USAID is anticipated to release a call for proposals for a 10 to 25 million US$ opportunity entitled: The Advancing Women’s Agency and Leadership Activity (AWAL) in Jordan. The project will create transformational changes in gender relations at the family, community and national levels to enhance gender equality and advance women’s leadership in Jordan.

This will be achieved by:

1. Strengthening the enabling environment and institutional capacity and addressing structural barriers for women to fully exercise their rights, express their agency and freely lead and participate in society without restrictions;
2. Partnering with local stakeholders to counter prevailing prohibitive social norms that perpetuate gender inequality, undermine women’s agency to exercise their rights, and prevent transformative change in gender relations; and
3. Advancing the inclusive and transparent leadership and decision-making participation of girls and women.

This activity builds and capitalizes on work undertaken under the Gender Equality and Female Empowerment Takamol activity as well as other gender-related efforts implemented by USAID/Jordan over the past few years.

The USAID Takamol program is a flagship initiative to support gender equity and female empowerment in Jordan, particularly within the political, labor, justice, and education sectors. The program delivers support mechanisms, in-kind assistance, training, and grants to bolster the Jordanian National Commission for Women, Jordanian government ministries and semi-governmental organizations, local organizations, and universities in mainstreaming gender at policy, national, and community levels.

CARE is already mobilizing its resources to bid for this opportunity and is looking for a specialist in Gender and Social Norms in Jordan.

Now would be a great time to start building relationships with organizations to get a consortium together to apply for AWAL.