Municipal Institutional Capacity Assessment Final Report

The assessment is part of the USAID CITIES project, which aims to improve service delivery in these municipalities. The MICA method was developed by Chemonics and has been used in several countries. The assessment consists of a scoring system to reflect the quality of a given activity. The scores are based on structured interviews with municipal staff, who are asked questions about the tasks they perform. The scores range from 0 to 5, with 0 indicating that the task is not performed at all and 5 indicating that the task is performed with qualified staff, sufficient budget, and proper planning and implementation. In Jordan, 23 tasks were selected for review, which closely reflect the tasks defined for municipalities in Law 41 of 2015. The tasks reviewed include citizens' services, records and information management, interaction between the municipality and citizens, training of staff, urban planning, local development planning, participation of citizens, building licensing, infrastructure maintenance, solid waste management, cleanliness of public spaces, utilities, waste water management, public transport, street naming, markets, tourism, public health services, fire prevention, calamity management, and reporting by the mayor to the council. The assessment also includes a focus on Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) aspects, with questions asked about the attention paid to GESI aspects in the planning and implementation of services. The scores for GESI aspects range from 0 to 1, with 0 indicating no attention paid to GESI aspects and 1 indicating proven attention. The results of the assessment show that the ten A-class municipalities score an average of 43 points, with the highest score being 64 points and the lowest score being 26 points. The 23 B and C-class municipalities score an average of 22 points, with the highest score being 38 points and the lowest score being 11 points. The scores are generally low, with several tasks not being carried out at all due to a lack of knowledge or responsibility. The assessment also shows that there is a significant difference in scores between A-class and B and C-class municipalities, with A-class municipalities scoring more than twice as well as B and C-class municipalities in tasks such as training, maintenance of assets, waste water management, street naming, and tourism. In terms of GESI aspects, the ten A-class municipalities score an average of 2.10 points, with the highest score being 6 points and the lowest score being 0 points. The 23 B and C-class municipalities score an average of 1.52 points, with the highest score being 7 points and the lowest score being 0 points. The MICA method has proven to be suitable for application in the Jordanian situation, with its flexibility and ease of customization making it a useful tool for rapid assessments. The method has also been effective in starting conversations with municipal staff and leadership about their technical and institutional situation, and has provided a good way to build relationships. However, the method leaves some room for personal interpretations by the interviewer, particularly in terms of financial data and performance data.