COOL-YA - Creating Attractive Opportunities for Livelihood of Youth in Agriculture in Jordan

The COOL-YA project in Jordan is seeking to attract more youth to the agriculture by making it more appealing for the young people through technology, innovation, entrepreneurship, startups, IT and mentorship. The project will investigate ways on how young people can be involved in agro business and bring in new blood to this very traditional sector. To tackle these issues the project will support young farmers and cooperatives with infrastructure and equipment as well as with training (including TVET, entrepreneurship, foundational skills, new pre and post-harvest techniques etc.) and hands-on technical support. The project will support cooperatives and agro businesses to increase their productivity and create new job opportunities for youth. It pays special attention to innovation and integrating technology and IT solutions through supporting innovative thinking among students, supporting IT startups, as well as running an online platform that supports direct connection/sales between farmers and consumers. Given extremely low participation of women in the agricultural sector the project will systematically work on reducing barriers for women to join the sector. The project is strongly rooted locally with JEPA, JUST and JAEA being local technical and training partners. Through various interventions, the project will reach over 750 beneficiaries and farm holders, engaging additionally 1750 youth in trainings and directly creating job opportunities for around 500 young women and men. The project is funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Netherlands (Call by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Jordan soliciting concept notes for its Nexus Skills-Jobs for Youth Fund, which aims to promote empowerment of youth through increasing their skills and opportunities for economic participation, through employment and/or self-employment, in Jordan). Finn Church Aid (FCA) is the lead of the consortium and the accountable for the Grant Agreement, with JEPA (Jordan Exporters & Producers Association for Fruit & Vegetables), JAEA (Jordan Agricultural Engineers Association) and JUST (Jordan University of Science & Technology) being local technical and training partners.