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Case Study

Challenge

In 1999, Jordan’s King announced a strategy for economic growth focusing heavily on building the information technology (IT) industry and integrating IT into people’s daily lives. To support this vision, a national e-government initiative was launched to streamline government processes, and provide information and services to citizens over the Internet. At the time, however, the Ministry charged with this new initiative, the Ministry of Post and Communications (MOPC), was still in transition from its former role, and had yet to establish departments or staff devoted to IT issues. In addition to legal reform and organizational restructuring, the Ministry’s transformation required updated human and technology resources.

Photo: Mahmoud Shawkat

Nadia Naber with Jordan’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technology Program Management Office.

“E-government in Jordan couldn’t happen without an office like the PMO to take the lead. Managing project implementation and the transition takes a high degree of coordination and technical expertise. We appreciate the assistance of USAID in providing the resources and knowledge to enable us to develop such a program.”-Nadia Naber, Communications Mgr., PMO

Initiative

USAID’s economic development project provided institutional development, legal assistance, and equipment to help transform the MPOC into the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MOICT). Since the e-government project needed its own special team, USAID helped create the Program Management Office (PMO) to coordinate e-government projects, monitor the benefit to citizens, and raise public awareness about e-services.

The PMO’s legal charter, written by USAID, coordinated the overall initiative and also provided a framework for training other government organizations to run their own e-government projects. USAID provided assistance to design the PMO’s management structure and purchased IT equipment for the office. To fill short-term staffing needs, local consultants were brought in and a hiring system was incorporated to attract high-caliber staff as independent contractors rather than civil service employees.

Results

The MOICT became operational in March 2002 with the PMO program in full force by early 2003. Within a year, the office implemented thirteen initiatives and thirty individual projects, including building the e-government operations center, connecting six government ministries to a secure government network and e-mail system, providing computer literacy training to more than 4,000 government employees, and establishing e-services such as online business registration and income tax filing.

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