Sameh Ajlouni

Dr. Sameh Ajlouni is an economist with three decades of subject matter experience in evidence-based policy analysis, economic development and program evaluation. He holds PhD degree in business economics, Master’s degree in international trade, Bachelor’s degree in statistics and Diploma in banking and finance studies.

Dr. Ajlouni joined Yarmouk University in September 2012, he was promoted to an associate professor of economics in April 2022, he took a sabbatical leave in September 2022.

In June 2023, he joined the ILO as a research and economic analysis officer working on EU-funded “Madad project” “Towards an inclusive national social protection system and accelerating decent job opportunities for Syrians and vulnerable Jordanians”. The joint project with UNICEF serves to support vulnerable Jordanians and refugees to successfully graduate from cash assistance through a combination scheme that addresses social protection and sustainable employment opportunities for income generation.

In September 2022, Dr. Ajlouni served as a labor market expert with the World Bank in one of its projects in the Jordan Technical and Vocational Skills Development Commission (TVSDC)[1]. His responsibilities span over establishing a labor market information system, investigating labor market activity and analyzing published data and statistics, conducting analysis of past performance labor market policies and trends as well as assessing future employment and TVET trends. In addition to these responsibilities, he had an active role in the implementation and follow-up of the unified TVET strategy that has been launched recently. The strategy has 3 main pillars aligned with the economic modernization vision concerning the TVET sector.

In 2012, Dr. Ajlouni served as monitoring and evaluation manager at Mercy Corps Jordan Office for one of its community-based projects funded by the USAID, designed to empower and enable communities in rural Jordan to address water scarcity by improving water use efficiency and water availability, in addition to building the capacity of 135 CBOs to implement lending programs and community mobilization programs. As a part of his responsibilities, he took the lead in setting the functions and the mandates of the M&E directorate in addition to building a results-based M&E system for the project including developing M&E tools and templates. 

In 2009, Dr. Ajlouni served as an economic and policy advisor with the ILO in one of its projects with the Jordan Ministry of Labor. He had a major role in establishing the economic and policy unit as well as providing technical assistance in economic and policy analysis in the Ministry. In addition to that he participated in reviewing and commenting on early drafts of the national employment policy originally developed by the ILO.  This policy was further developed and translated into a national labor strategy. At that stage I also participated in developing an action plan to guide the implementation process of the strategy. I also worked closely with the M&E unit in the Ministry which was supported by the ILO as well.

In 2007, Dr. Ajlouni served as an economic researcher in the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology under a contract with the Civil Service Bureau, he had a considerable role, with technical assistance from the USAID, in establishing and setting the mandates and functions of the economic analysis section in the Ministry in addition to providing economic and policy advise to related parties in the Ministry. He also had a significant contribution in reviewing the national strategy of the information and communications technology sector for Jordan, in addition to generating and reviewing progress reports. Additionally, he contributed in designing an M&E system to measure the progress in implementing the strategy. He also participated in reviewing and commenting on the national e-commerce strategy and its action plan developed by an international consultant.

In 2005, Dr. Ajlouni worked for Quality Horizons, a Saudi private consulting firm based in Amman. He participated in conducting studies in the areas of strategic planning, market analysis, benchmarking and performance measurement studies. 

In 1993, Dr. Ajlouni worked with the Arab Bank. During twelve years, he held different positions including senior officer of automated teller machines, customer relations’ officer, senior teller and teller. He gained distinguished and diverse experience in banking operations, finance, accounting and risk management. Moreover, he gained many skills including time management, discipline, working under pressure and adherence to high quality standards of customer service.

Dr. Ajlouni is trained in a variety of social research methods and has extensive experience with economic modeling, econometrics, policy analysis, designing and conducting evaluations, and qualitative and quantitative data analytics. Dr. Ajlouni has extensive experience working with a variety of statistical and econometric software programs including R, SPSS, STATA, and EViews, and has conducted trainings and workshops on the use of these software in monitoring and evaluation. As an Associate Professor of Economics at Yarmouk University, Dr. Ajlouni has taught more than 10 various courses including econometrics and statistics and he has a number of published articles in refereed journals and participated in a number of conferences. 

In addition to his academic experience and practical knowledge of the Jordan labor market, Dr. Ajlouni has also served as an independent evaluator and subject matter expert for a variety of USAID, DFID, EU, GIZ, DRC, LWF, Plan International and UNDP funded projects focusing on economic development, poverty alleviation and job creation. Throughout his tenure, Dr. Ajlouni has engaged with a variety of stakeholders from small NGOs and consulting firms to larger government ministries and international donors. Dr. Ajlouni is bilingual (Arabic and English). 

[1] The newly established commission is responsible for regulating the TVET sector in Jordan.

