Strengthening of Think Tanks, Youth Initiatives and Civil Society Organisations

Jordan’s civil society organisations offer general assistance to the poor and vulnerable, or concentrate on issues such as youth affairs, access to justice, women’s empowerment or refugee material assistance. Many of them base their work on a charity methodology, though such methods tend to maintain poverty cycles and contribute to the dependence of the poor on direct welfare.

While part of the explanation lies in cultural norms that promote charitable giving, a more fundamental issue is that community based organisations (CBOs) lack the technical skills to develop and implement evidence-based, results-oriented programmes. CBOs’ operating capacity is also hampered by a restrictive legal and policy environment. Entities compete rather than collaborate, with the result that there is little joint planning, beneficiary coordination or programming based on economies of scale.

Jordan also hosts a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working at the national level on governance, human and civic rights popular participation. The challenges faced by policy-oriented NGOs largely mirror those of CBOs. They lack capacity in terms of programme design, methodology and impact-oriented management. Their scarce number combined with a lack of coordination limits their capacity to impact policy, and a restrictive operating environment means that much of their work centres around ‘soft’ impact initiatives such as public awareness raising and the training of civil servants.

Many of these arguments equally apply to think tanks. Think tanks need to close knowledge gaps and find modalities to influence policy development and programming, as a weak evidence base is a key constraint to more effective poverty reduction and economic reform. Think tanks need strengthening, in addition to a more liberal operating environment and a better working relationship with the government.

Through implementing this project, the WANA Institute aims to support the overall strengthening of civil society. This will result in a greater impact of assistance delivery, restored power balances with donors, and improved governance through a legitimate system of checks and balances. Through capacity building sessions, the capacities of CBOs and NGOs to advocate and raise awareness about social, economic and political rights, will be strengthened. The project will also support think tanks to develop a rigorous evidence base. Lastly, a context-specific model for how civil society can exist and operate in complement to, rather than in competition with, government, will be developed.

The direct beneficiaries of this project are the 70 participating NGOs, CBOs and think tanks. They will benefit from targeted capacity building sessions on project design, implementation and impact evaluation. The people of Jordan, particularly those relying on NGO/CBO assistance, will benefit indirectly from improved policies and programme methodologies.

• Evaluation of the capacities of 70 NGOs/CBOs/Think Tanks
• Roundtable discussion with stakeholders and policymakers
• Seven capacity building sessions for selected CSOs and youth initiatives
• Support selected think tanks to produce knowledge that facilitates the development and operationalisation of civil society strategies related to promoting civil, economic and political rights
• Publication of policy briefs on the impact of civil society in Jordan

Made possible by the generous support of the people of the European Union. 
This project is in cooperation with the National Centre for Human Rights.