Gov’t launches national plan to strengthen transparency, accountability policies

AMMAN — Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Mary Kawar on Sunday said the Jordanian government is keen on revitalising trust with its citizens by strengthening transparency and accountability concepts.

Kawar’s remarks were made during the launch event of Jordan’s fourth National Action Plan (NAP) under the Open Government Partnership Initiative (OGP), which was held at the Hussein Youth City centre under the patronage of Premier Omar Razzaz.

The OGP is supported by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Better Policies for Better Lives.

“The government is keen on ensuring the success of political reform and participation of its citizens through the application of the fourth NAP,” Kawar said.

The minister stressed that the fourth NAP aims to improve the trust between the government and its citizens by providing information and transparency.

This plan, Kawar added, will constitute a mutual relationship between the government and its citizen with the support of civil society by “exchanging information in order for citizens to gain the rights and services they deserve”.

“The plan strives to allow citizens to express their opinions regarding the government’s performance,” Kawar stressed.

The minster added that, this year, the plan includes institutionalising the work of the Government Transparency Unit that was recently established at the Planning Ministry.

“The unit’s role is to conduct monitoring and evaluation of the fourth NAP and then report to the OECD, which is an indication of the government’s seriousness in achieving more transparency in handling public affairs,” Kawar said.

Some of the fourth NAP’s other priorities include enhancing partnership and dialogue between the public sector and civil society, fostering national dialogues to achieve reform and institutionalising enforcement measures for access to information.

Other goals include the unification and development of a national human rights violations’ complaint mechanism and an improvement in the government’s implementation of the open data policy.

“The Planning Ministry has formed several working groups consisting of private and public entities to follow up on the fourth NAP’s implementation, priorities and goals,” according to Kawar.

Head of Programme at MENA-OECD Governance Miriam Allam also addressed the audience and praised the Jordanian government, saying that the national plan “is a truly impressive achievement that underscores your commitment to open government principles and practices”. 

“Indeed, we see the launching of the fourth NAP as a natural progression of Jordan’s dedication to open government reforms. In many ways, Jordan’s successes will be the region’s successes,” Allam told the gathering.

The OECD is an international body that promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. It is made up of 35 member countries, a secretariat in Paris and a committee made up of experts from government and other fields.