Dr. Sameh Ajlouni is an economist with three decades of subject matter experience in evidence-based policy analysis, economic development and program evaluation. He holds PhD degree in business economics, Master’s degree in international trade, Bachelor’s degree in statistics and Diploma in banking and finance studies.

Dr. Ajlouni joined Yarmouk University in September 2012, he was promoted to an associate professor of economics in April 2022, he took a sabbatical leave in September 2022.

In June 2023, he joined the ILO as a research and economic analysis officer working on EU-funded “Madad project” “Towards an inclusive national social protection system and accelerating decent job opportunities for Syrians and vulnerable Jordanians”. The joint project with UNICEF serves to support vulnerable Jordanians and refugees to successfully graduate from cash assistance through a combination scheme that addresses social protection and sustainable employment opportunities for income generation.

In September 2022, Dr. Ajlouni served as a labor market expert with the World Bank in one of its projects in the Jordan Technical and Vocational Skills Development Commission (TVSDC)[1]. His responsibilities span over establishing a labor market information system, investigating labor market activity and analyzing published data and statistics, conducting analysis of past performance labor market policies and trends as well as assessing future employment and TVET trends. In addition to these responsibilities, he had an active role in the implementation and follow-up of the unified TVET strategy that has been launched recently. The strategy has 3 main pillars aligned with the economic modernization vision concerning the TVET sector.

In 2012, Dr. Ajlouni served as monitoring and evaluation manager at Mercy Corps Jordan Office for one of its community-based projects funded by the USAID, designed to empower and enable communities in rural Jordan to address water scarcity by improving water use efficiency and water availability, in addition to building the capacity of 135 CBOs to implement lending programs and community mobilization programs. As a part of his responsibilities, he took the lead in setting the functions and the mandates of the M&E directorate in addition to building a results-based M&E system for the project including developing M&E tools and templates. 

In 2009, Dr. Ajlouni served as an economic and policy advisor with the ILO in one of its projects with the Jordan Ministry of Labor. He had a major role in establishing the economic and policy unit as well as providing technical assistance in economic and policy analysis in the Ministry. In addition to that he participated in reviewing and commenting on early drafts of the national employment policy originally developed by the ILO.  This policy was further developed and translated into a national labor strategy. At that stage I also participated in developing an action plan to guide the implementation process of the strategy. I also worked closely with the M&E unit in the Ministry which was supported by the ILO as well.

In 2007, Dr. Ajlouni served as an economic researcher in the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology under a contract with the Civil Service Bureau, he had a considerable role, with technical assistance from the USAID, in establishing and setting the mandates and functions of the economic analysis section in the Ministry in addition to providing economic and policy advise to related parties in the Ministry. He also had a significant contribution in reviewing the national strategy of the information and communications technology sector for Jordan, in addition to generating and reviewing progress reports. Additionally, he contributed in designing an M&E system to measure the progress in implementing the strategy. He also participated in reviewing and commenting on the national e-commerce strategy and its action plan developed by an international consultant.

In 2005, Dr. Ajlouni worked for Quality Horizons, a Saudi private consulting firm based in Amman. He participated in conducting studies in the areas of strategic planning, market analysis, benchmarking and performance measurement studies. 

In 1993, Dr. Ajlouni worked with the Arab Bank. During twelve years, he held different positions including senior officer of automated teller machines, customer relations’ officer, senior teller and teller. He gained distinguished and diverse experience in banking operations, finance, accounting and risk management. Moreover, he gained many skills including time management, discipline, working under pressure and adherence to high quality standards of customer service.

Dr. Ajlouni is trained in a variety of social research methods and has extensive experience with economic modeling, econometrics, policy analysis, designing and conducting evaluations, and qualitative and quantitative data analytics. Dr. Ajlouni has extensive experience working with a variety of statistical and econometric software programs including R, SPSS, STATA, and EViews, and has conducted trainings and workshops on the use of these software in monitoring and evaluation. As an Associate Professor of Economics at Yarmouk University, Dr. Ajlouni has taught more than 10 various courses including econometrics and statistics and he has a number of published articles in refereed journals and participated in a number of conferences. 

In addition to his academic experience and practical knowledge of the Jordan labor market, Dr. Ajlouni has also served as an independent evaluator and subject matter expert for a variety of USAID, DFID, EU, GIZ, DRC, LWF, Plan International and UNDP funded projects focusing on economic development, poverty alleviation and job creation. Throughout his tenure, Dr. Ajlouni has engaged with a variety of stakeholders from small NGOs and consulting firms to larger government ministries and international donors. Dr. Ajlouni is bilingual (Arabic and English). 

[1] The newly established commission is responsible for regulating the TVET sector in Jordan.

Phd in economics

Master in international trade

BSc in statistics

Diploma in banking and finance