Jordan Watch : The USA Supporting Municipal Governance in Jordan!

Another package of economic aid has reached Jordan from the USA. This time it was a total of 25.0 M US $ from the Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC) that was released a few days ago.

A press statement said that MCC's Board of Directors approved up to $25 million in Threshold Program assistance for Jordan. The program aims to strengthen democratic institutions by supporting Jordan's efforts to broaden public participation in the political and electoral process, increasing government transparency and accountability, and enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of customs administration. MCC assistance in Jordan will be used to advance reforms in three of the 16 indicators—“Political Rights,” “Voice and Accountability,” and “Trade Policy”— MCC measures to select countries eligible for funding.

The most important component of this package is related to municipal governance.

The programme aims to improve citizens' political rights and voice and accountability by empowering local municipal councils and improving citizen participation in elections and local governance. In 9 of the 99 Jordan municipalities, the Jordan Threshold Program will provide technical assistance and training to increase participation in local elections, provide resources to fund priority projects, and institute programs to improve relations and collaboration among municipalities, citizens, and the private sector.

MCC assistance will be used to fund the following activities to strengthen municipal governance by increasing:

Public participation in national and local elections through media campaigns, public fora, and training.
Participation of women in electoral politics through public fora, training, and media outreach.
Citizen awareness of local government activities and operations through training, media interventions, and organization of public fora.
The capacity of citizens to advocate for their interests and hold local government accountable by supporting civic organizations, training, and creating government/citizen committees.
Partnerships between local government and the private sector by establishing joint committees and fostering development of cooperative services.
Responsiveness of local governments to citizen concerns through a Special Incentive Fund, training, and creating special citizen outreach units in local governments and municipal development planning committees.
The local capacity of governments by providing training and management, personnel and fiscal systems.
The capacity of municipalities to advocate for democratic decentralization and defend municipal interests through policy dialogues, workshops, and support for establishing a national association of municipalities.

With this programme installed, to be added to an EU Municipalities capacity building programme that was launched early this year, it is obvious that the process of "decentralisation" that was proposed by the King last year which required a "new system for local governance" in Jordan was stopped. The first design of the system developed by a trio of previous Prime Ministers wanted to divide Jordan into 3 big regions: North, Middle and South and that was seen as a step towards "regionalisation" of the country, and the idea evaporated even from the "We are all Jordan" document.

Another good idea destroyed by bad planning!