Jordan

This chapter discusses how the government of Jordan can strengthen youth participation and representation in public life. Youth trust in public institutions and representation in policy making remain limited in Jordan, with the risk of young people disassociating from public and political life. Governance arrangements, laws, policies and institutions can be leveraged to promote a stronger relationship between youth and public institutions. Based on an assessment of the current situation, ongoing reform initiatives and good practices from MENA and OECD countries, this chapter provides policy recommendations to empower youth in Jordan’s public life.

Young people have demonstrated resilience to shocks and led positive change in their communities across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Young people (aged under 30) constitute more than half (55%) of the population across MENA, compared with 36% of the population across OECD countries. While challenges vary significantly across the region, youth unemployment rates are among the highest in the world, young people tend to express low trust in public institutions, and nearly four in ten live in fragile and conflicted-affected areas. The COVID-19 crisis has underscored the need to place the needs of young people at the centre of an inclusive and resilient recovery. To support this process, this report analyses current governance arrangements and practices across 10  MENA governments in three areas: 1) uniting all government stakeholders to implement a shared, integrated youth policy and deliver services to young people; 2) building administrative and institutional capacities to mainstream the perspectives of young people in policy making; and 3) encouraging the participation and representation of young people and youth stakeholders in public and political life.

Based on the diagnostic analysis, this chapter suggests ways forward to overcome the main governance challenges faced by Jordan in delivering on its ambitious pipeline of projects with the private sector in the water sector. This chapter focuses on three main areas of recommendations: i) managing PPPs in a fiscally constrained environment through appropriate budget processes; ii) reducing the regulatory risk through supporting the development of a high-quality water regulatory framework; and iii) enhancing stakeholder engagement to improve accountability and buy-in. The Jordanian authorities are active in these three areas and a number of reform initiatives are already underway. This chapter seeks to support the existing efforts by providing a set of practical recommendations, building on the compendium of principles and good practices developed by the OECD and international experience.

This chapter analyses the extent to which public communication at the sub-national level in Jordan can contribute to greater transparency and participation, particularly throughout the process to design local development plans and budget. It provides an overview of local communication efforts and explores a series of avenues for subnational authorities to establish a two-way dialogue with citizens around the decentralization reform, its process and outcomes. To achieve this objective, the chapter outlines recommendations to consider, including the establishment of a more strategic communications approach, encourage the implementation of the ATI right at the subnational level, promote the proactive disclosure of information on the needs assessment process and the use of audience insights to tailor messages and channels.

Jordan’s economy has benefitted from key reforms since the 1990s, helping to attain macroeconomic stability and improve human development indicators. However, the country remains highly dependent on foreign aid and remittances and the current regional unrest strongly affects economic activities.Jordan has performed relatively well in attracting foreign direct investment. FDI inflows reached 10% of GDP during 2000-11. The regional instability and the economic slowdown in the Gulf States have nevertheless considerably affected investment inflows which were halved in 2011 compared to 2008. Prospects for recovery are still uncertain.The privatisation process has been a major driver in attracting foreign investors, but is now largely completed. A law on public-private partnerships (PPPs) is being prepared in order to set up a new legal and institutional framework.

This chapter provides a diagnostic analysis of the governance challenges to private sector participation in the water sector in Jordan. First, the chapter provides a mapping of the main public agencies involved in various functions in the water sector, including institutions involved in private sector participation (PSP). It reviews the capacities of public authorities (and other entities involved in water and wastewater services) to carry out their activities. Second, the chapter provides an overview of the country’s experience to date with PSP in water services, some lessons learnt and areas that could be avenues for further private sector involvement. Third, the chapter analyses the policy, legislative and regulatory framework for water PSP and identifies related challenges. Fourth, the chapter discusses the financial sustainability in the water service sector, including affordability for budget. Lastly, the diagnostic analysis takes stock of the existing mechanisms for ensuring the accountability of responsible authorities and private partners, including the ways and means to engage stakeholders in related policies and service provision.

This chapter assesses labour market challenges in Jordan and the potential of FDI to enhance job quality and skills development. The chapter presents the governance framework and policy mix that supports the impact of investment on labour market outcomes – focusing on institutional arrangements and policies at the intersection of investment, employment and skills development. The chapter applies the forthcoming OECD FDI Qualities Policy Toolkit.

This chapter reviews Jordan’s current policy and regulatory framework for investment in renewable power, including key policy reforms implemented to date to support such investment. The Government of Jordan has provided significant support to renewable power over the past decade. Jordan has put in place several laws, regulations, targets and incentive schemes to promote investment in renewable power, especially in solar PV and wind energy projects. This chapter also takes stock of increasing investment flows in renewable power in Jordan since 2013.

This chapter highlights the opportunities to embed stakeholder participation at the local level in Jordan. It analyses current efforts from sub-national authorities to better inform, consult and engage stakeholders across the needs assessment process. It also identifies a number of implications that need to be tackled to successfully grasp the potential benefits of stakeholder participation in Jordan.

The table below lists companies that have announced an investment acquisition project in Jordan between 2002 and 2012 according to the Dealogic database and look at whether these companies mention Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities in their website.

Revitalising the contribution of international investment to sustainable development in Jordan is more imperative than ever. While the economy is recovering from a 1.6% GDP contraction in 2020, the COVID-19 crisis has amplified existing socio-economic vulnerabilities. Foreign direct investment (FDI) – an important source of external financing, with the FDI stock-to-GDP ratio exceeding 80% – can help unlock the country’s export potential and drive economic growth. However, the lack of a vibrant private sector, combined with global shocks and regional instability, have gradually eroded Jordan’s performance in attracting foreign investors. At the same time, FDI held up during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, with Jordan’s FDI inflows growing by 4% in 2020 compared to a drop of 18% across the Middle East and North Africa region – Jordan’s FDI inflows strongly fell in 2021. Furthermore, the proportion of foreign firms in Jordan that permanently closed their doors during 2020 was six times lower than for domestic firms.

The Jordanian Government has implemented very promising initiatives to help mobilise investment in renewable power. Based on in-house research, literature review, interviews and stakeholder consultations, this report provides non-prescriptive suggestions for Jordanian policy makers to consider in order to enhancing the already robust and comprehensive legislative and regulatory framework for investment in renewable power. The suggestions span all policy areas covered by the Policy Guidance for Investment in Clean Energy Infrastructure. This report also identifies the key challenges faced in each of these areas and proposes concrete measures for addressing them.

This dataset includes pension funds statistics with OECD classifications by type of pension plans and by type of pension funds. All types of plans are included (occupational and personal, mandatory and voluntary). The OECD classification considers both funded and book reserved pension plans that are workplace-based (occupational pension plans) or accessed directly in retail markets (personal pension plans). Both mandatory and voluntary arrangements are included. The data includes plans where benefits are paid by a private sector entity (classified as private pension plans by the OECD) as well as those paid by a funded public sector entity. Data are presented in various measures depending on the variable: millions of national currency, millions of USD, thousands or unit.