Funded by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Makani (‘My Space’) centres have been providing young people living in Jordan with a variety of age-tailored programming since 2015. Originally designed to provide child protection and informal education to the 100,000 school-aged Syrian refugee children who were not able to attend school – because government schools had not yet been scaled up to meet needs – Makani centre programming evolved as the double-shift school system became fully operational (UNICEF Jordan, 2015; 2022).
Today, 114 centres serve disadvantaged young people of all nationalities and offer an array of courses in children’s rights; transferable life skills aimed at improving learning, employability, personal empowerment and citizenship (see Figure 1); tutorial support designed to complement formal education; and recreational opportunities designed to improve emotional and social outcomes (UNICEF MENA Regional Office, 2017; UNICEF Jordan, 2022). This brief, which draws on data collected by the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) research programme in 2022 and 2023, aims to contribute to the growing body of evidence that Makani centres support young people to thrive.
Suggested citation:
Presler-Marshall, E., Luckenbill, S., Jones, N., Baird, S. and Alheiwidi, S. (2024) ‘Adolescent psychosocial well-being and Makani integrated programming’. Policy brief. London: Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence
