Organization: Jordan Transparency Center (JTC)
Name of Organization’s Representative: Hilda Ajeilat
Website: www.jotransparency.org.jo
Email: email hidden; JavaScript is required
Country: Jordan
Which seat are you nominating for? Middle East & North Africa Regional Seat
Profile of Organization
JTC is a leading NGO & non-profit organisation in Jordan committed to transparency, good governance, & fighting corruption through encouraging public engagement, monitoring, & government accountability. Since its establishment in 2011, JTC held several activities to encourage civic duty in order to establish effective legislation, anti-corruption policies & strategies, & to consolidate NIS through partnership & advocacy.
To promote the values of integrity among students & youth, JTC signed an MoU with national bodies; ministry of education, ministry of higher education & scientific research, ministry of youth, ministry of culture, & several Jordanian Universities to establish “Integrity Clubs” inside their campuses. JTC also signed an MoU with Institute of Public Administration to promote “whistleblowers protection act” among public servants through digital courses, developed by JTC, and sponsored by Canada’s CFLI.
JTC established good relationship with Arab organisations that combat corruption;
- Former elected coordinator of the NGOs group of Arab Anti-Corruption & Integrity Network (ACINET).
- Member of ACINET, Arab Anti-Corruption Organization, Arab Network for Social Accountability, & Regional Network for Media Accountability.
At the international level, JTC is a former elected CCC member representing MENA in the UNCAC Coalition, and member of Freedom of Information & OGP Networks.
Some of Jordan Transparency Center and its CEO’s activities and interviews:
| Year | Link | Topic |
| 2012 | https://ammannet.net/ | JTC produced a study on Jordan in CPI |
| 2013 | http://rasseen.com/art.php?id=c2fa95d4e6e8e77b96731ee8fef8630a8079492c
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Interview by Rasseen, private news agency on “Access to Information Law” |
| 2013 | https://elaph.com/Web/news/2013/2/794181.html
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Interview by ELAPH, Arab news agency in London, “Corruption is institutional in Jordan and requires constitutionlization of audit/ censorship |
| 2013 | https://ammannet.net/ | Hilda Ajeilat, criticized the delay in issuing the annual report of the Anti-Corruption Commission for 2012. |
| 2014 | https://www.gerasanews.com/print/145064
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Hilda Ajeilat participation in OGP Europe Regional Meeting in Dublin, 2014 |
| 2014 | https://blogs.worldbank.org/arabvoices/jordan-steps-fight-against-corruption-still-too-small
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A blog on World Bank “Jordan: Steps in the fight against corruption still too small” |
| 2014 | https://jfranews.com.jo/article/49806
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Training workshop on ATI at the All Jordan Youth Commission |
| 2014 | https://petra.gov.jo/Include/InnerPage.jsp?ID=2076045&lang=ar&name=archived_news
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JTC session on Universities role in combating corruption at the Hashemite University |
| 2014 | https://www.talabanews.net/ar/ | JTC and Faculty of Law at the University of Jordan joint session on UNCAC. |
Organization’s Experience
As a former CCC member, JTC had participated in the following activities:
- Contributed with colleagues in developing and revising the previous Charter, Strategy & Finances of the Coalition.
- Translated some of the Coalition’s documents into Arabic in CoSP8 Abu Dhabi & CoSP9 Sharm El-Sheikh.
- Member of the national expert team, formed by Jordan Integrity & Anti-Corruption Commission (JIACC), that was involved in preparing Jordan’s self-assessment checklist (Articles 2 & 5 of UNCAC), and in dialogue with peer reviewers.
- Member of JIACC’s national team that participated in the review process of UNCAC review implementation by Afghanistan, 2018.
- Participated in JIACC’s consultations to develop the national strategy for anti-corruption (2017-2025).
- Launched a national initiative called “universities against corruption”, in collaboration with JIACC and ACINET to integrate UNCAC into university’s curricula & extracurricular.
- Member of the national higher steering committee that developed three protocols to institutionalize the implementation of access to information law in public agencies.
- Member of the working group, assigned by MoPIC, that co-created the 5th national action plan to open government partnership (2021-2025).
- Organized a training workshop on UNCAC and review mechanism for local CSOs, in partnership with ACINET, 2017.
Top Three Priorities to Achieve for the Coalition
- Support MENA CSOs meaningful involvement in the UNCAC review process through raising civic awareness, building capacity and networking to enable CSOs identify any loopholes in the process and give recommendations to governments for improving implementation.
- Empower MENA citizens to exert pressure on their governments to urge the latter to assess, review and implement anti-corruption strategies and legislation. Citizens involvement helps ensure the reviews are accurate and holistic.
- Increase interactive communications and engagements among MENA members and others, through which they can meet and learn from each other about UNCAC opportunities and challenges.
Profile of Candidate
Ms. Ajeilat is a resourceful and persistent anti-corruption fighter who in her capacity as CEO of Jordan Transparency Center (JTC) organized hundreds of advocacy and other events over the last 14 years in her quest to promote integrity and to combat corruption in Jordan. Moreover, she has launched numerous sustainable anti-corruption initiatives/ projects, such as “Transparency Knights (youth arm of JTC)”, “Universities against Corruption”, “Right to Know”, and “Whistleblow, You’re Safe”. She managed to create a team comprising highly motivated volunteers of different specializations, educational and cultural backgrounds, such as lawyers, professors, engineers, bankers … etc.
At the local level, Ms. Ajeilat is a member of national committees relevant to UNCAC, ATI & OGP. She’s also an active participant of the international civic arena as:
- Speaker and researcher in OGP global summits
- Intervener in OECD regional meeting
- Researcher for Carter Center’s pilot project.
Further, she has assumed key positions such as:
- Former Elected Coordinator of NGOs of ACINET
- Former Elected MENA Member on the UNCAC’ Coalition’s Board
- Founding Member of the recent Regional Alliance of Women Anti-Corruption and Integrity Leaders.
Ms. Ajeilat is a highly committed anti-corruption person, who has demonstrated leadership, and utilized her resources and capabilities to achieve anti-corruption goals.
JTC is a non-governmental and non-profit organization that was established in 2011 by a group of citizens from different educational and social backgrounds aiming at enhancing integrity principles and values in their communities. JTC has targeted the entire Pyramid from high school students to university students and graduates all the way up to government ministers in order to lay down and establish concepts, perception, application and performance of transparency rules and eradication of corruption practices throughout the entire Pyramid and echelon of government and private sector organizations.
Jordan Transparency Centre (JTC) activities are indeed very meaningful, impactful and have brought about public awareness against corruption as well as eagerness for full transparency. JTC has given the platform to youth across Kingdom of Jordan, weather high-school or university students and the work force, to speak up against corruption and to demand transparency in all aspects.
Jordan Transparency Centre (JTC) is non-profit privately established organization by Ms. Hilda Ajeilat and a handful of activists directed by its motives and goals towards enhancing: transparency, governance and integrity. It is hoped it will be formally recognized and integrated as a formal government body to enhance transparency and eradicate all forms of corruption in governmental and private sectors in Jordan thereby enhancing a deep-rooted transparency and anti-corruption culture and practice in all fields of life.