Jordanian university students meeting for Community of Practice (SoP) discussions

Over the past few months, Share-Net Jordan have been busy on a variety of projects, the highlights of which are below.

Roundtable Discussion: Two Fact Sheets on Reproductive Family Health and Elderly People

In collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund and the Higher Population Council, Share-Net Jordan held a roundtable discussion to present and discuss two fact sheets about reproductive health of the Jordanian family and the elderly, as part of the World Population Day celebrations.

The first factsheet discussed the role of Media and Communication in advocating and raising awareness of SRH Issues, including media and health awareness, the reality of Jordanian media and communication related to reproductive health, mechanisms for activating support and raising awareness on reproductive health issues, and a number of recommendations in this framework.

The second factsheet discussed Reproductive Health of the Elderly in Jordan, considering health for all stages of life. This includes  elderly men who may have partners who are still of childbearing age. The sheet aimed to highlight the needs of older people for Reproductive Health Services and Information, identifying gaps in data, research, programs for the elderly, and to reach specific recommendations in this regard. Focus topics examined the health of the elderly, namely:

• The availability of information and services on the reproductive/sexual health
• Marital status
• High percentage of widows among women
• Chronic incommunicable diseases related to reproductive/sexual health
• Functional difficulties, i.e. disabilities in the elderly related to reproductive/sexual health
• Types of cancers related to reproductive health, patterns of death amongst the elderly
• Infertility
• Family violence directed at the elderly as a vulnerable segment
• The availability of health insurance that ensures access to reproductive health care
• The availability of specialists in geriatrics
• The role of the elderly in influencing the reproductive health of young people in their families.

The sheet made specific recommendations to respond to the Reproductive and Sexual Health needs of the elderly.

Study Launch: The Intersection Between Mental Health and Maternal Health Around Childbirth for Married Syrian Refugee Women Under the Age of 18

SN-JO launched a study titled The Intersection Between Mental Health and Maternal Health Around Childbirth for Married Syrian Refugee Women Under the Age of 18.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming Training

SN-JO and the Higher Population Council supervised and participated in a training workshop for sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights on the topic of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Training, September 2022. The course was part of the training package for the project Towards Achieving More Sustainable Services and Solutions for the SRH needs of Young People and Refugees in Jordan, which is implemented in partnership with VRIJE Universiteit Amsterdam, the Dutch Academy Belink, the Royal Netherlands Tropical Institute KIT, Al-Yarmouk University, and the Jordanian Ahel Aljabal Association.

The course aimed to train participants in communication skills, training, and guidance, and to address a broad understanding of the concept of NLP and the possibility of applying it in their work.  Participants were enabled to use NLP, its models, interventions, and techniques to provide organized and effective training for young people, refugees and others. Participants had the chance to work on their own personal development, and integrate learnings into their work and personal lives.

The training focused on how to use NLP models to deal with personal challenges through positive psychology, what NLP models can be used to train others and how they are used.

Jordanian SRH University Students Community of Practice Meeting

In September 2022, a Community of Practice (CoP) meeting for Jordanian Students studying in the field of Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) was held to discuss key concepts, and receive a presentation by The Secretary General of the Higher Population Council Prof. Issa Almasarweh, entitled The Current Demographic Situation in Jordan, focusing on recent demographic trends and their impact on SRH Issues.

The students each had a role in the presentation, with representatives speaking about their own SRH focus, to transfer and share knowledge among the other members, followed by seminar discussions to question and share everyones knowledge. The session provided an opportunity for the CoP members to know each other, and involve everyone in discussions around relevant issues of sexual and reproductive health.

The CoPs representatives further presented the important findings and recommendations of recent desk reviews, which dealt with the following topics:

• Promoting information and education among parents and adolescents on sexual and reproductive health
• Determining information related to sexual and reproductive health and educational needs of individuals with disabilities (male and female)
• Technology in enhancing education and information related to sexual and reproductive healt

As a means of capacity building, an explanation of one of the most important tools of analysis – the Mind Map – was presented, where three topics related to sexual and reproductive health were selected as follows:

1. The preference of males over females as newborns.
2. Childbearing immediately after marriage.
3. The poor communication between parents and their children with regard to sexual and reproductive health.

Each group used the available tools to make a creative mind map of the topics and a prize was given to the winning team.