Using CLA to Execute Jordan's Youth Strategy

The five-year Technical Assistance Program (TAP) aims to improve the organizational culture and technical and institutional capacity of the Government of Jordan by providing technical assistance to relevant stakeholders implementing education and youth reforms. This CLA case study focuses on TAP support to the Ministry of Youth in 2022 to operationalize the National Youth Strategy. The Ministry published the strategy in 2019 but had not implemented it due to inadequate collaboration with 11 other concerned ministries. USAID requested TAP to support the Ministry of Youth develop the first executive plan for the National Youth Strategy as a requirement to fulfill the Government-to-Government Condition Precedent. To achieve this, TAP and the Ministry established internal and external collaboration mechanisms to co-develop the implementation plan. They first established an internal task force to coordinate, communicate, discuss challenges, and find solutions. They then co-created a process to engage external stakeholders through five interactive and participatory workshops. The result was a realistic action plan, along with an accompanying monitoring and evaluation framework, media and communication plans, and budget analysis. The collaboration within the Ministry fostered buy-in, data-driven activity design, and alignment with economic opportunities. In addition, TAP staff gained credibility, leading to further opportunities to support organizational culture transformation within the Ministry. For example, the Ministry adopted, adapted, and scaled up the approach when developing the annual plans for its 200 field-level youth centers. The success of the CLA approach was due to an open and collaborative working culture, collective expertise, a well-structured roadmap, and the support of ministerial leadership and in-country USAID teams. The process faced challenges such as funding gaps and resistance from some senior ministerial staff.