Disclaimer:
Please be aware that the content herein has not been peer reviewed. It consists of personal reflections, insights, and learnings of the contributor(s). It may not be exhaustive, nor does it aim to be authoritative knowledge.
Title
Please provide a name for your action learning plan.
Experimenting with Creative confidence
Challenge statement
Challenge type: If you are working on multiple challenges, please indicate if this is your "big bet" or "exploratory" challenge.
Please note: we ask you to only submit a maximum of 3 challenges - 1x Big Bet, 2x Exploratory. Each challenge must be submitted individually.
EXPLORATORY
Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)
Our challenge is how to build creative confidence for a group of women in Madaba to transform their ideas into marketable crafts that promote sustainability and economic empowerment?
Background: What is the history of your challenge? What is causing or driving it? Who is involved? How does the current situation look like? What undesired effects does it produce?
The experiment seeks to empower women from Madaba by integrating creative confidence with the principles of a circular economy. Going beyond traditional interventions, it offers a holistic approach where women are encouraged to explore and expand their creative potential independently, using discarded materials to produce handmade marketable products. This initiative not only builds artistic skills and confidence but also promotes environmental sustainability by repurposing waste. The concept of circular design emphasizes resource efficiency, reuse, and regeneration, aiming to minimize waste and promote sustainability. By adopting this approach, the experiment enables women to create eco-friendly products that align with both environmental and economic goals.
The creative confidence experiment will nurture women’s artistic talents, allowing them to discover and unlock their creative potential. Equipping women with the skills and confidence to express themselves through art, the experiment will provide them with not only a new form of creative expression but also an opportunity for economic empowerment. The experiment will end with a Christmas bazaar in Amman, where women will have the chance to sell their handmade products, connecting their creativity to tangible outcomes.
The experiment will involve researching methods to create convenient products from discarded materials, showcasing how waste can be transformed into valuable, desirable items. By ensuring these creative processes are replicable, accessible, and straightforward, we can amplify the practical benefits of circular design and encourage the adoption of sustainable practices. This scalable approach holds the potential to be applied across various UNDP projects and interventions, promoting a broader shift toward sustainability.
Quantitative evidence: What (official) data sources do you have on this challenge that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge? You can add text, a link, or a picture.
N/A
Qualitative evidence: What weak signals have you recently spotted that characterizes its urgency? Please provide qualitative information that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge. You can add text, a link, or a picture.
The experiment is a result of observations from the tourism in Madaba research that highlighted a critical gap in the availability of high-quality, locally produced goods, which limits the country’s economic potential and appeal to tourists. This experiment seeks to address this gap by empowering women to create sustainable, high-quality products that not only meet market expectations but also reflect the rich cultural heritage of the region.
The experiment will generate actionable insights and practical learnings that can directly benefit different projects run by UNDP, in particular the upcoming permanent exhibition that is under construction by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Environment. By developing women’s creative confidence and sustainable production practices in Madaba, this experiment provides a scalable model that can be adapted for Jordan’s Badia and adjacent rural communities.
The exhibition, which will promote and sell products year-round from over 4,500 local producers supported by community-based organizations, is expected to attract 1 to 1.5 million visitors annually and generate JD 4.5 million in revenue. Integrating the principles of creative confidence and circular economy learned from this experiment will equip local producers for the Badia region with enhanced skills in sustainable product development and marketing, thus supporting the exhibition’s goal of economic empowerment. This approach ensures that the exhibition not only promotes local products but also fosters a deeper cultural and environmental connection, enhancing the market appeal and sustainability of Badia’s unique offerings.
Through its Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) project, UNDP conducted a series of training sessions aimed at empowering women from the Jordan Valley. These sessions focused on developing and enhancing products that could foster sustainable livelihoods for local communities. To gain insights and improve future initiatives, the Accelerator Lab reached out to a sample of these women to learn more about their training experiences and explore ways to create an even more impactful program for the upcoming experiment.
The experiment will help understand the preferences and convenience of both consumers and producers, helping to bridge gaps in market demand. As part of this research, we will circulate an online survey to collect insights into consumer preferences and identify which types of products are most appealing to local and visiting audiences. Additionally, the experiment will explore potential partnerships by linking the women participants to local retailers such as Al-Afghani to expand their market reach.
