Social protection in Jordan: A project to strengthen civil society actors

“In the context of the ‘Vision 2025’ strategic plan, Jordan aims to create a more inclusive society. The project which Expertise France is participating in contributes to this wish, as it aims to strengthen social protection for all Jordanians, in particular those who are at risk of exclusion. It covers a wide scope: women’s empowerment, access to employment for young people, and the inclusion of people with disabilities”, explains Marie Keirle, project manager at Expertise France.

Today, the Jordanian population mainly turns to the State for the provision of social services. Yet associations play a key role in increasing access to these services and their quality: they have extensive knowledge of the publics targeted and are therefore often better placed to devise and implement systems taking account of their specific characteristics and regional disparities. It is therefore essential to build the capacities of civil society actors, in particular by professionalising them.

For 3 and a half years, the project launched by Expertise France will work to strengthen relations between the authorities responsible for social policies, including the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), and civil society actors.

The project plans to:

• Strengthen the capacities of civil society organisations and their role in the design, service delivery, monitoring and evaluation of social protection in Jordan;

• Develop their contribution to quality social services and to the de-institutionalisation reform wanted by the State of Jordan (i.e. the desire to no longer manage social problems within large institutions, such as orphanages or care facilities for people with disabilities). This reform will require devising new methods to support beneficiaries: if people with disabilities are no longer placed in institutions, what are the best care systems? What new services need to be developed (transport, home care, etc.)?

The activities that Expertise France will implement in the context of this project will focus specifically on:

• Promoting local partnerships and citizenship to come up with solutions tailored to local characteristics;  

• Providing tools to build trust and cooperation between the public authorities and civil society organisations; 

• Building the capacities of stakeholders and promoting innovation in the design and implementation of the social protection policy;

• Supporting innovative social projects selected through a grant programme.

The project implemented by Expertise France is one of the components of a more extensive programme managed in partnership with the Northern Ireland cooperation agency, NI-CO, which will be responsible for the professionalisation of social workers, and the UN agency specialised in the implementation of humanitarian projects, UNOPS, whose mission will be to rethink the organisation of social centres via a smart renovation.