Yes We Can project succeeded into reaching 207 students who interacted and fully engaged with the student action group in the implementation of their university action oriented projects on a volunteer basis. Also, the project succeeded into reaching out 2001 students from the 5 universities who were trained, mentored and involved in the implementation of each university's initiatives by participating in the activities, attending the meetings and thus increased their awareness level of civic involvement and develop their skills. The project succeeded into raising the knowledge and awareness on human rights, democratic values and civic skills.
At the end of “Yes We Can“ project Under the patronage of his Excellency the Minister of Higher Education, Professor Amin Mahmoud, The Arab Network for Civic Education “ANHRE” and in coordination with the five teams in the targeted university conducted the Assessment Conference of "Yes We Can" project. on June 16, 2014 in Geneva Hotel in (Amman –Jordan).
This conference aimed at presenting the outcomes and evaluating student’s initiatives that contribute to emphasize the values of human rights among students, activate the role of the students in their universities and enhance the universities and students’ councils performance.
The event included participation of representatives from the five targeted universalities, representative of MEPI, CSOs that are concerned with promoting youth role in the community, in addition to the students involved in the project.
During the conference, the representative of his Excellency the Minister of Higher Education emphasized on the importance of the role played by civil society organizations in the promoting the role of youth in the community, and pointed out the complementary relation between civil society organizations and the Ministry of Higher Education, which aims to improve societies through the preparation of active young people aware about their rights and duties.
ANHRE Executive Director presented an introduction bout the project and appreciated the efforts of the participating universities, which worked to support the efforts of students who have contributed to providing ideas of constructive initiatives in order to promote the role of youth in the community. In additionally d student’s ability to deal with challenges to turn them into success stories during a lifetime of the project were praised.
The Hashemite University initiative included launching students’ service office to facilitate book and study materials exchange among students, support the implementation of students' initiatives and enable them to participate in university initiatives. The initiative contributed in making students believes in their abilities to help other students, adopt and encourage their ideas, and solve their problems. The office is now a reference point for student’s where they can find help, guidance and instructions for their educational and voluntary needs. They encouraged students to implement various initiatives and motivated them to work effectively through instructing them and cooperate with them to think of new ideas than contribute to enhance university environment.
Tafila Technical University initiative included establishing Students’ Clubs focusing on the cultural and social rights, the right to participation and the right to expression for students. These clubs are responsible for conducting various cultural, sport, and recreational activities, in addition to awareness activities on human rights and democratic citizenship. Tafila University team identified 5 clubs that were created within the initiative, the cultural committee, Sport Committee, Recreational Committee, Female Students Committee, and Public Relation Committee.
The University of Jordan initiative included “review the educational process” focusing on the right to proper education. The students involved their colleagues in reviewing the educational process in cooperation with the faculty members by conducting a survey that had been filled by 400 students from humanitarian and scientific colleges to evaluate the educational process. Then the students conducted a panel discussion on the results of the survey and the recommendations had been sent to the president of the university who transfered that to the dean of students' affairs to follow up with the students on their recommendations.
The Jordan University of Science and Technology initiative included "debate contest" as a first step to establish debate club to encourage students to be engaged in activities on the debates based on the right to expression for students. The initiative encourage students to acquire the basic skills of debate and accept the other opinion and respect constructive criticism and therefore work to create a civilized atmosphere between students based on dialogue and respect for difference of point of views.
the Balqa University initiative included improving university facilities based on the right to rest and leisure and clean environment. The students succeeded to reaching potential donors and convincing them to take their social responsibility which will encourage students to take active role in the university through participating in voluntary works to improve the university environment.
During this conference, each team presented it’s initiative and achievement. A judgment was made by a jury that included Mrs. Khuzama Al-Rashid from Amnesty-Jordan and Mr. Kamal Al-Mashreqi, an expert in Human Rights based approach.
Shields were provided for each university team to reward them for achieving particular impact on their university where the Jordan University of Science and Technology were awarded for success in developing dialogue and critical thinking skills among students; Tafila Technical University for its success in integrating large and diverse number of students; the Hashemite University for its success in achieving sustainability and institutionalization within the university environment; the University of Jordan its success in activating students role in the learning process; and Balqa Applied University for its success in improving the university environment. In addition to additional shield for the best presentation was provided to Tafila Technical University.
At the end of the conference, honoring shields were provided to the five targeted universities for their cooperation and support for students during the project lifecycle. In addition to honoring shield that was provided for PepsiCo for their support for Balqa University initiative