NCFA… incubator for protection and enhancement of service
11-16-2016
Seventeen years of success and consecutive achievements tell the story of the National Council for Family Affairs which came into being through by HM Queen Rania's vision and keenness to improve the quality of life for Jordanian families emanating from her belief in the important role of the family and the urgency of improving the quality of services offered to its members.
The story began in 2001 when HM King Abdullah II entrusted Her Majesty with the presidency of the Board of Trustees in recognition of her efforts in the field of the family and child.
Throughout its journey, NCFA has dealt with several family issues relying on the spirit of collaboration in the implementation of programs and projects pertaining to the family.
In the past year, NCFA worked with the Legislation and Opinion Bureau (LOB) to review the family protection against violence draft law which was submitted to the House of Representatives. A unified response was jointly developed with the Ministry of Social Development including a memorandum on the compelling reasons for the protection law which was discussed during the House's meeting and deliberations.
Following the directives of HM Queen Rania with regard to early childhood, NCFA has always given great interest to this field and to building a conscious and active generation in society. As such, the Council has worked to establish and develop a model paradigm for the work and institutionalization of nurseries in Jordan in accordance with the highest global and international standards.
In the same context, NCFA signed an agreement with the Arab Gulf Development Program (AGFUND) in 2007 under which 10 nurseries in several institutions were opened, the last of which was NCFA's own nursery launched few days ago.
With regard to NCFA's work in family protection issues, the National Framework for family Protection against Violence was launched under the patronage of HM Queen Rania who stressed the need to revisit the family protection system in Jordan as it was witnessing significant drawbacks. Her Majesty also emphasized the importance of addressing all legal, social and coordinative loopholes in the system to maintain Jordan's lead in the development of measures that ensure family and child protection.
Furthermore, NCFA has updated the National Framework for Family Protection against Violence under the supervision of the National Team for Family Protection against Violence the aims of which were to determine roles, responsibilities and mandates of relevant governmental and non-governmental institutions and indicate the manner in which they should handle family violence cases to guarantee coordination and complementarity of their efforts. The framework was later on endorsed by the Prime Ministry as a national reference document for handling family violence cases.
To enhance the preventive role of family counseling which contributes to mitigating conflicts and pressures that confront families, NCFA launched in 2010 a family counseling campaign under the patronage of HM Queen Rania, the outcomes of which included the opening of 10 technical counseling centers in the governorates of Amman, Irbid, Karak, Aqaba, Balqa and Mafraq in cooperation with NGOs. Outcomes also included the implementation of a range of training and awareness programs and signing of several memoranda of understanding with a number of national institutions on different family counseling issues.
As for the elderly, NCFA has paid special interest to their key issues through its follow-up on the National Strategy for Senior Citizens prepared in 2008.
During 2015, the evaluation analysis report for the National Strategy for Senior Citizens 2009-2013 was launched addressing its achievements and bottlenecks. The launching ceremony was attended by HM Queen Rania Al-Abdullah and the National Team for the Follow-up of the Implementation of the National Strategy for Senior Citizens who reiterated the importance of attending to the elderly in the community and introducing programs to enhance their livelihoods so as to make Jordan a leading role model in this regard as is the case in childhood and protection.
During 2014, NCFA worked on a report on the status of the Jordanian family with a view to build a database on the Jordanian family. Since then, the Council has worked on the report's findings and recommendations through organizing panel discussions which addressed topics such as compulsory education and drop-outs and the importance of family engagement in the political life.
Given these points, it is essential to say that Her Majesty's efforts and directives and her continued follow-up of NCFA's work has enriched the NCFA's success story. And, as Her Majesty recognizes the great value of these accomplishments, she believes that much more waits to be achieved with regard to sustainability of outcomes so as to continue feeding into the best interests of the Jordanian family and its members of all ages.
Hence, as HM the Queen was following on the work of NCFA making sure that the highest degrees of safety are provided for the family, she witnessed a regression in the performance of the family protection system. Thereupon, she instantly called for a review of all legal, social and coordination gaps found in the system to ensure that Jordan keeps its place as a leading country in affecting measures that create safe strongholds for the family and child. Guided by Her Majesty's vision and inspiration, NCFA's achievements will continue to flourish, aspiring to provide optimum levels of services to the Jordanian family to improve their standards of living.
August 31st,2016
