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Jordan

Jordan

Jordan -- MP Insaf Al Khawaldeh.jpg

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has played a pivotal role in much of the Middle East's turmoil, including the Arab-Israeli conflict and the U.S. war in Iraq. The death of King Hussein — Jordan's long-time ruler and strongman in the region — in 1999, brought King Abdullah II to power. King Abdullah's many pledges for democratic reform led people both in and out of Jordan to believe that the country was on a path to greater democracy, increased government transparency and more opportunities for citizens to meaningfully engage in political life.

The last decade has shown modest signs of progress in Jordan. The country has held parliamentary and municipal elections at regular intervals. The participation of women as voters, activists, candidates and elected officials has grown dramatically. The capacity of Jordanian civil society organizations to advocate for more transparent and representative government institutions and policies has increased. In the 2007 elections, for example, civil society organizations led the country's first nonpartisan domestic election observation effort. The elections also witnessed an unprecedented number of women candidates, the election of the first woman member of parliament that wasn't mandated by a quota, a breakdown of traditional tribal politics and active youth participation.

Still, many significant challenges continue to hinder true democratic reform in Jordan. The 2007 elections revealed many of these challenges, such as a weak showing by political parties, a rise in the role of money in elections, and a general unwillingness by the government to address voting irregularities. The Jordanian parliament also remains a body comprised of individuals with tribal and business affiliations, rather than a venue for parties to debate issues and represent citizen interest. Laws governing elections, political and civic associations, and freedom of the press continue to limit the opportunities and activities of democrats and activists.

Building on modest progress and in response to ongoing challenges, NDI is working to help establish representative and sustainable political systems and institutions that are truly participatory, open, and trusted by the Jordanian people. NDI engages a diverse group of individuals and institutions in its programs and maintains a strong network of local partners in the country. The Institute's programs aim to strengthen the role of political parties, encourage transparency and accountability in parliament, support grassroots organizations and activists to empower citizens, and promote greater political participation by women and youth.

Women's Political Participation

NDI has worked with women in Jordanian politics for more than a decade, conducting training programs for women parliamentary candidates for every election cycle since 1997. In the 2007 elections, NDI trained a core group of over 50 women candidates. Out of the seven women elected that year, five were active participants in NDI programs. NDI also produced a book and documentary that profiled the first class of women MPs and senators who served in Jordan's parliament from 2003-2007 and produced a second documentary video focused on women candidates in the 2007 elections — made available to wide audiences in both English and Arabic.

Women Helping Women

With support from the National Endowment for Democracy, NDI is managing the Women Helping Women (WHW) Network, an organization dedicated to supporting women's candidacies for elected office. The first network of its kind in the Arab world, the WHW Network's 600-plus members are committed to recruiting, supporting and funding viable women candidates, helping them build and run effective campaigns, training the next generation of political activists, and mobilizing voters to help elect women candidates across Jordan. WHW also aims to raise awareness of the importance of women's political participation and encourages Jordanian organizations to serve as support and resource groups for women who are active in politics. The WHW Network, which was launched in 2006, is supported by a coordination committee comprised of nine leading Jordanian women's organizations. To mark the second anniversary of WHW in April 2008, NDI hosted an expo event attended by over 130 women leaders and activists, including HRH Princess Basma Bint Talal, who delivered the keynote address.

In 2008, the WHW Network launched a speakers’ forum series that highlights women experts in various fields and provides a space for discussion and debate on a range of topics. Participants in the series have commended NDI and WHW for highlighting women who excel in their respective fields and recognized the program’s work in changing attitudes about women in Jordanian society. These monthly public forums on social and political issues have proven to be a useful vehicle for women in elected office and women activists to learn more about current policy issues, and have highlighted the importance of discussing legislative issues with civil society activists.

In an effort to promote the network, NDI worked with WHW leadership to produce a regular newsletter. The newsletter provides readers with a useful source of political information and education.

