Public Sector Reform (PSR) in Jordan Program

The Supporting Public Sector Reform (PSR) in Jordan Program was designed to improve government services in the areas of policy and decision-making, performance management and service delivery, institutional streamlining, and human resource management.  The PSR program included: Restructuring the Council of Ministers Secretariat, the General Secretariat, and the Prime Minister’s Office; Building the capacity of the Government Performance Directorate (GPD); and building the capacity of the Ministry of Public Sector Development (MoPSD) in the areas of Streamlining/restructuring, human resource development, and project management. 

Government Performance Directorate (GPD):

• Building capacity in the GPD so that the team has the requisite skills and expertise to define and monitor the appropriate Key Performance Indicators based on the National Agenda and institutionalizing performance improvement measures.
• Assisting in the provision of capacity building at the Government Performance Directorate to ensure developing the right skills for performance measurement and strategic planning through training workshops.
• Developing a Government Performance System and providing the basic outline of the system, key stakeholders, institutional arrangements, formats and templates, and a brief ‘how to’ guide. It also involved components on strategic planning, background to the Balanced Scorecard and performance measures, and other M&E detailed forms.

Council of Ministers Secretariat:

• Developing and ensuring adoption of the Council of Ministers (CoM) guidebook.
• Collaborating with an internal team to restructure the CoM Secretariat to support the new policy-making functions of the Secretariat.
• Developing the mandates and proposed structure for Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet Secretariat.

General Secretariat:

• Implementing the new structure proposed by a prior report, including merging Directorates with similar functions, and initiating new functions for selected Directorates.  

Ministry of Public Sector Development:

• Capacity building: Holding various capacity-building sessions to familiarize existing and newly appointed Ministry of Public Sector Development staff with the streamlining methodology. Al Jidara also provided capacity building sessions on streamlining the machinery of government and developing the typology for Jordanian Government functions functional mapping (comparative mapping of institutions and principles) and analysis.
• Streamlining: Developing a streamlining model for public institutions with the Ministry of Industry and Trade as a pilot, streamlining policies and a handbook, and machinery of government guidelines and regulations. Al Jidara prepared a draft policy & issues paper based on progress in the development of ‘How To’ guidelines for streamlining. Consultants also prepared a document on the Machinery of Government which involved a step by step process guide for creating new bodies, abolishing or changing mandate of existing ones.
• Service Delivery: Providing advice on drafting regulations for standards of service delivery, responsibilities of GoJ institutions, and the development of a client voice center. Al Jidara provided assistance in developing an approach which places the prime responsibility for service delivery improvement on Ministries. It also shifts the Ministry of Public Sector Development’s role to one of overseeing and monitoring the process and monitoring the results, along the lines of the Government Performance Directorate for government performance.
• Human Resources: Reviewing the Civil Service Bureau draft bylaw and providing advise on Human Resource policy, including reviewing the current policy and recommending options for division of policy, operations and monitoring functions among GoJ institutions.

Program Management: Reviewing the PSR program management system and providing recommendations to the minister to enhance this function within the ministry and the center of government.