Strengthening Youth Participation (JO0067)

What is the public problem that the commitment will address? The level of youth participation in the design and implementation of government strategies related to youth is a challenge, especially in demographics suffering from high poverty and unemployment. Youth also show low interest in the government’s available platforms and the resources designed to help their employment and capacity improvement. While the government strives to maintain such platforms, providing content that matches youth aspiration is also another challenge. The above challenges have been even increased in the presence of COVID-19.

What is the commitment? The commitment seeks to strengthen the role of youth in the development and implementation of government plans and strategies related to youth, in addition to improving youth interaction with the available government platforms and resources.

How will the commitment contribute to solve this public problem? Strengthening the role of youth participation in the development and implementation of the National Youth Strategy and the subsequent Implementation Plan will enhance young people’s sense of ownership and improve the responsiveness of this strategy to address their challenges, needs, and priorities, especially post COVID-19. This will improve the trust between youth and the government. Also, improving youth interaction with the available government platforms will improve their access to resources and information that are essential for their skills, employment opportunities, and market innovation.

How is this commitment relevant to OGP values?(21) (1) This commitment is relevant to the value of civic participation as it adopts a participatory approach in developing governmental policies and procedures related to youth. (2) It is relevant to the value of access to information, as it includes dissemination of information through the various stages of its implementation, in addition to disseminating the policies and procedures that will be developed to ensure citizen and youth access to such information. (3) It is also relevant to the value of technology and innovation for openness and accountability as it contributes to activating youth participation and access to economic and political opportunities through the national online platforms.

Additional information Milestone Activity with a Verifiable Deliverable Starting date of implementation Ending date of implementation

1. Review the National Youth Strategy and the subsequent Implementation Plan to develop the National Strategy in accordance with the emerging needs of young people post COVID-19 by: 1. Adopting a participatory, transparent, and publicized methodology. 2. Conducting consultations with the broadest segments of Jordanian youth. 3. Utilizing online and face-to-face consultation tools. 4. Conducting consultations with the relevant governmental institutions. 5. Conducting consultations with civil society organizations that provide youth programs and services. 6. Conducting consultations with private sector entities that provide youth programs and services. 7. Disseminating the process of strategy development, its activities, and stages on an ongoing basis. 8. Developing clear measurement indicators linked with the strategy’s activities. 1/2/2022 1/2/2023

2. Conduct an annual evaluation of the National Youth Strategy through consultation with youth stakeholders, relevant governmental institutions, civil society organizations, and the private sector that provide programs and services related to youth, and annually disseminating the evaluation results. This entails conducting training for the Ministry’s personnel on evaluation and consultation mechanisms. 1/6/2022 30/6/2025

3. Activate the participatory platform (Virtual Youth Center), which was launched in August 2021 by the Ministry of Youth(23), by: 1. Conducting media campaigns to promote the platform and its functions to attract young people to use it across all governorates via both field and online activities. 2. Integrating more than 25 thousand young men and women as beneficiaries/participants. 3. Involving more than 50 entities that provide youth services and programs, whether from the public or private sectors or civil society organizations. 4. Linking the Virtual Youth Center to the national employment platform. 5. Conducting an annual evaluation of the platform, publishing and disseminating its results on the platform, developing a clear evaluation mechanism, and training personnel from the Ministry on how to use it. 1/6/2022 30/6/2025

Action Plan Review

Commitment 4. Participation in Youth Plans and Strategies

● Verifiable: Yes

● Does it have an open government lens? Yes

● Potential for results: Modest