Political Parties

NDI provides technical support and assistance to political parties as they work to comply with a new that took effect on April 15, 2008. The law decreased the number of registered political parties from 36 to 12. With a fresh slate for political parties, NDI is working with parties to assess their platforms, organization and membership and assist them as they work to reach out to new members, especially women and youth.

Focus Groups on Citizens' Perceptions of Political Parties

In 2005, NDI partnered with Al Mashreq Al Jadid Center for Studies and Research to establish and implement a focus group research center in Amman. Over the last two years, Al Mashreq has grown into an independent organization whose focus group research is respected and solicited by Jordanian political and civic actors. With technical assistance from NDI, Al Mashreq conducted more than 40 focus groups in all of Jordan's 12 governorates. Topics of focus group discussions included: interest in religious-based political parties, confidence levels in the electoral process, social and political issues in Jordan, post-election views of the election, and perceptions of political parties.

Al Mashreq's focus group research on citizens' perceptions of political parties proved quite enlightening. While other organizations in Jordan had collected polling data revealing a serious lack of visibility of political parties, Al Mashreq's research and analysis went deeper. It revealed that although Jordanians are not well-informed about parties, they are interested in learning more and would be inclined to participate in political party life if parties reached out to them. This important finding encouraged political parties reach out to citizens, and develop platforms that would better serve the population. Al Mashreq not only shared its focus group findings with political parties, it also worked closely with party leadership to explain the importance of focus group research and how parties could integrate research findings into their election messages and platforms. Political parties and NGOs now understand the value of focus group research to their work and regularly seek research reports and findings to improve their performance.

Parliament

NDI has built strong relationships within Jordan's parliament, and continues to consult with and train the secretary general and members. To help new MPs respond to the public's needs, NDI's parliamentary program focuses on developing issue-based caucuses, introducing a parliamentary code of ethics and compiling a parliamentary guidebook for MPs.

Civil Society

The 2007 legislative elections witnessed the first nonpartisan domestic election observation effort in Jordan's history, a milestone that signaled the beginning of a shift by Jordanian civil society organizations (CSOs) from their conventional focus on social issues and service delivery to more active engagement in the country's political processes. NDI works with CSOs in Jordan to encourage the development of a viable and vibrant civil society that is able to effectively advocate for issues of public concern. Specifically, NDI is assisting its civil society partners as they build a national coalition to advocate for electoral reform, develop and implement grassroots advocacy campaigns to address pressing issues of local concern, and undertake a comprehensive parliamentary monitoring project — the first of its kind in Jordan.

Domestic Election Observation

Jordan's November 2007 parliamentary elections witnessed the first, albeit limited, non-partisan domestic election observation effort in Jordan’s history. The National Center for Human Rights (NCHR), Al Hayat Center for Civil Society Development and Al Urdun Al Jadid Research Center (UJRC) conducted domestic election monitoring, with assistance from NDI through a series of trainings and consultations. In total, NDI provided direct training to more than 2,000 observers from the different CSOs that deployed observers on election day. Following the elections, NDI facilitated internal evaluation workshops with its domestic election monitoring partners to help them analyze their experiences, identify areas for improvement, and articulate lessons learned. On the basis of the reports that each partner produced, these organizations — and NDI — are well-placed to increase their political advocacy work and to contribute to a more free, fair and transparent electoral process in future national and sub-national elections.

Building Parliamentary Monitoring Capacities

Since 2008, NDI has partnered with Al Quds Center for Political Studies to launch a parliamentary monitoring program, and Al Quds has subsequently made history by publishing the first ever reports on parliamentary monitoring in Jordan. These reports provide information and analysis to Jordanian citizens and civic groups on various elements of parliament's performance, allowing citizens to hold their elected officials accountable by documenting MP activity and voting records. These reports and additional information about individual MPs, blocs, committees, and parliamentary developments are available online at the group's website.

Reports

News Coverage

Al Quds's and NDI's work attracted the attention of UNDP's Parliamentary Development Initiative in the Arab Region, whose publication, Arab Parliamentary Bulletin, featured the successes of Al Quds' Jordanian Parliamentary Monitor.

