Youth track

The question of personal identity and cultural diversity in the city

Amman, the capital of Jordan, has transformed over the past six years to a vibrant urban business and government center with a large youth population.

The youth of the city are diverse groups ethnically and culturally. The majority of these young people live in communities divided by a wide gap between east Amman and west Amman. Despite the great effort made to engage youth in the political and economic reform a discourse on their relationship to the city, and the country from a cultural perspective has yet to be initiated.

Takween’s Youth Track objective is to enhance youth's participation and pro-activity through a dialogic and cultural exchange of thoughts ideas, fears and joys which will empower our youth to create the imagined community they wish to be part of. The process is an essential component in the integration of youth as change agents in their community.

The state of silence around the question of identity and cultural diversity in the city of Amman continues to recreate an underlying current which impacts youth’s votes in the election process as well as their relationship to their network of resources, revealing their deep sense of isolation and fear.

As part of this program Takween conducted 9 Focus Groups with 108 youth of diverse cultural backgrounds. As well, 8 film portraits have been produced as a by product of this research process and currently a manual publication is being developed as well as an agenda for a youth forum due in May - June 2008.