Jordan Transitional Results Report 2018-2021

The Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More is a global partnership that brings together government reformers and civil society leaders to create action plans that make governments more inclusive, responsive, and accountable. Action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... commitments may build on existing efforts, identify new steps to complete ongoing reforms, or initiate an entirely new area. OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM)The Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) is OGP’s accountability arm and the main means of tracking progress in participating countries. The IRM provides independent, evidence-based, and objective ... monitors all action plans to ensure governments follow through on commitments. Civil society and government leaders use the evaluations to reflect on their progress and determine if efforts have impacted people’s lives.

The IRM aims to inform ongoing dialogue around the development and implementation of future commitments. For a full description of the IRM’s methodology, please visit https://www.opengovpartnership.org/about/independent-reporting-mechanism.

This report covers the implementation of Jordan’s fourth action plan for 2018 through August 31, 2021.[1] The action plan implementation period was initially planned for September 1, 2018 to August 31, 2020, and was extended to August 31, 2021 per the flexibility policy OGP put in place during the pandemic. Prior to its publication, the IRM shared this report for public comments. All comments and responses received from stakeholders during the public comment period are published alongside the final version of the report. Please find them below under the section “Downloads”.

In 2021, the IRM implemented a new approach to its research process and the scope of its reporting on action plans, approved by the IRM Refresh.^[2] The IRM adjusted its Implementation Reports for 2018-2020 and 2019-2021 action plans to fit the transition process to the new IRM products and enable the IRM to adjust its workflow in light of the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on OGP country processes.

Action Plan Implementation

The IRM Transitional Results Report assesses the status of the action plan’s commitments and the results of their implementation at the end of the action plan cycle. This report does not re-visit the assessments for “VerifiabilityOGP commitments should be clear and specific enough to enable measurement of their progress. Verifiable commitments include specific activities that can be monitored. Following an action plan’s subm...,” “RelevanceAccording to the OGP Articles of Governance, OGP commitments should include a clear open government lens. Specifically, they should advance at least one of the OGP values: transparency, citizen partic...,” or “Potential Impact.” The IRM assesses those three indicators in IRM Design Reports. For more details on each indicator, please see Annex I of this report.

General Highlights and Results

Jordan’s fourth OGP action plan (2018-2021) achieved strong levels of completion, however, the IRM did not find evidence of notable early results during the period under review. This can partially be attributed to the low level of ambition in the design of commitments, as highlighted by the IRM Design Report.[3] This also reflects challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and a shift in government priorities.[4] Of the five commitments, four saw either substantial or complete implementation (80% of commitments). This action plan’s completion rate at the end of the implementation period is similar to the previous action plan (2016-2018), in which 9 out of 11 commitments were substantially or completely implemented (82% of commitments).[5]

Progress under the action plan reflected government and civil society leads’ active efforts to complete their commitments, guided by the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation Open Government Unit. Even after the implementation period ended in August 2021, stakeholders continued work on outstanding elements of the action plan. This positive effort achieved completionImplementers must follow through on their commitments for them to achieve impact. For each commitment, OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) evaluates the degree to which the activities outlin... More of most of delayed milestones by the end of 2021, outside the implementation period under review. Throughout the process, the Open Government Unit took a methodical approach to implementation of milestones and opened communication channels with civil society. CommitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... taskforces made up of government and civil society stakeholders sustained this engagement. The open government process saw positive collaboration between civil society and government against the backdrop of broader shrinking civic space. International funding and expertise also supported the action plan.

Under this action plan, the commitments made productive headway on introducing feedback mechanisms and enabling citizen participation in the legislative process. Commitment 3 conducted a national dialogue related to the recent Local Administration Law. Changes to the law reflected some citizen recommendations, but were primarily shaped by the Minister of Local Administration.[6] Following the end of the implementation period, Commitment 4 introduced a feature allowing for human rights complaints on a government platform for citizen feedback. Other commitments laid groundwork for access to information (Commitments 2 and 5) and civic space (Commitment 1), but had little impact during the period under review. Overall, local civil society organizations reported mixed perceptions of the reforms that took place under the action plan. In a 2021 survey of 184 civil society representatives, approximately half saw the open government process as contributing to the development of transparency, accountability, and participation in Jordan.[7]

Despite a high completion rate, the commitments in this action plan did not yield early results, as commitment design fell short of policy objectives. Incremental changes envisioned by the commitments did not sufficiently engage with a restrictive environment for access to information[8] and a notable decline in civic space.[9] As of August 2021, Jordan fell short of the OGP values check assessment in two key measures, repression of civil society organizations and control over their entry into and exit from public life.[10] In 2021, the Co-Chairs of OGP issued a global call-to-action for all OGP members to use their new and existing action plans to make ambitious commitments that address core challenges on civic space.[11] Future action plans would benefit from strategic targeting of opportunities to more substantially open government. Positively, commitment holders’ continued efforts after the implementation period contribute to a stronger foundation on which to build the fifth action plan.

COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Implementation

COVID-19 slowed implementation, caused staffing shortages, and resulted in a shift to online meetings. This impacted implementation planning sessions, discussions, and training. Limitations on in-person gatherings also put pressure on some commitments’ activities, leading to shortcomings in achievement of planned outcomes within intended timelines. Restricted staffing hours delayed completion of the associations governance manuals outlined in Commitment 1.[12] With regards to Commitment 4, COVID-19 delayed the launch of a human rightsAn essential part of open government includes protecting the sacred freedoms and rights of all citizens, including the most vulnerable groups, and holding those who violate human rights accountable. T... complaint mechanism until after the end of the implementation period. Commitment 5 made substantial progress, but due to COVID-19, on-site practical training for indexing and managing public records could not take place, thereby limiting the uptake of new access to information protocols.

Civic space underpins effective implementation of open government reforms, but the pandemic exacerbated fundamental challenges to civil society’s operational environment. In response to COVID-19, and without significant consultation with civil society, Jordan mobilized the Defense Act of 1992 in March 2020. Since then, Freedom House reports that freedom of assembly and speech have faced limitations, including reporting on COVID-19.[13] Future commitments can enable civil society organizations to develop bold policies that open civic space. The government-civil society engagement enabled by Jordan’s OGP process can also be replicated in other areas of government, institutionalizing public participationGiving citizens opportunities to provide input into government decision-making leads to more effective governance, improved public service delivery, and more equitable outcomes. Technical specificatio... in critical policy areas, such as responses to public health crises.

[1] Jordan’s Open Government Unit continued implementation of commitments under this action plan beyond the official implementation period covered by this report. The IRM acknowledges those efforts, but to be consistent with the assessment methodology applied in all countries, can only consider evidence of progress through August 31, 2021.

[2] For more information, see: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/process/accountability/about-the-irm/irm-refresh/.

[3] “Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM): Jordan Design Report 2018–2020,”Open Government Partnership (19 September 2021), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/jordan-design-report-2018-2020/.

[4] “Report on Dr. Bisher Al-Khasawneh’s Government Performance in its First Year,” Al-Hayat Center-Rased (October 25, 2021), 10, http://www.hayatcenter.org/publications/report-on-dr-bisher-al-khasawneh%e2%80%99s-government-performance-in-its-first-year/ (accessed November 9, 2021).

[5] Mai Eleimat and Amer Bani Amer, “Jordan 2014-2016 End of Term Report,” Open Government Partnership Independent Reporting Mechanism (June 15, 2017), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/jordan-end-of-term-report-2014-2016/ (accessed November 9, 2021).

[6] Osama Muhsen (Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung), interview with IRM researcher, November 26, 2021.

[7] “Baseline Study on Promoting the Principles of Open Government in Jordan,” We Participate (September 30, 2021).

[8] “The Global Expression Report 2021: Country rankings,” Article 19 (2021), https://www.article19.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/GxR-2021-Country-Rankings-Final.pdf (accessed December 13, 2021).

[9] “People Power Under Attack 2021: Middle East & North Africa,” CIVICUS (2021), https://findings2021.monitor.civicus.org/middle-east-north-africa.html (accessed December 13, 2021).

[10] OGP carries out a values checkIn order to join OGP, countries must exhibit a demonstrated commitment to open government values by meeting a set of minimum performance criteria across key dimensions of open government. Beginning in... assessment every year to assess whether member governments exhibit a demonstrated commitment to open government by meeting a key performance criterion regarding the government’s adherence to the democratic governance norms and values set in the Open Government DeclarationThe Open Government Declaration is the declaration of commitment to upholding the principles of open and transparent government, approved by the founding countries of OGP in 2011. Countries are requir....

“Eligibility Criteria & OGP Values Check Assessment,” Open Government Partnership (June 7, 2021) https://www.opengovpartnership.org/process/joining-ogp/eligibility-criteria/.

[11] “Actions to Protect and Enhance Civic Space,” Open Government Partnership (2021), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/actions-for-a-secure-and-open-civic-space/.

[12] Lama Qutaishat (Companies Control Department), interview with IRM researcher, November 24, 2021.

[13] Nikhil Dutta and Tinatin Ninua, “Civic Space as a Key Prerequisite of Open Government Reforms in the MENA Region,” Open Government Partnership (November 3, 2020), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/stories/civic-space-as-a-key-prerequisite-of-open-government-reforms-in-the-mena-region/ (accessed December 21, 2021); “Jordan: Freedom in the World 2021,” Freedom House (2021), https://freedomhouse.org/country/jordan/freedom-world/2021 (accessed March 8, 2022).