainstream out' the gender and can divert attention from the importance of addressing gender issues and specific strategies necessary to advance gender equality. Another tendency of international financial institutions nowadays is to formulate the significance of gender equality and women's rights along the lines of economic growth and development, or so called smart economics approach as opposed to rights-based approach negating the importance of gender issues and shifting attention away from the rights issue and efforts required.

Resistance is yet another obstacle that donors encounter when formulating gender equality as one of the development objectives. This is particularly evident when the right to reproductive healthcare is being discussed, themes of abortion, right to contraception and right to sexual health and sex education being one of the most controversial subjects.

Also, it is difficult to measure the effectiveness of development aid when it comes to gender equality. Challenges include determining a specific period of  time over which impacts can be assessed, and establishing which aspects are culturally and contextually gender specific to serve as valid catalysts for the evaluation.