Amman, Nov. 11 (Petra) –Zaha Cultural Centre (ZCC) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) on Wednesday signed a strategic partnership memorandum, aimed at enhancing early childhood development, engaging parents and caregivers, and supporting children’s social and emotional learning in Jordan.
The partnership seeks to expand the scope of programs and services provided to children and families across various governorates.
The Center's Executive Director, Rania Subeih, and IRC Country Director in Jordan, Eka Zhavania signed the memo.
Talking at the signing ceremony, Subeih stated the center said investing in early childhood lays the foundation for building capable generations to learn, grow, and participate actively in society.
She noted that child support begins with providing "safe and stimulating" environments, while strengthening the role of families and caregivers during the early stages of a child's life.
Over the past years, she added that collaboration with the IRC has been a "significant" experience, whcih contributed to development of the center’s programs, expansion of its services, and ability to reach thousands of children across various governorates.
She further noted that this partnership represents a "crucial" step to ensure the sustainability of the collaboration and broadening its impact.
She said this process will be achieved through exchanging expertise, capacity building for the center’s staff, and developing "high-quality" programs tailored to the needs of children and families.
"We look forward to continuing our joint efforts to provide children with better opportunities to learn through play, develop their social and emotional skills, and empower families and caregivers to support their growth during their formative early years." For her part, Zhavania stated the committee highlighted importance of investing in the child’s early years to ensure their future and development, adding that supporting families and caregivers, while strengthening the capacities of national institutions, is essential to achieving this goal.
She noted partnership with the center builds upon years of constructive collaboration and reflects shared commitment to enhancing early childhood development services.
Through this partnership, she said the two sides aim to orchestrate efforts, exchange expertise, and invest in building the capacity of local personnel, ensuring the sustainability of these programs and broadening their impact.
She voiced keenness to continuing joint work to provide children with better opportunities to grow, learn, and thrive, while empowering families and caregivers to support their children’s development during their formative early years.
This partnership, she affirmed, is an extension of the collaboration between the two organizations, which has been ongoing since 2019.
Together, she said the two sides have implemented a range of programs and projects designed to support children and families,.
These efforts have focused on supporting parents and caregivers, providing psychosocial support, enhancing direct services for children, and organizing hands-on, creative activities, she pointed out.
She noted that this collaboration has helped build a "shared" foundation of expertise and experience, paving the way for a "long-term strategic" partnership.
She added that this partnership is rooted in joint planning, capacity building, the exchange of knowledge, and enhanced collaborative action that extends well beyond the scope of individual projects.
She affirmed scale of this cooperation and its impact on children and local communities is evident through the ZCC's hubs, as beneficiaries under "Learning Through Play" program reached 12,557 children across 11 governorates during the three-month period from June to August.
Through this partnership, she said both sides are working to expand access to high-quality early childhood development services via the ZCC-affiliated hubs, whcih are implementing joint programs for parents and caregivers.
The committee has trained 50 facilitators from the ZCC-affiliated hubs, enhancing their skills and ability to deliver activities and programs, which would ensure quality and sustainability of the services provided to children and families.
Both sides aim to develop sustainable, scalable, community-based models that support Jordan’s national priorities for early childhood development.
The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to continue working jointly to enhance access to early childhood development services for children and families across Jordan.
//Petra// AG
