Monitoring Programs

As a watchdog, our organization works to hold the government accountable to its national plans, and national and international commitments. We also monitor its efforts towards fostering institutional transparency and accountability, and fighting corruption

We conduct research-based monitoring projects, then, we share our findings with relevant groups and local communities, with the aim to advocate for the implementation of national and international commitments.

National Advocacy to advance Jordan’s Anti-Corruption Summit commitments

In 2016, in London, was held The Anti-Corruption Summit, which saw country leaders come together and make pledges that, if properly implemented, have real potential to reduce corruption across the world. However,unlike other Summits, there was no formal mechanism for follow-up or monitoring to ensure that governments are kept accountable for the promises that they've made.

To fill this gap, our organization launched the national advocacy project to advance Jordan’s Anti-Corruption Summit commitments. Within this project, we will be monitoring the progress on the eleven commitments made by the Jordanian Government. We will be developing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), we will then be following-up with the respective entity for each commitment, and we will be holding annual workshops to disseminate progress results to stakeholders.

The Sustainable Development Goals

The SDGs are a collection of 17 global goals set by the United Nations Development Program. On September 2015, countries adopted these goals to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development agenda. Each goal has specific targets to be achieved by 2030.

As noted by the Jordanian Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, the adoption of the Agenda for Sustainable Development 2030 came at a crucial moment, where the region faces unprecedented instability and waves of refugees and displaced persons, which requires concerted efforts at the global level to overcome these challenges.

Our organization monitored the progress of the Jordanian government towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 16 'Peace, Justice and strong institutions, and more specifically, the goals 16.4, 16.5 and 16.10, which are directly related to the fight against corruption.

We published a Shadow Report, which has been developed in response to three key issues related to the official SDG monitoring processes: the multi-dimensional nature of SDG targets, data availability, and perceived credibility of data generated by government agencies.

We produced score cards for 13 policy areas where relevant legislation and policies were given a percentage of successful implementation and progress towards SDG 16, highlighting that Jordan has taken a few steps towards the achievement of this goal. Indeed, the country has adopted the Integrity, Ombudsman and Anti-Corruption Charter as part of its efforts to promote transparency and good governance, and to combat corruption.

However, significant progress must still be made in realms such as private sector transparency, weapons flow regulation, lobbying transparency, and protection of fundamental freedoms.
For this reason, our organization proposed key recommendations for both the public and private sectors, such as, among others:

1. Review all relevant legislation to ensure full compliance with the United Nations Convention Against Corruption and all Financial Action Task Force recommendations.

2. Strengthen transparency in the public sector by incorporating into relevant legislation specific requirements for regular interest disclosure and for the publishing on information contained in income and asset declarations.

3. Foster a culture of heightened transparency in the private sector by encouraging companies to publicly publish their annual accounts and other company filings and by intensifying penalties for non-disclosure of legally required information.

4. Incorporate into relevant legislation articles that secure the financial, administrative, and political autonomy of watchdog, supervisory, and enforcement bodies such as the media, the Audit Bureau, the Committee of Party Affairs, the Information Commissioner Board, and the law enforcement agencies.

National Integrity System

Anti-corruption constituted a priority for decision-makers in Jordan during the last five years. King Abdullah kept urging the major authorities and the relevant national institutions to do their utmost in the review of legislation and the development of plans and strategies that will contribute to the anti-corruption process.

There is no doubt that committing to fight corruption primarily depends on the efficiency of the political and legal structures and on the support by the legislative authority in the development of high-quality legislation to fortify the institutions.

Our organization published a study, for which the preparation began in 2014 and ran up to May 2016, in order to assess to what extent the 13 major institutions in Jordan play their role in anti-corruption, and in promoting transparency, accountability, and good governance. We also wanted to highlight the gaps between the legislative area and the practice in reality.

The preparation has been accompanied by several national developments most notably, for example, but not limited to:

1. The issuance of the Elections Act

2. The political parties law

3. The Decentralization law

4. The adoption of the National Action Plan for Human Rights

5. Attempts in reforming many regulatory institutions.

Local Integrity System

The aim of this project was to examine the efficiency and competency of the integrity system indicators in the local bodies, through testing these indicators on a Jordanian local body, to evaluate the transparency of service-delivery procedures and mechanisms, as well as the effectiveness of the work system, and the integrity and accountability of employees, and finally to formulate recommendations for reinforcing the integrity system, in cooperation with the target group.

Community scorecards were utilized, local talent was sourced, local priorities were identified, and reflected in coordination with the central government budget priorities and process. We held town-hall meetings to discuss with all stakeholders the results of the assessment.

Among the deliverables: The Code of Conduct for the Mayor, Municipal Council, and Employees of Municipalities; and Complaint Handling Mechanism.