Pathfinder, empowering adolescents in Jordan to transition into a happy, healthy, and productive adulthood.
Building on an initial grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Ethiopia, we provided seed funding in 2021 to adapt the Act With Her (AWH) program to the Jordanian context for very young adolescents (VYA) ages10-14 across six governorates in Jordan. AWH takes a panoramic approach to partnering with adolescents and their caregivers to lay the foundations that they need to thrive through the transition to adulthood.
Following the enormous success of AWH in Jordan over the last two years, we partnered with the Netherlands Embassy and Pathfinder’s local partner, Institute for Family Health (IFH) to expand the scope of AWH-Jordan to reach older adolescents (OA) ages 15-19, and refugee communities. This next phase of work (August 2023 - July 2025) enables Pathfinder to better meet demand by adapting the AWH model to meet the unique needs of OAs in addition to VYAs. The program implementation involves weekly empowerment sessions where adolescents and their mentors discuss 38 thematic topics including puberty and menstruation, health, nutrition, education, communication, safety, gender, and economic empowerment. Parents and caregivers of participating adolescents attend group sessions to learn how they can best support and effectively engage with their children on important aspects of their life.
The success of the AWH has been clearly demonstrated by its impact on the community and its ability to generate positive word-of-mouth. Even before the recruitment for the OA program commenced, there was already a waiting list of community members who expressed their interest. These individuals had either experienced personal success and transformation in their VYA’s lives or had heard about the program from their friends or neighbors.
“I reached out to many of friends and neighbors and asked them to participate and to register their kids in the AWH project, because after the sessions I attended and after the positive change I saw in my own kids after participating, I realized how important it is for us as parents to pay attention to our children in this specific age. I told my friends and neighbors that if you want your girls to be happy and healthy, you must participate.”
Act With Her volunteer mentor discussing and retelling stories of her experience working with the AWH adolescents.
VYAs, accompanied by their caregivers, relaying their experience in the Act with Her program. Many adolescents were asking to repeat the program and want their older siblings to participate.