Value proposition: What added value or unique value proposition is your Accelerator Lab bringing to solving this challenge? Why is it your Lab that needs to work on this challenge and not other actors within UNDP, other stakeholders in the country respectively? Why is it worth investing resources to this challenge?
The Accelerator Lab empowers women in Madaba by building their creative confidence and teaching them to turn waste into marketable crafts. By combining artistic training with circular economy principles, the Lab helps women gain skills, generate income, and create sustainable products, offering a model that can be scaled to other communities.
Short “tweet” summary: We would like to tweet what you are working on, can you summarize your challenge in a maximum of 280 characters?
Turning trash into treasure! 🌟 Women in Madaba are unleashing their creative confidence, crafting stunning eco-friendly products, and prepping to shine at a Christmas bazaar. Sustainability + empowerment = magic! 🎄✨ #CreativeConfidence #CircularEconomy
Partners
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
Hamsa Ordonia for Development and training
What sector does our partner belong to?
Civil Society
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
The non profit company called "Hamsa Ordonia" will provide the trainning location and the women that will be trained for this experiment. The lab will be providing the materials and the expert.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
Yes
Learning questions
Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?
Our assumptions for the experiment are:
Training can boost creative confidence by helping women develop the belief that they can create original works of art after receiving proper guidance.
Artistic skills can be taught, enabling participants to learn and apply new techniques, such as making bracelets and charms, in a short period.
Increased creative confidence will lead to greater productivity, encouraging women to produce more and explore new ideas in their crafts.
There is a strong market demand for handmade crafts, particularly for items like bracelets and charms, especially during seasonal events like the Christmas bazaar.
Women’s participation in the Christmas Bazaar will lead to sales, offering them financial empowerment and motivating them to continue creating.
To what stage(s) in the learning cycle does your learning question relate?
Explore, Test
Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
The generated insights will enrich ongoing projects and help shape future interventions aimed at integrating sustainable economic practices into local tourism and production landscapes. As these women showcase their creations at the Christmas bazaar and beyond, their work will serve as a model of how innovative, community-driven approaches can bridge economic gaps and drive social change. This experiment not only supports UNDP’s vision for inclusive growth and sustainable development but also reinforces the importance of creative confidence as a tool for empowerment across communities in Jordan.
Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
The experiment seeks to empower women from Madaba by integrating creative confidence with the principles of a circular economy. Going beyond traditional interventions, it offers a holistic approach
where women are encouraged to explore and expand their creative potential independently, using discarded materials to produce handmade marketable products. This initiative not only builds artistic skills and confidence but also promotes environmental sustainability by repurposing waste. The concept of circular design emphasizes resource efficiency, reuse, and regeneration, aiming to minimize waste and promote sustainability. By adopting this approach, the experiment enables women to create eco-friendly products that align with both environmental and economic goals.
Closing
Early leads to grow: Think about the possible grow phase for this challenge - who might benefit from your work on this challenge or who might be the champions in your country that you should inform or collaborate with early on to help you grow this challenge?
The experiment will generate actionable insights andvpractical learnings that can directly benefit different projects run by UNDP, in particular the upcoming permanent exhibition that is under construction by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Environment. By developing women’s creative confidence and sustainable production practices in Madaba, this experiment provides a scalable model that can be adapted for Jordan’s Badia and adjacent rural communities.
The exhibition, which will promote and sell products year-round from over 4,500 local producers supported by community-based organizations, is expected to attract 1 to 1.5 million visitors annually and generate JD 4.5 million in revenue. Integrating the principles of creative confidence and circular economy learned from this experiment will equip local producers for the Badia region with enhanced skills in sustainable product development and marketing, thus supporting the exhibition’s goal of economic empowerment. This approach ensures that the exhibition not only promotes local products but also fosters a deeper cultural and environmental connection, enhancing the market appeal and sustainability of Badia’s unique offerings.
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8Decent work and economic growth
11Sustainable cities and communities
12Responsible consumption and production
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