Following the success of JRF’s work though the Rural Community Cluster Development Program (RCCDP), the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation (MoPIC) provided funding to the JRCEP so as to implement a pilot economic empowerment project in the village of Khazma, located in the Deir 'Alla district of the Balqa Governorate. Its 5,000 residents established squatter settlements following the Palestinian exodus during the War of 1948, and Khazma’s community suffers from unemployment, poverty and other socio-economic challenges.
The project will partner with the Khazma Women’s Co-operative, which is a thriving local community initiative. This co-operative operates a small dairy processing facility, and has had a positive social and economic impact on the lives of its nearly 50 members.
This project - which is a two-year pilot project, began in January 2004, and was designed to strengthen and expand the activities of this co-operative and to increase community-led economic opportunities in the area.