The Youth Excel program empowers young people and youth organizations to drive local development by using implementation research and digital leadership skills to strengthen local, national, and global development solutions. It supports young leaders and youth-led and youth-serving organizations around the globe to conduct quality implementation research—a type of research that focuses on collecting data during a program to improve the program in real time. Youth Excel will offer funding for thematic, regional, and global implementation research. Youth Excel will also support local partners to conduct implementation research for their youth-focused programs.

Collaborative Content Sharing and Audio-Recording for the Visually Impaired

Matar Project is a youth-run Social Enterprise that initially started in Irbid/ North of Jordan to help provide audio recordings of academic books to visually disabled university students. They used to run an operational model that limits the achievement of this “text to speech” objective to two options. While the first engages volunteers in producing electronically readable text by converting text in images or pdf. into MS Word, the second channels their efforts in recording the text in audio format using their mobile smartphones. A volunteer coordinator then collects and archives recordings or documents and sends them by email or voice notes using messaging apps to students who initially requested them.

Innovating Solid Waste Management via Consumer Engagement and Reward Systems

SOWA EX is an innovative solution that is revolutionizing the landscape of Recycling in Jordan. Run by Khubbaizeh, a Jordan-based Environmental Movement, the App encourages environmental responsibility and consumer engagement by facilitating the improvement of solid waste management processes in Jordan. Solid waste constitutes recyclable plastic and aluminium. To qualify as recyclables, plastic and aluminium should not be mixed with other types of waste. This process requires the collection of such items directly from the source (the consumer), a method usually referred to as “Source Separated Recycling”.

Creating Educational Opportunities Through Innovative Community Mobilisation.

Founded in 2013 by Jordanian social entrepreneur Abdul Rahman Zghoul, Bread for Education takes bread leftovers from hotels, restaurants and schools, and turns it into healthy feed for livestock sold to farmers and traders. To create social impact, the organisation channels revenue from this model into financing scholarships, school supplies and educational opportunities to underprivileged youth and refugees. Previously, the collection of bread was dependent on a small group of volunteers, something that has posed sustainability and scalability implications. Through the Social Innovation Incubator: Holoul 2030, Bread for Education has innovated a new way to incentivise the local communities of Zarqa and Russeifeh in playing a role in Food Waste Management, an issue that had created a burden on the local municipality and resulted in environmental epidemics.

Independent Youth Network
Location: Nationwide, Jordan

In partnership with UNICEF Jordan, Tech Tribes revamped and expanded the Jeel962 Network (formerly UNICEF Change Agents Network (UCAN)) by taking its members on a journey to discover their role and capacities as active change agents in society. Over a period of three years of mentorship, Tech Tribes engaged members in framing the structure, mission, and vision of the network. In consultation with members, it was deemed vital to revamp the network’s visual and digital identities and to draft a new set of bylaws and internal policies. Today, through the newly-developed Digital Engagement Platforms, Jeel962 celebrates a community of more than 15,000 change-driven youth.

Combatting harassment one click at a time.

As the first of its kind in Jordan, “7arkashat” online interactive map and adjacent website were developed to crowdsource input on harassment incidents, allowing for open and direct citizen engagement. Individuals can report incidents of harassment and add as many descriptors as possible for that particular case (description of the harasser, harassed, time of incident, etc). The more incidents reported in a particular location, the more that location appears as a heat spot on the map indicating the urgency for intervention. The website also creates instant data visualization of certain correlations between statistics and displays them in charts, demonstrating the dimensions of the phenomenon. This introduces the map as a pressure and accountability tool. Crowdsourcing helps users make smarter and safer choices by identifying places that are particularly unsafe versus those that are relatively safer.

Community-based Organization (CBO)

Location: Aqaba, Jordan.

Tech Tribes mentored the ‘Youth of Tomorrow Community Development Center’ (YTCDC) in planning, implementing and launching their digital advocacy campaign ‘7aqqi Ashtaghel” (My Right To Work) in Aqaba. The campaign aimed at raising awareness and advocating for the rights of People with Disabilities (PWDs) to enter the workforce and enjoy a work environment that is free of physical and attitudinal barriers. The campaign targeted both the public and private sectors in Aqaba along with other organizations concerned with the well-being and rights of PWDs. The campaign was also successful in launching a public petition in support of activating articles in the Labour Law that guarantee PWDs’ rights to a workforce quota in large companies. The petition was presented to the House of Parliament and awaits decisions.