EU-funded project “EU support to Jordanian Democratic Institutions &  Development (EU JDID) held its third steering committee meeting session for component 1 “Parliamentary Support” on Sunday, 17th of September, 2017 at the House of Representatives (HoR) premises. 

 

The meeting aimed to provide guidance and quality assurance on the main directions of the action and to approve the annual work plans and annual reports under each component. His Excellency Firas Adwan, Secretary General of HoR was present along with MS Dalia Bseiso, Director of Legislative and Research Center, HoR, Mr. Eng Ammar Awamleh, IT Director, HoR, Mr. Gonzalo Jorro Martinez, Programme Manager for Democratic Governance and Mr. Michael Steffens, EU Delegation to Jordan. From the project side,  Mr. Said Sandiki, Project Director, ECES, Jordanian Democratic Institutions & Development in Jordan, Johannes Hommes, Team leader of the Project component 1 “Parliamentary Support” and Lubna Mahadeen, Country representative of Westminster Foundation for Democracy, were present among others.

 

The meeting was opened by the Secretary-General of HoR, HE Firas Adwan, who expressed his appreciation to the cooperation between the EU and HoR and is looking forward to witnessing the achievements this project will accomplish. His Excellency acknowledged the importance of the implementation of the E-parliament system and the positive changes it will have on the work done by the institution.  

 

Mr. Gonzalo Jorro Martinez claimed that the main purpose of the project is to support Jordan’s reform process towards consolidation of deep democracy and promote inclusiveness of national policy and decision-making process. Mr. Jorro Martinez assured that the key is to strengthen key parliamentary functions and to implement an approach based on a long-term support aimed at contributing to the factual implementation and application of reforms and change. 

 

The activities, developed in close collaboration with the HoR, were presented by Mr. Said Sandiki, the Project Director, for discussions and comments by the two parties. A final form of activities was agreed on, and the Secretary-General believes that the collaboration between EU and House of Representative will lead to success. 

 

The EU Funded Project “EU Support to Jordanian Democratic Institutions & Development (EU-JDID)” is part of the broader Programme “Enhanced Support to Democratic Governance in Jordan”. EU JDID which is composed of four components is managed by two entities, a consortium which is led by ECES and includes four European non-profit organisations: European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WfD), Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) and French Agency for Media Cooperation (CFI), and the fourth components which is managed by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID)