Investing in Women .

Dana’s family always supported her passion for cooking. In 2010, when her husband heard through a local community promotion campaign about the scholarships to study at RACA, he rushed to tell her the news.

“My husband and father really encouraged me to apply, and I was amazed by their positive reaction,” she said. “Many women I know are now considering taking up hospitality education. When they ask for my opinion, I tell them that if they have a true passion to work in hospitality, then they should go for it; it’s rewarding and offers a variety of promising careers.”

According to chef Anton Würsch, director of programs at RACA, “The Royal Academy of Culinary Arts’ gratitude is endless towards the USAID tourism project scholarships to its students, since we firmly believe that dedicated women like Dana will make a prosperous difference in Jordan’s culinary world. The combination of such support and our academic program will surely result in more women being successful in what is considered to be a highly competitive industry in the region.”

Dana completed her six-month internship at a leading 5-star hotel in Amman and graduated from her program at RACA in early 2012 with an honors award diploma. After her graduation, she had an opportunity to travel to Bahrain to gain international exposure in culinary arts.

“I have wanted to study culinary arts for a long time. Here, I have learned that culinary art is a field that reaches beyond cooking; it is based on science and measurements and is also about adding value and creating a memorable food experience,” she explained. She is finally on the path toward achieving her goal and is eager to gain international experience. She plans to start her own restaurant or pastry shop when she returns to Jordan.

Through USAID’s Jordan Tourism Development follow-on project, Economic Growth through Sustainable Tourism, Chemonics is working to increase Jordan’s competitiveness as a tourism destination by supporting public and private sectors capacity to develop and manage tourism resources in a competitive and sustainable manner, improve visitors’ tourism experiences, promote Jordan as a destination, and build human resource capacity to ensure excellent standards of service. The goal is to spur tourism while preserving Jordan’s historic and natural treasures.