Amman, August 15 (Petra) – Prime Ministry has released a progress report for the 2nd executive program to modernize the public sector for the first half of 2026, revealing 92% of the targets for this period were achieved, as 78 out of 85 axes were completed.

The report's publication coincides with launch and development of national projects in the areas of government services, human resources, performance measurement, digital transformation, data, and artificial intelligence.

These enterprises represent a "new" phase of implementation, focusing on translating the developed enablers and systems into tangible results that would "broadly" impact quality of government services, performance efficiency, and the tangible benefits citizens will experience.

As for its goals, this phase aims to develop performance indicators to serve as national evaluation tools, with the results being published periodically for public access.

In the area of ​​government human resource development, the report highlighted the launch of the Jordanian Academy of Public Administration as a national entity for leadership development and capacity building, and the legal successor to the Institute of Public Administration.

The report also noted completion of the development of 12 competency frameworks that define skills and requirements for various positions, and the continued expansion of merit-, competency-based, and competitive recruitment processes.

Progress also emerged in developing tools to enhance government efficiency and strengthen inter-institutional integration, mainly transition to paperless government, steps to develop systems to link individual and institutional performance, expand use of e-government procurement systems, and continue to develop operational models and shared services to improve resource deployment.

In the smart and innovative government track, work is underway to develop 5 priority use cases for artificial intelligence agents in 5 public entities, as well as completing data maturity assessments in ministries and training 23 government data teams.

The government also completed the unified digital map of legislation, which features at least 28,000 laws, regulations, and administrative decisions in searchable and readable digital formats, as well as supporting the development of a "more integrated" system for managing legislation and policies.

The report showed the government continued to expand digitization of services and streamline access to them. The number of digital public services rose to 2,060, representing 85.8% of digitizable services.

Meanwhile, the number of activated digital identities through the "Sanad" application and various activation channels reached 2.8 million.

The comprehensive government service center network also expanded to cover 16 facilities, as part of a move to orchestrate service delivery standards and facilitate citizen access.

The report noted that the number of users of the vehicle license renewal package under the new electronic procedures exceeded 614,000 beneficiaries.

This effort follows integration of several service-related procedures into a unified process that includes paying fines, obtaining mandatory insurance, and renewing the license.

During the second half of the year, the program will focus on expanding impact of developed projects on improving services provided to citizens, completing the digitization of priority services and re-engineering their procedures.

The government will also widen "Hearing the Citizen's Voice" system at the national level, continue the transition to a paperless government, expande application of competency framework, and roll out the first phase of programs to enhance use of artificial intelligence in targeted government entities.

The report noted the next phase represents a "shift" from building enablers to optimizing their impact.

Progress in Jordan's public sector modernization will not be measured "solely" by the number of implemented projects and axes, but also by their ability to create sustainable institutional transformation that enhances government efficiency, improves service quality, and "tangibly" improves citizen experience.

//Petra// AG