- Implementation Support Agency (ISA): World Bank
- Total project financing: $200 million
- Funding from GCFF: $36.9 million
- GCFF Financing Approval Date: 11/22/2019
- Project Closing Date: 03/31/2025
- % Disbursed: 13.4%
- Status: Under implementation
About the project
The objective of the project is to improve digitally enabled income opportunities and expand digitized government services in Jordan. The Project has three components. 1. Increasing the supply of digitally skilled youth in Jordan component will increase the supply of high-quality human capital to cater to the increasing demand for digital skills in Jordan, covering both employment and freelancing jobs. 2. Expanding the digital sector and digital government services in Jordan component will boost activity in the digital sector by supporting the expansion and access to business opportunities. This is achieved primarily through support of the digitization of government services. 3. Project Management and Implementation Support component will support provision of technical advisory services and goods to manage, coordinate, monitor and evaluate the project, including operating costs, independent verification of the achievement of Disbursement-Linked Indicators (DLIs) and independent verification of completion of employment objectives for employment subsidies and relevant results milestones for matching grants.
Project Development Objective (PDO)
Improve digitally enabled income opportunities and expand digitized government services in Jordan. Digitally enabled income opportunities in this context refer to employment, full-time or part-time, or freelancing/self-employment whether that be: a) entrepreneurship (startup of a digital firm by a beneficiary), b) work within digital firms, c) work on digital technology in other than digital firms, or d) work through digitally enabled online platforms
Project Implementation Status
(As of December 31, 2022)
The Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship (MODEE) is making good progress towards the implementation of the project activities. The below summarizes the main achievements under the project components.
- Component 1: Support the supply of digital skills in Jordan Sub-component 1.1: The Digital Skills Development Association (DigiSkills) is making good progress towards the implementation of activities. The PMU hired a Director General, a Senior Grants Officer, and an Administrative Assistant to run the activities of the association. DigiSkills has started engagement with private sector employers and training providers, to prepare for the roll out of digital skills training activities. DigiSkills finalized and published the Digital Skills Gap Analysis in the ICT sector. They also signed 5 grant agreements with training service providers to carry out training activities aligned with the gap analysis. Sub-component 1.2: MoDEE, MOE and NCCD requested to re-tender the Digital Skills Curriculum Development activity, to expand the scope of work to include the development of teacher guides and the training of teachers. The request was accepted since it will not affect the roll-out of the curriculum, which is expected to start in the school year of 2024-2025.
- Component 2: Expanding the digital sector and digital government services in Jordan.
- Sub-component 2.1 -Expanding access to markets for digital firms: To support the growth plans of tech-enabled businesses, social enterprises, and CSOs in Jordan to develop digital functions and generate new income opportunities for underserved youth in tech-enabled activities, the project has supported 63 companies in the “talents” and “market expansion” program, and 6 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the “Gig” program, to create 2,099 jobs and income opportunities in total.
- Sub-component 2.2 – Supporting digital transformation of service delivery to citizens and businesses: MoDEE finalized and shared with the World Bank a revised digital transformation strategy and a list of initiatives under YTJ. MODEE team is working closely with different governmental agencies to implement the recommendations to improve 25 public eservices, which were selected as part of the public value assessment conducted earlier this year. The PMU, with the MODEE team, has put together a list of 159 new public services that have been digitized and launched since the beginning of the project.
- Sub-component 2.3 – The PMU completed the bidding process for procuring a government back-end payment system and started implementation of activities with a selected vendor (Progress Soft) in October 2022. The system will enable a wider integration between government entities’ core financial systems and the billing modules linked with different payment streams.
Relevant Documents: