Challenges facing local government in Jordan and strategies to address them

  • Received July 14, 2020;
    Accepted September 29, 2020;
    Published October 8, 2020
  • Author(s)
  • DOI
    http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.18(3).2020.33
  • Article Info
    Volume 18 2020, Issue #3, pp. 402-414
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Local governments play an important role in the economic and social development of local services provided to localities. In Jordan, local governments face problems and challenges that impede this development. The purpose of this descriptive study is to investigate the magnitude of challenges faced by local governments using a random sample (251) of mayors and heads of provincial governorates. Qualitative methods with a purposive sample employing twenty in-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted to identify the major challenges. After analyzing data using the SPSS, the study pointed out that the lack of financial resources and the lack of independence of local government in managing local funding is another major challenge. The study revealed that environmental protection was the biggest challenge. Responsiveness and public participation are other challenges faced by local governments. Based on the study results, the recommendation and provision of centralized technical assistance are required to maintain environmental protection. However, capacity building for local employees is a must. The critical financial position of local governments needs to be addressed by re- evaluating the share of funds allocated to local units.

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    • Table 1. Level of the respondents’ attitudes
    • Table 2. Descriptive statistics of respondents’ assessment of the level of five challenges facing local governments and correlation (N = 251)
    • Table 3. Respondents’ assessment of environmental protection challenges facing local government
    • Table 4. Respondents’ assessment of the challenges of financial viability facing local government
    • Table 5. Respondents’ assessment of the level of responsiveness facing local government
    • Table 6. Respondents’ assessment of the level of public participation challenges facing local government
    • Table 7. Respondents’ assessment of the level of capacity building challenges facing local government
    • Methodology
      Mohammad M. Taamneh
    • Supervision
      Mohammad M. Taamneh
    • Writing – original draft
      Mohammad M. Taamneh
    • Conceptualization
      Mohammad Fathi Almaaitah
    • Data curation
      Mohammad Fathi Almaaitah
    • Validation
      Mohammad Fathi Almaaitah
    • Writing – review & editing
      Mohammad Fathi Almaaitah, Heba M. Alqdha
    • Formal Analysis
      Heba M. Alqdha
    • Resources
      Heba M. Alqdha