Young Political Activist

Youth Political Parties and Civil Activists Training: towards a politically engaged generation

“Participating in the session ‘Influencing public opinion’ is a great opportunity to enhance our knowledge while focusing on our key values and objectives. The whole training has taught me how to improve communication with Jordanian citizens and present the party’s activities in an accessible way”, stated Valentina Asfour, a 19 year-old female member of Jordan Democratic Nature Party (JDNP).

Valentina is a young political activist who participated in the annual Young Political and Civil Actors training Programme (2017-2018) implemented by the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) within the third component of the Project ‘EU Support to Jordanian Democratic Institutions & Development’ Programme (EU-JDID). The training has been organised in cooperation with the Ministry of Political and Parliamentary Affairs (MoPPA).

Valentina has been participating in the training sessions Since November 2017. These provide participants with theoretical knowledge and are an open space for dialogue & debate on shared problems and concerns with the opportunity to learn practical skills intended to strengthen participants’ political activities.

Valentina believes the training gave her a “lifetime lesson: the importance of finding the most effective way to communicate values and objectives in order to sustainably support a political agenda. So far, Valentina put into practice what she has learned. As an active member of JDNP, she has been communicating on her party’s activities and initiatives through non-conventional and innovative approaches in order to effectively reach–out to the public.

“Social media is an important factor in political activities and in the way people think about issues. The training taught me that social media is a strong tool to directly reach out to the people in the community, to explain JDNP policies and to strengthen the connection between supporters and citizens. Strategically thinking about social media in politics strongly helped us in our ‘Green Programme’ initiative,” added Valentina Asfour.

The ‘Green Programme’s purpose is to promote political causes through environmentally friendly actions. The party, which employs peaceful and environmentally-friendly means to relay its positions, developed a sound communication strategy based on social media in order to present its vision and its activities to the public. JDNP thus aims to enhance its visibility as well as interactions with citizens. Through active and innovative communication based on social media, Valentina and JDNP aim to raise the awareness of Jordanian citizens on environmental and social issues while encouraging all citizens to be part of positive change. 

Focus on women and youth in politics

Over 67% of Jordan’s population is under 30 years of age. EU-JDID supports the new generation of political and civil activists to be part of democratic change and reform.

“What is Democracy? Is it people for the People or men for the People?”  The words of UN Women Executive Director are food for thought. Democracy is about inclusion, fair participation and representation. This is the reason why EU-JDID is contributing to enhance women’s voices and participation in politics!