In early 2010, Al Quds and NDI conducted a conference on debating a parliamentary code of conduct and amending parliament's bylaws.

 

Support for Electoral Reform and Transparent, Free, and Fair Elections

To respond to the calls from civil society organizations in Jordan for political and electoral reform, NDI partnered with the National Center for Human Rights (NCHR) in 2008 to design a strategic and constructive advocacy campaign for electoral reform. Over the past year, NCHR has built a network of more than 200 organizations in Jordan, becoming the country’s largest civil society coalition to date. By the end of 2009, NCHR produced a list of legal amendments that reflect civil society’s recommendations on improving the electoral process.

Grassroots Advocacy

NDI has also worked at the sub-national level to strengthen local organizations' ability to advocate for various issues. NDI worked with several CSOs in 2009 on local advocacy initiatives targeting issues of community concern. As a result, today in Karak, residents breathe cleaner air, schoolchildren in Irhaba village are looking forward to having their first properly equipped and furnished school, and farmers in the Jordan Valley can rely on a fairer distribution of their water allotments. Taken together, these efforts are evidence of an increasingly vibrant and viable civil society in Jordan that is better able to effectively advocate for issues of public concern.

Youth Participation

As the largest segment of Jordanian society — more than 65 percent of Jordanians are under the age of 30 — youth have the potential to play a significant role in the country's political future. Given that an estimated 40 percent of the total number of potential voters are young people between the ages of 18 and 25, the importance of encouraging Jordanian youth to register to vote — and then to cast their votes — cannot be overstated. In an effort to contribute to increased youth participation in Jordan's election process, NDI helps civil society organizations and youth groups conduct voter registration, in addition to providing workshops on various topics. Furthermore, NDI empowers Jordanian youth to participate in the electoral process through promoting candidate-youth relations, which can later develop into MP-constituent relations. NDI's activities help to ensure that the priorities and opinions of Jordanian youth are part of future national discussions.

Youth Participation in Elections

With the support of USAID, NDI is working with civic organizations in Jordan to conduct voter registration campaigns and a "Get out the Vote" effort aimed specifically at encouraging youth to participate in upcoming parliamentary elections. Through a combination of presentations, exercises, consultations and publications, NDI is helping groups with message development, coalition-building, networking, the use of new media and social networking tools, public outreach, media strategies and fundraising.

With NDI's assistance, the Al Hayat Center for Civil Society Development (Al Hayat), conducted a survey of Jordanian youth in 2010 to identify the level of youth participation in the 2007 parliamentary election and understand the attitudes of youth toward the upcoming polls. The survey data presents a rich resource to civic organizations and democratic activists who are concerned about engaging this important demographic.

Young people in Jordan perform on campus

In July 2010, the National Center for Human Rights (NCHR), held a series of campus events to raise Jordanian students' awareness on the principles of free and fair elections. NDI has been working with NCHR since 2008 to promote electoral reform in Jordan and to raise public awareness on the importance of citizen participation in the elections process. The events included a comic theatrical performance highlighting some of the common misconceptions about election practices in Jordan. A local theater group worked with Amnesty International to develop and perform the sketches which were followed by open discussion on the importance of youth participation in parliamentary elections. More than 2,000 students from seven universities participated in NCHR's campus events.

Arabic news coverage:

Candidate-Youth Relations

With support from the National Endowment for Democracy, NDI and Al Hayat are working together to develop a national policy platform on youth issues for the 2010 parliamentary elections. Al Hayat will use the platform as a tool to encourage issue-based public forums and candidate debates for the upcoming parliamentary polls.

Regional Cooperation

NDI Jordan has also played a key role in coordinating and facilitating international and regional conferences.

Contact Information

For more information about these programs, use our contact form or contact:

Washington, D.C.
Lindsay Workman, Senior Program Manager
(202) 728-5404

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