A one-year project designed to serve as a business incubator and develop IT capabilities of local communities in the Wadi Rum area was officially launched by the USAID/Jordan Tourism Development Project (Siyaha), the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) and the Wadi Rum Protected Area management.

The launch took place during a signing ceremony held at the Wadi Rum Visitor Centre in the presence of USAID Jordan Mission Director Anne Aarnes, and ASEZA Chief Commissioner Nader Dahabi.

The “Wadi Rum Information Technology Network” project, to be implemented by NetCorps Jordan (NCJ), is an IT-related development project that seeks to increase economic opportunities from tourism for local communities in the Wadi Rum area.

This will be achieved by building the capacities of the local communities, especially youth, women, entrepreneurs and cooperatives, through providing them with professional and business skills as well as ICT tools and skills to enhance their performance, provide better services, and promote quality products.

The total cost of the project is JD 211,000 of which USAID/Siyaha awarded NCJ a grant in the amount of JD141, 500 to implement the project.

The project has already recruited and trained 21 young men and women from the local community, who have joined the project as NCJ paid interns for 10 months in order to carry out training and tourism development activities.

Over the course of the year, the project will train more than 200 people in basic IT and business skills resulting in new and improved tourism-related products and services.

The project grant will also cover tourism-related curricula development, basic IT training for the community, cooperatives’ capacity development, and IT-related project incubation.

The capacities of the cooperatives will be developed by improving their institutional, marketing and financial capabilities to enable them to provide a wider range of higher quality services to their members and the local community.

Tourism is a major source of income for communities in Wadi Rum, and the local cooperatives provide many services, including camping, guiding, 4x4 desert tours, camel treks, Bedouin cultural experiences, and more.