Expert panel puts 2019 civil society performance under microscope

AMMAN — On Wednesday, the Information and Research Centre-King Hussein Foundation (IRCKHF) hosted a panel of experts to discuss and evaluate the situation and sustainability of Civil Society Organisations (CSO) in 2019.  

According to a statement from the centre, the panel represented a wide array of backgrounds and technical expertise from various types of organisations, including Jordanian non-governmental and community-based organisations, international non-governmental organisations, trade unions, foreign embassies and the public and private sectors, as well as organisations and activists representing women, people with disabilities, youth, refugees, workers’ rights and other human rights.

The panel assessed CSOs based on seven interrelated dimensions, including institutional capacity, financial viability, infrastructure, public image, service provision, advocacy work and legal environment. 

“The assessment sessions on civil society organisations’ administrative, procedural and legal challenges are essential to developing the organisations and putting the ‘finger on the wound’, as it is said,” Mohammad  Shamma, programme manager and chief of content for Jordan at Journalists for Human Rights, was quoted in the statement as saying. 

“We hope that the dialogue will be reflected in the recommendations to the community and the decision-makers in general,” he added. 

“We are doing this assessment with the experts panel to provide a useful source of information to the local civil society organisations, donors, decision makers and others who want to better understand and monitor the key aspects of sustainability in the CSO sector in Jordan,” said IRCKHF Director Aida Essaid.

During the meeting, the IRCKHF presented a short video about main events of 2019. Then, the experts self-facilitated the meeting in rotation, assessing each dimension, the statement said.

According to the previous expert assessments conducted by the IRCKHF since 2011, Jordan's CSO sector is still “relatively impeded”, despite an improvement in their advocacy work.

The CSOs Sustainability Index Project in Jordan is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through a grant from the Civil Society Organisation Sustainability Index project implemented by the US-based nonprofit human development organisation FHI 360, according to the statement. 

The project is being implemented in Jordan by the IRCKHF, and was conducted from 2011-2018, and now 2019.