In Jordan, GAGE research explores young people’s multidimensional capabilities and how the opportunities and risks they face as they move through adolescence and into young adulthood- vary according to a number of characteristics, including gender, ethnicity, residence location, and refugee, disability and marital status. GAGE research also focuses on the programming and services available to young people, and how their uptake impacts individuals’ trajectories over time.

GAGE’s research in Jordan is longitudinal and uses mixed methods. We are following approximately 4,500 Syrian, Jordanian, Palestinian and Dom adolescents living either in Jordanian host communities, formal refugee camps established by UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East), or informal tented settlements. As part of our research, we are evaluating the short- and medium-term impacts of several programming initiatives led by UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) Jordan. These include its Makani one-stop centres, which provide young people with age-tailored programming to reduce all types of violence, bolster their academic and life skills, improve their psychosocial outcomes, and foster social cohesion. We are also evaluating UNICEF Jordan’s support to facilitate learning during Covid-19 school closures, and a cash transfer programme aimed at supporting access to education for adolescents from the most disadvantaged households.

In Jordan, GAGE works with the survey firm, Mindset, and with a team of independent qualitative researchers. GAGE has memorandums of understanding with UNICEF Jordan, the National Council for Family Affairs and the Higher Population Council.
 

GAGE is employing a mixed-methods research and impact evaluation design in Jordan. Quantitative surveys – which explore young people’s education, health, bodily integrity and freedom from violence, psychosocial well-being, voice and agency, and economic empowerment – have been fielded with two cohorts of adolescents: a younger cohort aged 10–12 years at baseline, and an older cohort aged 15–17 at baseline. Female caregivers have also been surveyed. Qualitative research involves individual and group interviews (using tools carefully tailored for age and context) with adolescents, caregivers, and diverse key informants. These include teachers and health care providers, community, traditional and religious leaders, and policy and programming experts. In addition there is a participatory research strand with girls who were married as children, working boys and adolescents with disabilities. These groups of young people meet quarterly to discuss key issues in their lives and communities, and are also engaged in participatory photography. 

In Jordan, GAGE is following approximately 4,500 young people through quantitative surveys and approximately 400 through qualitative tools. 

GAGE’s sample includes the most marginalised young people who are ‘hardest to reach’. This includes young refugees, young people with disabilities, those who married as children, those who are out of school, and those who migrate seasonally with their families to do agricultural work.

Young people living in Jordan, and particularly refugees and boys, face many barriers to education, due to its real and opportunity costs, which increase as adolescents age. Educational quality is poor, and few young people are acquiring the literacy and numeracy skills they need for successful adulthood. Young people also face multiple threats to their bodily integrity, health, psychosocial well-being and (future) livelihoods. These threats include: rampant age- and gender-based violence, at home, at school and in the community; limited access to services, support and justice to address these experiences of violence; substance use (for boys); child marriage and early childbearing (for girls); and a labour market (constrained by national policies, especially for refugee communities) that is unable to generate enough opportunities for decent work.

GAGE research suggests that young people could be best supported through stepped-up access to social protection aimed at facilitating their access to education, through policy and programming designed to improve access to the labour market, and through empowerment programming that directly addresses gender norms and how these limit young people’s broader opportunities.