Wednesday 16/11/2022, Amman - The Ministry of Local Administration MoLA and the United Nations Development Programme UNDP in Jordan launched today the Community Network Platform with the 45 municipalities participating in the Local Governments Network NLG project. The platform is aimed at engaging citizens in the decision-making process, establishing the principles of transparency and accountability and enhancing confidence to ensure an inclusive development process.

The platform is aimed to achieve MoLA’s vision of being a smart ministry capable of achieving inclusive and sustainable local development, introducing the way to access e-municipal services to local communities and help to develop new or improve existing ways of service delivery and the quality of services. This will enable citizens to propose community initiatives and solutions and participate in the local decision-making process, said the MoLA Secretary-General Eng. Hussein Mhaidat in the launch ceremony.

The Network of Local Governments NLG project is an assurance on the growth of new technologies, and the need for greater engagement with both municipal staff and the public at large. NLG focuses on empowering citizens through empowering their local governmental bodies, through strong emphasis on inclusive participation and institutional strengthening. NLG also contributes to improved transparency through enhancing vulnerable groups participation in the decision making utilizing digital transformation tools and enhanced accountability at the institutional level contributing to better public sector performance and responsiveness to citizens’ needs, said Ambassador of Norway to Jordan Mr. Espen Lindbæck.

Cooperation between the Government, the United Nations agencies and donors is of high importance to support the capacities and build the competencies of local governments in outreaching local communities to develop participatory solutions to development challenges and to vigorously move towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals SDGs.

The platform, which is developed under the Local Governments Network NLG project implemented by the United Nations Development Programme in Jordan and the Ministry of Local Administration with funding from Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, allows community outreach with the targeted 45 municipalities in the governorates of Irbid, Ajloun, Madaba, Balqa, Aqaba and Tafila and offers them the opportunity and means to provide good content that keeps the local communities informed of their activities, their work and the various services they deliver.

The platform was developed by the Directorate of Information Technology and Digital Transformation at the Ministry in cooperation with UNDP. In the ceremony 5 municipalities were rewarded because they had the best content. They are the Municipality of Greater Salt and the Municipality of Greater Madaba from among the 6 municipalities of class 1 in the project, and the Municipality of Al-Mazar Al-Jadida and Municipality of Ain Al-Basha from among the 31 municipalities of class 2 in the project, and the municipality of Wadi Araba from among the 8 municipalities of class 3 in the project.

The Best Content Award evaluation criteria are five: interaction and communication with citizens (40 marks), Transparency and the right of access to information (20 marks), introduction of the municipality (20 marks), the commitment to content creation (10) marks and the content quality (10) marks.

The ceremony was attended by mayors, executive directors and liaison officers of the Municipalities of Greater Madaba, Greater Salt, Al-Mazar Al-Jadida, Ain Al-Basha, Wadi Araba, Birgesh, Sahel Houran and Jabal Bani Hamida as well as a number of officials and specialists from UNDP and MoLA.