Planning and International Cooperation Minister Imad Fakhoury on Saturday held a coordination meeting of the Ministerial Committee for Decentralization with donors to support the decentralization project.

Interior Ministers Ghaleb Zu’bi, Municipal Affairs Walid Masri, Political and Parliamentary Development Musa Maaitah, General Secretaries of various Ministries, ambassadors of donor conutries, and other concerned bodies attended the meeting.

In a press statement, Fakhoury said that the meeting aims to coordinate with the donors to enhance the process of attracting additional technical and financial support for the success of the project of the political reform “decentralization”.

He added that the committee briefed the representatives of countries and international donors on all of the requirements needed for the success of this project after the completion of the elections to enable the elected councils and local governments carry out their tasks.

He stressed the importance of assistance to build the necessary capacities at the level of local elected councils, whether municipal or local councils.

In this regard, Fakhoury noted the importance of supporting the development units at the municipalities and the local councils so that they can do their part in the success of this experiment.

During the meeting, the attendees agreed on forming a coordination committee from the secretaries generals, who are members of the ministerial committee to hold periodical meetings with the donor bodies, in addition to conducting surveys on technical support programmes that have been or will be launched to measure their compatibility with the needs in various fields, the statement said.

It added that the committee will make sure that all needs were covered by the donors’ programmes to make their role successful, maximize and sustain benefits for official and popular agencies and civil society organisations and realise the Royal Vision of this political and development reform programme that the government is working on, in accordance with the Royal Directives.

For his part, Interior Minister Ghaleb Zu’bi said that people’s participation in decision-making process is an important issue, adding that the Jordanian experiment within the decentralization project is unique in the Arab world, in terms of the management of public affairs in the state, including women and men, and the creation of new leaders in the local community.

Zu’bi expressed appreciation for the efforts of donor countries to support decentralization to make it a success.

“We look forward to working closely with donor countries and international organisations in the next few weeks to design and adopt a coordinated intervention that includes all the valuable support of donors in an integrated, methodologically oriented approach that promotes complementarities and eliminates the potential for duplication,” said Fakhoury.

He said that Jordan is moving towards the future on solid, strong and flexible bases, noting that the continued commitment of donors and their support for Jordan in the process of decentralization is of a great value.

The minister stressed that the endorsement and adoption of the laws of decentralization and municipalities for the year 2015 came at a time of increasing momentum for democratic reform, where His Majesty King Abdullah, in his speech to Parliament on 15 November 2015, announced that the new legal framework of decentralization will contribute to increasing the size of popular participation in decision-making.

“We believe that municipal and decentralization laws are a fundamental pillar for expanding the powers of the local administrations in the governorates, deepening the participation of citizens, enabling them to contribute to their priorities, creating a future vision for the development path in their regions, and the distribution of their gains more equally and effectively”, he said.

Fakhoury added that decentralization is one of the priorities of the government’s plan of action and is in line with the objectives of the Jordan 2025 document, the Executive Development Program 2016-2019, the requirements of achieving the 2030 sustainable development agenda and the provincial development programs 2017-2019.

He said that the decentralization law includes unprecedented opportunities for citizens to at the core of the development process. This reform represents a new momentum that enables civil society and citizens to enhance popular participation in participatory policy-making process, transparency and accountability, thereby ultimately improving government performance to serve the citizens.

The minister noted that the empowerment of local governments (executive boards) and elected councils, and the deepening of citizen participation and enabling them to contribute to their priorities “is the vision of the government, which is part of the principles and criteria of good governance.

He stressed the importance of donors’ support to strengthen the capacity of local administrations and elected councils, based on the criteria of good governance and the enhancement of transparency and accountability of the local government towards society.

He added that, to institutionalise action, the Ministerial Committee for Decentralisation has formed seven specialised subcommittees to implement the decentralization project.

The committees are the legislation, institutional and organizational structures, manuals and procedures, the institutional capabilities, the financial, the domestic development and services, the awareness, and the ICT committee.

The subcommittees have prepared the needed executive plan and technical support and presented them to donors during the meeting, said the minister.
The Ministerial Committee completed a number of tasks entrusted to it and submitted them to the Council of Ministers, which approved and adopted them.

These were: the executive framework of decentralization which represents the government action plan, the internal regulations of the provincial councils, the principles of dividing constituencies and their seats.

He noted that the Kingdom is currently witnessing preparation for holding municipal and decentralization elections on 15/8/2017. Under the decentralization law, the elected provincial councils will have the responsibility to prepare and approve the directory of needs and budgets, and projects of strategic and executive plans.

He said that the Planning and International Cooperation Ministry has started coordination with the Ministerial Committee for Decentralization to develop an efficient and systematic mechanism for local planning in light of decentralization based on participation in decision-making from bottom to top.

The ministry will work on providing technical and logistic support and on attracting international expertise for this project, said the planning minister.

“We will work to build the institutional capacity of the local development directorates in the governorates, which will continue to work and coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation to ensure the continuation of technical support and coordination of local development outputs with the national framework for sustainable development, in order to ensure harmony of local development plans with the Jordan 2025 document and the executive development programs of governments as well as raising their balanced coordination capacity between the executive councils and the governorate council according to the work mechanisms and applicable legislation.

For his part, Minister of Political Development, Musa Maaitah stressed the importance of enabling the elected councils’ role during the next phase, noting the importance of giving the provincial councils the utmost importance and providing them with technical support.

Municipal Affairs Minister Walid Masri said that the ministry of has a comprehensive plan for training programs related to laws, analyzing problems and finding appropriate solutions to them, in order to provide optimal services to citizens.

The donors thanked the government, represented by the Ministerial Committee for Decentralization, for determination to make the decentralization project a success as a political development project.

They stressed their support for the Executive Plan of decentralization, which showed the support needs required for the success of of elected provincial councils, executive boards and development units at the governorate level and elected municipal and local councils.

Source: Fana News