Kaizen Launches Professional Communities in Jordan
As part of the USAID-funded and Deloitte Consulting-led Jordan Economic Development Project (SABEQ), The Kaizen Company recently launched Professional Communities in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The Professional Communities (PCs) initiative, currently in the pilot stage, is one way Kaizen will deliver on its promise to exponentially increase the value proposition that donors can expect from their implementing partners: The Kaizen Company will continue to provide direct support for Professional Communities in Jordan well beyond the life of the USAID Economic Development Program, without additional donor assistance funding. Management of communities will ultimately transfer from the SABEQ Project to a local organization chosen by the community members.
Professional Communities serve Jordanian professionals in a number of fields, and work as social networks facilitating the transfer of ideas, experiences, and expertise to professional peers. Member decisions drive the technical direction of each community and the provision of additional assistance. PCs also create opportunities for Jordanian management consulting firms to identify prospective clients for their services.
Current Professional Communities support Jordanian professionals working in: 1) Human Resources Management, 2) Strategic Management, 3) Trade and Export Development, and 4) Bank Risk Management. Total membership in the these communities has risen from 165 to over 400 in the six months since their inception. Additional communities, including Economic Media, Environment, Water, and Energy (EWE), and Public Sector Performance, are in various stages of planning.
"SABEQ has taken the initiative to create and promote the kind of Professional Communities we always needed in Jordan. Through our regular meetings we are given an excellent opportunity, as HR professionals working in the private or public sectors, to meet, interact, share knowledge, and explore new opportunities in such a professional and supportive atmosphere."
- Eman Ayoub, Human Resources Professional Community member
Professional Communities leverage SABEQ assistance initiatives and external resources, captured and packaged to be easily accessed, understood, and applied by Jordanian professionals. Community events will soon be complemented by an interactive portal that serves as an additional meeting place for collaboration, a consolidator of groups’ collective knowledge, and a provider of international resources and expertise. The Kaizen Company has formed partnerships with over fifty international, regional, and local organizations in order to make additional value-added content available to community members.
This portal is currently being branded and adapted for use in Jordan and will be based on a previously conceived Kaizen Company initiative which can be viewed in beta form at: www.kaizenconnect.org.
