About Us / Services

Al-Hayat Center’s Training and Research Unit (TRU)

This unit was established with the goal of providing training and spreading Al Hayat's expertise in various fields to other organizations and groups, locally, regionally and internationally. The unit was also created to support the financial sustainability of Al-Hayat Center. The unit is composed of a variety of distinguished trainers and experts with a multitude of topics and fields of expertise. Throughout its work, the TRU has developed a number of manuals and guidelines to help further the transfer knowledge beyond the official training sessions and for the documentation of best practices.

Training Consultancy

Al-Hayat Center is a leading organization on the regional level in three thematic areas that have enabled the Center to provide training and consultancy services over the past 6 years. These areas are:

  • Electoral Accountability

Al-Hayat’s Electoral Accountability program's philosophy is driven by international standards on democratic elections, universal suffrage and other relevant best practices. Through Hayat Center’s RASED program, established in 2007, the Center has had a significant impact on the course of electoral reform in Jordan through advocating for legal development, adopting new practices, enhancing civil engagement and building the capacity of the Independent Election Commission (IEC). Al-Hayat monitored the Jordanian Parliamentary Elections of 2007, 2010, and 2013 and the Municipal Elections of 2013. Additionally, different local elections for public associations have been monitored, such as the Teachers Association, Geologist Association, Chamber of Commerce, Chamber of Industry, and University Student Unions, to name but a few. 

Al-Hayat has worked in different countries including Libya, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, Sudan, and Algeria to provide domestic CSOs with training and materials to enhance their capacities to contribute to electoral accountability by monitoring domestic elections. These trainings and materials address all phases of monitoring, including the processes of voters’ registration, verification of voters’ lists (voters-to-lists and lists-to-voters audits), candidate registration, candidate campaigns, elections day tasks, verification of election results, the Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) system, and complaints and appeals methodologies. Its worth mentioning that the voters-to-lists and lists-to-voters audits and (PVT) system were the first experience for a CSO in the region.

Moreover, Al-Hayat has expanded its experience through participating in different international missions to monitor the domestic elections in these countries. It is worth mentioning that Al-Hayat participated in an international conference organized by the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) and the United Nations Secretariat for the official public launch of “the Declaration of Global Principals for Nonpartisan Election Observation and Monitoring by Citizen Organizations.” Al-Hayat Center was involved in the drafting of the declaration and has been an active member of The Global Network of Domestic Election Monitors (GNDEM) since.

Al-Hayat worked in this area with the National Democratic Institutes, Carter Center, Chemonics International, GIZ, Heinrich Böll Stiftung (hbs), and IREX. Al-Hayat has also worked among other Arab states Libya, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, Sudan and Algeria.

Recent Work Experience:

  • December 2014: Provide technical assistance (trainings) to IREX sub grantees: the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) and its alliance members, the Egyptian Alliance for Election Monitoring (EAEM) and its coalition members, and their district coordinators on elections, as part of preparations for their domestic election observation missions for the 2015 Parliamentary elections in Egypt.
  • October 2014: Provided short-term consultation to the Heinrich Böll Stiftung (HBS), a German political non-profit foundation working in Tunisia. The focus of the consultation was to improve capacities of the long term observers (LTOs) core team of the Tunisian NGO “Mourakiboun” to effectively treat and process long term observation for 27 electoral districts in the Tunisian electoral process leading up to legislative and presidential elections.
  • November 2013: Provided short-term consultation through the National Democratic Institute (NDI) to the Observatoire de la Société Civile pour l 'Observation des Elections - a local coalition for election monitoring in Algeria, helping them in preparations and monitoring of the 2014 presidential elections.
  • December 2013: Provided short-term consultation through GIZ Brussels to review existing Arab League methodologies for election monitoring, develop election day reporting and communication plans, prepare analyses of findings, develop short term observation (STO) trainings, and provide training on long term observation, including a review of Egyptian constitutional context.
  • 2012: Assisted the Algerian organization l'Observatoire de la Société Civile pour l 'Observation des Elections in providing a series of “Training of Trainers” trainings, providing them with technical advice in organizing observation efforts, data analysis, report development, external communications and media strategy, and long-term advocacy on civil society election observers’ rights, in Algiers, Algeria.
  • 2012: Political Consultant with Chemonics International Inc. to provide trainings on election monitoring for local Libyan observers.

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  • Parliament Accountability

Al-Hayat Center has provided a number of consultancy services in the field of Parliamentary accountability, including the development of indicators for parliamentary integrity and parliament monitoring methodologies and tools, drafting reports on parliamentary performance, engaging with Members of Parliament (MPs) in open discussions on their political consistencies with special interest groups (media, women organizations, youth, political parties, CSOs, and governmental officials). Additionally, Hayat has published reports and presentations to the public and developed MPs Scorecards to rate the performance of Jordanian MPs. This experience is driven by Hayat’s work in the Parliamentary Accountability component under the Accountability Program.

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  • Government Accountability

Al-Hayat Center has extensive experience in the field of government openness and transparency, as well as positive engagement between civil society and governments. In 2012, Al-Hayat was chosen to evaluate the performance of the Jordanian government’s progress in the implementation of Jordan’s action plan prepared as part of the Open Government Partnership Initiative (OGP). Moreover, Al-Hayat Center is an active regional partner in this arena, where, through its research papers and participation in various regional events, the Center has contributed to establishing a base for open governments in Arab countries. The most recent cooperation was carried out with OECD efforts in the region in this regard. This experience is driven by Al-Hayat Center’s work in the Government Accountability component under the Accountability Program.

Recent Work Experience:

  • 2013-2014: Evaluated the performance of the Jordanian government’s progress in the implementation of Jordan’s first National Action Plan (2012-2013) as part of the Open Government Partnership Initiative (OGP).
  • 2015-2016: Evaluated the performance of the Jordanian government’s progress in the implementation of Jordan’s second National Action Plan (2014-2015) as part of the Open Government Partnership Initiative (OGP). 

 

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  •  Local Governance

This experience is driven by Hayat Center’s work in the Local Governance Program.

  • November 2014: Provide training on “Development of Council’s Organisational Policies & Structure and Strategic Planning” to Syrian local councils with support from the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Gaziantep, Turkey.
  • November 2014: Provided short-term consultation on monitoring the local governance process to the Observatoire de la Société Civile pour l 'Observation des Elections. This organization represents a coalition of civil society groups. Carried out with support from the National Democratic Institute in Algeria.

 

Research Consultancy 

Al-Hayat is conducting numerous research projects using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Past topics include public perceptions and opinion polls on political activism; governmental policies and parliamentary decisions; regional events; situation analyses of vulnerable groups; assessment and analyses of national plans; and public priorities. Research has also included legal analyses of critical political legislations in Jordan such as the Election Law, the Political Parties Law, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) law, the Decentralization Law, and the Municipal Law. Depending on the topic being researched, target groups and environment, Al-Hayat's TRU sets robust study plans and sampling methodologies based on scientific approaches and relevance. The unit has conducted studies using peer-to-peer qualitative approaches, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, opinion polls and public surveys, and combined approaches. Clients of Al-Hayat’s research services include, but are not limited to: Global Partners Governance,  Open Goverment partnership (OGP), and the National Democratic Institutes (NDI). For specific examples on our research capacities please visit our publications section.

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