AMMAN -- Social Development Minister Abdullah Oweidat said his ministry's philosophy does not accept the notion of "fixed monthly allowances" for aid beneficiaries.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the minister said the National Aid Fund's (NAF) payments to the poor were merely "temporary assistance" until the beneficiary's living conditions improve.
This government assistance should eventually be replaced with a one-time payment to be used by the targeted family to start their own income-generating project, the minister said.
In recent remarks to the press, Oweidat said NAF's role is to help the poor help themselves.
In yesterday's statement, he said the ministry had prepared a restructuring plan that paves the way for the ministry and NAF to implement their strategies.
"We plan to reach out to poverty pockets and work to get rid of the idea of [regular] assistance."
Oweidat recently announced a project to establish a training institute for young women, mainly targeting families benefiting from NAF payments.
The "Jordanian Academy for Housekeeping" plans to run three-month training courses for women, Oweidat told The Jordan Times.
According to the minister, the idea is to open up training opportunities for the poor, especially in fields now dominated by foreign labour.
Under the ministry's strategy, as soon as one of the family members finds a job for a sufficient salary, or the family starts a microproject to support itself, the monthly allowance will be automatically cancelled.
A project like the housekeeping academy would also save Jordan the money paid to 25,000 domestic helpers now employed by Jordanian households.
NAF was a major player in a nationwide campaign this year to ease the living conditions of the poor, which started with "welfare caravans" sent by the Royal Court that provided 21,000 poor families with essential food commodities that would meet their needs for six months.
Aid distribution now relies on a unified database compiled by the Social Development Ministry, ending a state of chaos that prevailed in the past years.
A third partner in the humanitarian mission is the Zakat Fund, which works under the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs. It supervises the work of hundreds of voluntary Zakat committees that raise money and other forms of aid mainly from mosque goers.
By Mahmoud Al Abed
© Jordan Times 2005
