This report explores the role of Small and Medium-Enterprises (SME);; as an agent for sustainable human development in Jordan. It analyzes SMEs and their contribution to human development using fours key central pillars of human development;; namely: economic growth that is equitable and pro-poor;; social progress;; participation and empowerment through micro finance;; and environmental sustainability. The report analyses the link between SMEs and empowerment or lack thereof;; with a specific focus on the two issues of employment;; as a tool for empowerment;; and the capacity of SMEs to enhance the position of women within the workforce and home. The report findings were based on extensive research;; a survey of 1;;500 firms and focus groups discussions conducted across the governorates of Jordan. The report proposed general recommendations in terms of institutional coordination;; exports;; cluster groups;; quality standard;; government monitoring;; tax law;; local development;; youth empowerment and the increase of minimum wage.

This study comes in as a second step that follows producing the diagnostic study “The Informal economy in the Jordanian Economy” which measures the informal economy in the Jordanian economy based on the Jordan Labor Market Panel Survey 2010This study aims to serve different goals as follows: (i) Providing a qualitative dimension to informality in Jordan;; (ii) Defining the factors that drive and motivate the informal economy;; (iii) Defining whom from the various segments of society are most affected by informality (iv) Focusing on the relation between informality and both youth and women;; (v) Testing the links and relations between informality and SMEs operation;; (vi) Showing which sectors are most affected by informality;; how and why;; (viii)Showcasing the regions in Jordan that demonstrate high rates of informality.

Many reports talk about poverty and the poor;; but few actually provide the space for the poor themselves to take centre stage and to talk about their lives. Jordan’s second National Human Development Report redresses this imbalance. It places the poor at the centre of analysis and attempts to capture the diverse and dynamic characteristics of poverty through the eyes of the poor themselves. A major theme of the report is that the considerable human development gains that have been achieved at the macro-level in Jordan have yet to trickle down to many sub-groups among the poor. The report provides detailed recommendations to accelerate this process and to enhance positive outcomes for the poor.