First school of social work in Jordan
McGill, MCHRAT and the country of Jordan to work together
Press Conference
Monday, January 20, 1997, 5:30 P.M.
McGill University School of Social Work
3506 University Street, Wendy Patrick Room, Ground Floor
Media representatives are invited to meet the Presidential delegate of the University of Jordan, Dr. Mohammad Maqusi, and key representatives of the Government of Canada and of McGill University at the official announcement of a CIDA-funded collaboration between the two universities to establish the first school of social work in Jordan. Dr. Maqusi will be signing the agreement for the University of Jordan and Chancellor Gretta Chambers for McGill University. The Hon. Sheila Finestone will represent the Government of Canada.
The Montreal Consortium for Human Rights Advocacy Training (MCHRAT) is a McGill-based interuniversity institute which forms partnerships between persons and organizations in the forefront of social development and human rights advocacy and the academic community. Since 1992, MCHRAT has advanced two parallel initiatives in the Middle East to promote development, democratic participation, coexistence and peace building. These initiatives are both linked to academic institutions and have a direct impact on social development policy and practice.
In 1994 MCHRAT began working intensively with the University of Jordan, the Jordanian government and the central Jordanian NGOs to identify possible collaborative projects which could contribute regionally to the reduction of inequality and the promotion of peace. Last June, the University of Jordan established a committee convened by the Vice President Academic (at that time, Dr. Maqusi) through which McGill University and MCHRAT will assist the University of Jordan to establish the first school of social work in Jordan.
There are many reasons to give priority to programs that will assist the poor and disadvantaged in both Jordan and Israel. For example, it is quite certain that war and violence pose a greater threat to the poor than to other segments of society, and it is also in the overcrowded slums where despair, anger, alienation and fundamentalism burst into violence and deeply undermine democratic processes.
In addition to its work with Jordan, MCHRAT has been instrumental in establishing three storefront teaching centers in Israel which are modeled after the experience of Project Genesis in Montreal, which Professor Jim Torczyner, Director of MCHRAT, pioneered twenty years ago. MCHRAT also seeks to advance collaboration in the Middle East by providing fellowships to Jordanians and Israelis to pursue specialized programs of study at McGill to develop.
