Youth between the ages of 10 to 24 make up 32% of Jordan's population and are characterized as the most educated faction of society. The contributions they are making in volunteerism, active civic participation and even in the leadership roles they may take on to develop their community is underestimated and misunderstood due to Jordan's traditional hierarchy. Youths do not reach their full potential due to lack of resources, lack of access to knowledge and information and the barriers created by the society and institutions. However, support for the potential of youth can be illustrated through the Royal Family, in which King Abdullah II referred to youth as the 'knights of change' and
Queen Rania Abdullah, "The only way to predict our future is to have the power to shape our future. We have the power to do that. The power is our youth."
The history of civil societies in Jordan dates back to the 60s, and the rapid development of civil societies in the 90s to what is today registered as 4,555 civil societies alone. There is no data to indicate how many of these civil societies are active, but an attempt was made to randomly map the activities of larger non-profit companies, Royal non-governmental organizations, civil societies and informal youth groups as a starting point or indicator of what types of activities were available to youth aged 10 to 24 in the various sectors and all the governorates of Jordan.
The aim of this Research exercise was to map the activities available to youth aged 10 to 24 years old in all the governorates of Jordan to recognize what is available to youth and the levels of interventions and the gaps that are yet to be filled. According to the Ministry of Social Development, there are 4,555 registered CSOs in Jordan alone, in addition to non-profit organizations, unions, associations, clubs, Royal NGOs and government organizations. Although many of these organizations are either inactive at the current time or do not target youth for their activities, the numbers of organizations that work with youth is still massive.
