Jordan has a plan to retain nation's youth – can they sell it?
All Anas Atef wants is to open a restaurant and live next door to his parents.
His family has other plans for the 22-year-old college student: leave the country.
“The last thing I want to do is leave my family and community behind, although they are all telling me to leave,” Mr. Atef says. “I’m defying them and staying. But if the economy doesn’t turn around here, I won’t have a choice.”
In a kingdom where family and clan come first, emigrating as a life choice was uncommon, even a taboo.
But amid an economic tailspin, concerned Jordanians are urging their sons and daughters to find opportunities abroad – and not to look back – upending social norms.
In response, Jordan’s leadership is racing to win over Mr. Atef’s increasingly disenfranchised generation with a new economic plan. Its
