Speech

First Co-ordination Committee Meeting of the EU-Funded Programme
"Enhanced Support to Democratic Governance in Jordan" 
Monica Frassoni, President, ECES

 

Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentleman,

This Co-ordination Committee meeting of “Enhanced Support to Democratic Governance in Jordan” represents the conclusion of this exciting first phase of the Programme, which we consider an innovative delivery mechanism to implement democracy support activities that are consistent with European values and EU policies. 

The name that we are agreeing to give the project, EU JDID (EU Support to Jordanian Democratic Institutions and Development), in Arabic “new”, also represents our innovative approach.

 

We are very honoured that the EU gave our Consortium of European non-for-profit organisations the task to implement it and we look forward to the continuation of a close and fruitful cooperation with the EU and the EU delegation in Jordan.

 

 

Just as a short reminder, ECES leads a consortium comprised of the following organizations, which are all represented here. 


-The European Partnership for Democracy;
-Westminster Foundation for Democracy;
-The French Media cooperation Agency; 
-The Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy.

 

We all seek to strengthen democratic governance in Jordan, a country playing a role as a key contributor to regional peace, stability, and security.  Our assistance to and engagement in this country has advanced rapidly over the past few months and we intend to maintain that pace. In the process, we all adhered to an important principle: it is not just what we do but how we do it that matters.  We will do our best to be guided by shared values and the wealth of expertise and motivation of both our consortium and the beneficiaries to ensure our engagement is inclusive, informed, and sensitive to local conditions.  

 

Your Excellences, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentleman,


During the inception phase, which corresponded also to a crucial electoral period, the Project has carried out many activities, while simultaneously working on the establishment of its office and the recruitment of the project team.


Upon request of the Independent Election Commission and the agreement of the EU, the Project mobilised extra resources to provide support for the Elections that took place on 15 August 2017. Our assistance contributed to the Independent Election Commission to smoothen electoral operations and strengthen the engagement of the IEC, political parties, youth sector, and civil society to enhance communication, share concerns, and increase mutual understanding. This, we are sure, helped the credibility of the process and ensured a more aware and informed voter community. 


And let me say that observers were impressed by the work of the IEC and the other Jordanian actors involved in the recent elections. In 2017, the IEC assumed the unprecedented task of organising three elections in one day while under intense pressure due to regional security concerns, and we are honoured to have being able to give a positive contribution to an already well-established organisation. 
We hope the advances made and the lessons learned from this election cycle may be built upon in future show-case elections, and we are pleased by the official recognition of the work that has been done.

In this period, the Project also implemented important activities concerning the other components of our project to support the Parliament and support the political party system, notably through the Ministry of Political and Parliamentary Affairs.


As far as the Parliament is concerned, we mobilised the European Parliament technical expertise for the procurement process of the electronic conference and voting system and organised the participation of the staff of the HoR Centre for Research and Legislative Studies at the IFLA event in Poland. With regard to MoPPA, the Project carried out the ICT assessment, which is an essential precondition toward the establishment of the front desk for political parties and the E-government. 


We were pleased that during the three steering committees held last month to assess the implementation of the inception period, the beneficiary institutions shared their appreciation for the activities implemented, the team recruited, and the approach adopted by JDID/or some other name.
 
These meetings confirmed our overall direction while opening the door for updates depending on the beneficiaries’ evolving priorities; indeed, all activities proposed in the project documents have been reconfirmed and are to be implemented jointly with beneficiaries in order to ensure the ownership and sustainability of the results. 

In preparation for the steering committees, the Project has carried out extensive consultations with the beneficiaries to optimise the relevance of the activities with their needs. The agenda we have at hand today is the result of a process in which you have all played your part. It is a solid blueprint to take us forward. 

 

As agreed at the Steering Committee level, the project will continue to closely collaborate with partner institutions in order to support: 

 

  • The HoR toward E-parliament. This is a priority for the institution. The Project delivered computer tablets to the HoR, which are a strategic means for the implementation of the new green policy adopted by the Parliament in August 2017. In addition to this, the Project is now working on the tender for the procurement of a new voting, conference, and audio-visual system whose technical specifications have been already agreed upon. 
  • The Project will also support the IEC to become a reference in the region and serve as an example for other Arab countries as they create their own independent electoral institutions.  It is worth mentioning that EU JDID will support the establishment of the Regional Electoral Center of Excellence, which is intended to become a regional center of excellence on research, training, and knowledge sharing in the field of elections.
  • In addition, EU-JDID will support MoPPA in implementing the national strategy on E-Government. This is intended to modernize its traditional archiving system and establish an automated political party tool. The project will also focus on strengthening the capacities of MoPPA staff, political party representatives, and citizens actively involved in political parties and in the political life of the country. 

 

Lastly, EU-JDID will help to enhance women and youth voices! Youth are the future of this country, and women are half of it. We are extremely motivated and engaged in this respect and are certain that there will be a very positive cooperation with QARARUNA in our work on engaging youth and women as well as in other aspects of the Project.

Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, this project, and this program, are surely ambitious but let me once more confirm our readiness, our willingness and our commitment to contribute to strengthening democratic processes in Jordan in a transparent and accountable way. 

 

Thank you.

 

Oct.9,2017