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JOHUD: helping the community find their voice
JOHUD supports people's rights to participate actively in
decisions that affect their lives. Political empowerment starts with making
sure that everyone has a voice in decision-making, JOHUD supports interventions
that help representative bodies to make equitable decisions and to hold
themselves accountable to their constituency.
A major role of the JOHUD Community Development Centre
network is to act as a focal point for people to engage with local level
political activities. For most people this process starts with playing a role as a volunteer,
through joining an association, being part of a committee, taking on a role as
a chairperson, secretary, finance officer, and in some cases becoming a rural
leader and even a manager of the Community Development Centre.
JOHUD's vision of 'democracy in action'
All these activities lie at the heart of democracy and
political life. Through such community activism, people learn to empathize with
the plight of others in a worse
situation, to place the interests of the community above self interest, to
recognize the need to make decisions in a transparent and equitable manner and
to hold themselves (and others) to account for the way that resources are
distributed. This is JOHUD's vision of 'democracy in action'.
Supporting decentralised democracy
The democratic processes in Jordan are expanding from national,
to regional, governorate and municipal level. JOHUD supports this process of
decentralization and devolved decision-making
and responds by supporting the community to play an active role, as the electorate
relying on their elected representatives to deliver on their promised
policies, JOHUD encourages local people,
especially women, to stand in the elections - and to base their platform on
informed policy positions based on their experience of community activism.
JOHUD liaises closely with other organisations that support
women's involvement in political life, especially through the Jordanian
National Commission for Women (JNCW)
and through the grassroots outreach of the Jordanian National Forum for Women (JNFW). Most importantly, JOHUD helps
to build the capacity of the electorate - so that they understand how to engage
with their candidates, to question their policies, to make informed decisions
about who to vote for, and to maintain regular contact once the person is elected.
Claiming rights and entitlements
Political life also involves working actively with service
providers - making sure that poor and marginalized groups gain access to the
goods and services to which they are entitled as citizens and taxpayers. This is
the heart of the public sector reform programme through which the Government
of Jordan is bringing the government closer to the people. JOHUD helps the
people meet them half way -so that poor and marginalized groups can benefit
from this transformation process. To be sustainable in the longer term. public
sector reform and democracy have to be led by the people themselves - so that
they feel empowered to claim their rights, and to hold duty bearers to account.
JOHUD's Makana programme
One of JOHUD's flagship projects is Makana - which supports a
process of social and political empowerment through which women can have a
voice and influence decisions and in so doing, benefit the whole community.
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