Decent jobs for Jordanians and Syrian refugees in the manufacturing sector

The project, which aims to benefit thousands of Jordanian and Syrian workers, is part of efforts to support the implementation of a new EU-Jordan trade agreement to relax the rules of origin.

Summary

The Government of Jordan, through its Compact, which was presented at the London Syria Conference in February 2016, agreed to accommodate 200,000 Syrian refugees in its labour market, in return for improved access to the European market, increased investment and soft loans.

As part of these efforts, a recent EU-Jordan trade agreement was signed, which allows for a relaxation of the “rules of origin”, giving Jordanian companies preferential access to European markets, provided they employ 15 per cent Syrian refugees in their workforce, increasing to 25 per cent in the third year.

This project, being funded by the Netherlands, will support hundreds of Jordanian companies, expanding their activities under the EU-Jordan trade agreement, to employ thousands of qualified Jordanians and Syrian refugees. The project will support these companies to export and create jobs through improving information on the export process as well as strengthening their links to EU buyers.

The activities are being implemented in collaboration with Ministry of Labour, the Jordan Chamber of Industry, the General Federation of Jordan Trade Unions, and the Jordan Investment Commission. The project will ensue that Syrian refugees and Jordanians, both men and women, find decent work in the Kingdom’s manufacturing sector, through the establishment of employment offices, offering job seekers employment and training opportunities, as well as job matching services. It will also help Syrians obtain work permits, facilitating their access to formal employment in the country’s labour market.

Objectives

Support manufacturing companies expanding their activities under the EU-Jordan trade agreement, to employ qualified Jordanians and Syrian refugees under decent working conditions. This will be achieved through:
  • Helping 5,000 Jordanians and Syrian refugee workers gain the skills and qualifications necessary to formally access jobs in manufacturing companies benefiting from the new EU-Jordan agreement; and
  • Supporting manufacturing companies to expand to EU markets under the new trade agreement.

Main Activities

Reach European markets, through:
  • providing 900 companies with relevant information related to the opportunities to export to the EU under the new trade agreement;
  • implementing sector-specific skills gap analysis to identify skills requirements for export;
  • assessing 200 companies on quality standards for export to EU; 

  • designing an investment map to chart the various investment possibilities; and
  • developing export coaching, marketing and advertising materials for at least 25 selected companies benefitting under the EU-Jordan agreement. 

Help Jordanian and Syrian workers access decent work, through:
  • establishing five employment offices to provide career services;
  • providing technical training and certification to 2,000 workers;
  • delivering a core work skills package by trade unions, including a component on rights at work;
and
  • facilitating Syrian workers’ access to work permits through collaboration with professional organisations and cooperatives.
Improve job matching services for workers and employers, through:
  • registering at least 7,000 Jordanians and Syrian refugees in employment offices and providing them with counselling;
  • placing at least 5,000 Jordanians and Syrian refugees in jobs; 

  • advising employers on ways of shaping jobs they are offering in order to make them acceptable to Syrian refugees and Jordanians (including wages and working conditions); and
  • analysing data provided by employment services and disseminating it to relevant stakeholders. 


Outcomes

  • Nine-hundred companies benefit from the support provided through the project and are aware of exports to EU markets; 

  • 25 companies benefit from export coaching;
  • at least 2,000 Jordanians and Syrian refugees gain the relevant competencies for jobs generated by the EU-Jordan trade agreement; and
  • at least 5,000 Jordanians and Syrian refugees and 900 companies benefit from job matching services that lead to employment.