"Our journey started with one step, and we are still going forward on the journey of a thousand miles.” With these words, Dr. Sawsan Al-Majali, Consultant at Durrat Al-Manal Foundation for Development and Training (DMDT) and executive Board of the Jordan National NGO Forum (JONAF), summed up JONAF’s ongoing journey since 2016, during the strategic meeting held by the Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development (ARDD) and JONAF, on Monday, September 23, 2024, entitled: "Activating Localization towards a sustainable impact".
According to Lena Halaseh, Project Manager at ARDD, the meeting, comes within the framework of the project "Towards the Future: Exploring Local Sustainability Opportunities", funded by the European Regional Development and Protection Program to support Jordan and Lebanon. The project aims to develop a solid governance structure and standard operating procedures to institutionalize JONAF, and to strengthen the localization of Jordan's livelihood sector through a multi-faceted approach focused on building the capacity of local civil society.
In this context, Al-Majali said that "Since its inception in 2016, JONAF has played an active role in unifying the voice of civil society institutions, working with official institutions and authorities to contribute to the application of the localization of humanitarian work, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, activating the Women, Security and Peace, agenda and finding solutions to internal challenges such as coordination between institutions, institutional efficiency, building specialization, project sustainability, and advocacy, by communicating with policymakers to promote key issues related to humanitarian aid, development, and human rights."
Al-Majali then added that "The perception of civil society institutions that they are unable to provide the best and engage directly with the needs of society is a major challenge for these institutions, and this image must be changed," stressing that the response to the Syrian refugee crisis and the concept of decentralization played a pivotal role in the emergence of the coalition.
Al-Majali also pointed out that JONAF currently consists of about 50 organizations, covering the central, northern, and southern regions of Jordan, including a variety of civil society groups, community-based organizations, and founding partners. The development of membership criteria has ensured that each organization understands its roles and responsibilities within JONAF. Furthermore, the expansion of the coalition's membership and organizational structure aimed to ensure its commitment to inclusiveness and sustainable community participation in promoting peace, security, and development in Jordan.
Regarding JONAF’s future steps, Eng. Zainab AlKhalil, program manager at ARDD and coordinator of JONAF, explained that those are represented by "defining the shape of the Forum and the criteria for admission to membership, increasing the number of members, developing clear governance, strategy, and action plan for JONAF, continuing to set the objectives of the Forum and implementing them on the ground, as well as enhancing the active participation of all members and exchanging information among them, diagnosing priority strategic issues, as well as unifying the positions and discourse issued by members, and promoting the localization of humanitarian and development work, all the way to the representation of members before external strategic partners and international organizations.
As for the results of the JONAF needs assessment, Dr. Sana Jelassi, Advisor for the Gender and Youth Empowerment Programs at ARDD’s Al Nahda Thought Center, pointed out that there is a need to design a comprehensive strategy that achieves sustainable progress over the next three years, and to discuss strengthening JONAF’s capabilities through dialogue on performance indicators, and developing it to achieve the Forum’s desired purpose.
For her part, Iman Abu Qaoud, Networks Officer at ARDD, stressed the need to focus on JONAF’s presence in all governorates, holding its activities in them, and pushing to support and sustain political, civil, and economic participation projects, while increasing the Forum’s participation in international and local coordination platforms, as well as enhancing the role of members in the fields of advocacy and lobbying.
Meanwhile, Executive Director of ARDD, Samar Muhareb, pointed out to the overall challenges facing civil society institutions, which are mainly problems within society itself, the gap between civil society and official bodies, as well as the multiplicity of legislation and government policies, in addition to the challenge of the relationship of these institutions with the funding bodies, and funding priorities in terms of the lack of project sustainability, stressing the importance of institutionalizing the work of civil society organizations and qualifying their workers, which in turn would reflect positively on society.
Extensive discussions took place among JONAF members, during which they stressed "the role of JONAF in the emergency response plan for the COVID-19 pandemic by calling for providing assistance to the underprivileged groups, as well as supporting ARDD in their participation in the implementation of UN Resolution No. 1325 to address the humanitarian impact of the pandemic, as two emergency response plans were developed and implemented from the first week of the pandemic until 2021."
The members also said that "Local associations are best able to touch upon the needs of their communities and work professionally, especially with regard to the application of humanitarian standards, in addition to reaching beneficiaries such as the elderly and people with disabilities, as this was evident during plans to prepare and respond to seasonal or emergency aid or in crises”.
The participants underscored the need to support local associations in all regions of the Kingdom, as well as promoting the sustainability of work between all institutions in a new strategic way, with the creation of a clear and continuous mechanism and agenda to achieve the objectives of JONAF, review its internal regulations, and re-institutionalize it over the next two years, taking into account the social and individual differences between workers in the organizations, in addition to preparing a research study to determine the training needs of workers in the local associations and organizations.
The participants also went on to stress the importance of building specialization in the work of organizations, promoting the localization of humanitarian work to give civil society institutions a role in policy-making, and supporting the stability and resilience of local actors in civil society and their leaders, in addition to the importance of assessing the needs and resources of these actors, reaching a national consensus, strengthening societal conviction of the importance of civil institutions, and working to ensure the support of the media in converging views and supporting partnership between the different components of the public sector.
