Electronic Portal for Public Participation (JO0065)

What is the public problem that the commitment will address? Over the past years, the government has encouraged more public engagement through various means, including online tools. However, these efforts are not sustainable, structured, or available across all government entities and often fragmented. Citizens interested in commenting and providing opinions related to public policies and legislations must access different portals. Therefore, they may often miss some of them due to a lack of follow-up or systematic alerts. This in turn, decreases public participation.

What is the commitment? This commitment seeks to unify and institutionalize e-participation within governmental institutions’ by building a unified national online portal that facilitates obtaining citizens’ opinions and develops the legal framework related to e-participation. This commitment is part of Jordan’s E-participation Policy (2021).

How will the commitment contribute to solve this public problem? Creating a unified national portal will facilitate and increase broader participation among citizens. Through this portal, citizens will not be forced to browse multiple portals from different government departments. They can voice their opinions in one window. Also, citizens will know that any consultation of the government will be available on this portal, which allows them to be well-informed and encourages them to participate.

How is this commitment relevant to OGP values?(19) (1) This commitment is relevant to the value of civic participation because it adopts a participatory approach to developing government policies and procedures related to civil society organizations, in addition to enhancing citizens’ role in decision-making through participation in consultations on government projects and legislative proposals. (2) It is also relevant to the value of access to information as it includes the dissemination of information throughout the various stages of its implementation, in addition to the dissemination of policies and procedures that will be developed to ensure that citizens and civil society organizations have access to them. Furthermore, the information regarding government projects and legislation proposals will also be published. (3) It is also relevant to the value of public accountability as it enhances citizens’ follow-up with government projects and legislative proposals through the online portal, and the mechanism for consultations and taking citizens’ opinions into account. (4) This commitment is relevant to the value of openness for technology and innovation to increase accountability and transparency, as it contributes to enhancing citizens’ participation in the decision-making process in a transparent manner through the national portal for e-participation in innovative ways.

Additional information Milestone Activity with a Verifiable Deliverable Starting date of implementation Ending date of implementation Create a comprehensive visualization of the e-participation portal: defining its scope of work, roles and responsibilities while ensuring oversight, accountability, and promotion of the participation of all segments of the society in all forms and content of the portal. In this way, the portal covers all pillars of the policy in terms of disseminating information electronically, conducting public consultations, distributing questionnaires and opinion polls, enabling the public to contribute to the process of decision-making regarding public services and voting on government projects and legislative proposals. The visualization also includes considering the idea of linking the portal with current platforms such as (the “Bekhedmetkom” platform, Your Opinion Matters, and Rate Your Experience) and other platforms that contribute to achieving the milestones. 1/1/2021 30/4/2022 Develop an interactive portal for e-participation using open-source technology in accordance with the international standards related to enabling e-participation to ensure transparency and participation. Also, create a user guide, and develop a series of performance indicators to measure the extent to which governmental bodies implement and comply with the policy and its outcomes including drafting a terms of reference document, open calls for tenders, awarding, and implementation. 1/3/2022 31/5/2023 Develop the procedures/instructions and guiding manuals necessary to implement the e-participation policy among the governmental bodies through various online channels. In addition, organizing this with the various parts of society by drafting a document of the general principles regulating e-participation, and facilitating the institutions in cooperation with the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, the Legislation and Opinion Bureau, and relevant partners. 1/3/2023 31/7/2023 Build the capacities of public sector employees through training, qualifying, and developing the skills of officials in government bodies and officials in leadership positions on managing the implementation of e-participation mechanisms in cooperation with the Institute of Public Administration to ensure the continuity of training. 1/8/2023 30/12/2023 Conduct a series of workshops and awareness-raising activities for citizens to increase their interaction with the portal, engage citizens and inform them of the best practices of enabling community e-participation and its availability on the portal. 1/1/2024 15/8/2024 Draft a legislative framework regulating the e-participation. 1/4/2021 30/6/2025

Action Plan Review

Commitment 2. Electronic Participation in Decision-Making

● Verifiable: Yes

● Does it have an open government lens? Yes

● Potential for results: Modest