What We Do

In order to support its advocacy work, SADAQA has conducted several studies and reports in cooperation with international organizations focused on women economic empowerment and removing barriers to entry and retention in the workforce from a gender perspective. 

 

SADAQA brings together its expertise, research, and analysis to develop programs, campaigns, training, and initiatives in the areas of working women and families.

In general, there is a need to raise the capacities of caregivers in dealing with children, in running daycares in accordance with international standards and guidelines set by the Ministry of Social Development to ensure quality education, safety, cleanliness and other important measures. There is also a need to enhance the sustainability of daycares in Jordan by ensuring daycares have good financial and human resource systems and by ensuring expanding social protection for workers in this sector and that daycares contribute to social security and benefit from Article 42 social security fund.

SADAQA runs training programs for workers in the care sector as part of SADAQA’s program to build the capacity of the care sector in Jordan. The program targets both managers and caregivers from various governorates and from various models of daycares. The aim of the program is to upgrade the level of knowledge and skills in managing daycares and classrooms, and enhance their knowledge in childhood development and provide them with the required tools and skills to address the major milestones in children’s development. The training program also aims to reinforce knowledge in implementing up-to-date childcare support and work holistically on enhancing skills and knowledge for all actors in the childcare sector and not just the caregivers. The training program also includes labor rights awareness sessions in coordination with the Justice Center for Legal Aid (JCLA) as well as first aid training conducted by the Jordan Paramedic Society.

A pre and post written evaluation is conducted to assess the level of knowledge and skills required. Participants self-assess themselves against 13 learning objectives. SADAQA takes into consideration the results for each learning objective for future workshop design. A verbal evaluation is also carried out by the SADAQA team in an open discussion to understand what caregivers learned, what can be improved and what additional skills are required.

At the end of the training, a certificate is provided for the caregiver in the presence of both the Ministry of Social Development and Ministry of Labor.

Both the caregivers and the daycare managers training is delivered in cooperation with Reem Abu Ragheb at Book N Brush Nursery Amman.

SADAQA has been at the forefront of advocating for better availability of affordable and quality childcare facilities, building its work on Article 72 of the labor law. SADAQA has spearheaded efforts on amending Article 72 to ensure it is gender-neutral and enhance access of working parents. SADAQA has also influenced the narrative on structural barriers and created a public discourse demanding the establishment of daycares for working families. SADAQA has also established itself as a technical leader in the area of women’s economic participation and gender-responsive labor market solutions through the extensive analytical work on childcare, transportation, tax policies, and introduction of practical solutions for the expansion of needed services.

SADAQA, has influenced the narrative on structural barriers and created a public discourse demanding the establishment of daycares for working families, and reinforcing the role of the state in lifting the care burden. However, besides the limited availability of childcare facilities in the country, caregivers remain poorly trained and often provided with poor working conditions and low wages. The care sector is also undervalued and underpaid. Jordan also lacks adequate capacity in caring for children under the age of five especially new-borns and babies under the age of two; most of the expertise serves the age categories of (2‐4) since most of the daycares in Jordan care for this age group.

Since 2011, SADAQA has been championing efforts to address barriers to women’s labour force participation in Jordan. Through advocacy, partnerships with private sector, Ministries of Labour and Social Development, Social Security Corporation (SSC) UN agencies, and civil society organizations, SADAQA was successful in leading advocacy efforts targeting the Labour Committees in both the Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament, as well as the Ministry of Labour, to amend several legislative amendments.

In the absence of direct financial support by the government, SADAQA advocated for the acceleration in amending Article 42 of the Social Security Corporation related to maternity law, which was considered for amendment prior to the pandemic. SADAQA worked closely with SSC to amend and launch the “Care” Program in its first phase in October 2020 to provide support for mothers after the maternity leave to enroll their children in daycares through a monthly payment to cover the daycare fee, and its second phase in May 2021 to offer a sustained source for a direct financial support to daycares as part of the social security maternity fund directly support existing daycares to ensure availability and accessibility of daycares in Jordan.