Getting a shot of Vitamin Wauw

“Why should we fight wasta when we would all benefit from it anyway if we got the chance?”, said a critical participant when the campaign topic was introduced at the leadership training in Amman.

By Nadia Masri-Pedersen & Christian Lund Jensen

19. April 2011

Wasta, or Vitamin Wauw, is an essential part of Jordanian society and encompasses using personal connections to gain access to privileged positions, e.g. to get better public services, or even to avoid legal repercussions. In 2000, a survey by Arab Archives Institute in Jordan concluded that while almost 9 out of 10 respondents regarded wasta as a form of corruption, more than 6 out of 10 would use wasta in dealing with public and private actors.

Wasta was also one of the campaign topics chosen by the trainer group for the participants to develop a campaign around during the five-day leadership training in Amman in the beginning of April. By bringing relevant societal problems like wasta as campaign issues, the youth learn how to analyze complex challenges in their society and mobilize others around to act on these problems.

The 23 young participants who attended the training are all active in Zarqa where they work with different organisations, doing voluntary work in areas such as the environment, women’s rights, and in general improving conditions for youth to participate in local decision-making.

As part of the seminar the participants were trained in teamwork and inclusive leadership while at the same time designing a campaign from scratch. As Rinad, one of the voluntary trainers explains: “The participants are not used to the participatory approach, so it takes a few days before they start understanding what it actually means to include others in every process of the work”.

On the last day of the training, the group working with wasta as their campaign issue chose to engage the other participants by designing an event where some were favoured because of wasta – resulting in outrage from the rest of the group. In this way a complex issue in Jordan was made relevant and engaging, with the result that former critics were convinced of the injustices connected with using wasta.

“The aim is that the participants return to the activities in their own organisations with a bag full of new lessons, and feeling stronger and more confident about themselves. The new skills they get during the training is something they can use in their own local environment, and hopefully they have become inspired to engage people in new ways”, says Abed, one of the trainers at the seminar.

The training was definitely a vitamin injection – of the good kind!