Violence Against Women Activities in PSP Jordan

The Jordan Private Sector Project for Women’s Health launched its partnership in September to reduce “Violence Against Women”(VAW). Media coverage was high due to the presence of Queen Rania Al Abdullah, US Ambassador David Hale, USAID Director Jay Knott and the Ministers of Health, Social Development, Planning and Religious Affairs.

The goal of the partnership is to reduce acceptance by the Jordanian public of domestic violence against women and to improve medical and counseling referral services for women victims. The DHS (2002) found that 87% of women surveyed accepted at least one reason that justified a husband beating his wife.

Under the project, the National Council of Family Affairs will encourage policy and decision makers to address VAW as a national priority and will conduct workshops for key decision makers of the Ministries of Social Development, Education, Health, Justice and Religious Affairs. The Nour Hussein Foundation Institute of Family Health will focus on 9 private hospitals and together with the Jordan Medical Council will train their medical staff in VAW detection and referral, as well as private doctors in clinics throughout the country.

The Queen Zein Al Sharaf Institute will award grants to 6 local NGO’s to expand their services to communities across Jordan. A referral system will be set up to link with trained doctors and with outreach health workers of the Circassian Charity Association and the General Union of Voluntary Societies. CCA plans to reach 42,000 women in their homes to raise awareness to VAW and provide counselling services and referral. The focus will be local communities in which the rate of violence is known to be high and where NGOs can provide services for women victims of violence.

For more information on the PSP Jordan initiative to reduce domestic violence against women please see the PSP Jordan USAID Project Brief and the PSP Jordan project launch brochure "Together Reducing Violence Against Women".