Shelbie Harris
Staff Writer
Knowing the risks associated with the area due to continuing tensions near the borders of Syria and Israel, Idaho State University Assistant Professor of Political Science Daniel Hummel along with City of Pocatello Planning and Economic Director Lon Crowell will travel to Jordan on March 7 through 21 to offer consultation for business development and attraction to help improve the economic stability of the country.
The International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Local Enterprise Support (LENS) Project sought applications for communities of the U.S. to partner with communities and local governments in Jordan in October 2014.
“I get emails from USAID regularly because most of my research is in local government,” said Hummel. “They put out a call for proposals for this project last year and I thought it would be a great opportunity as Pocatello matches a lot of the cities we were interested in partnering with in many ways.”
Although thousands of cities applied for the project, the city of Pocatello was selected as one of two partner cities. The other city is Hooksett, New Hampshire.
The country of Jordan is geographically located in Southwest Asia, south of Syria, west of Iraq, northwest of Saudi Arabia and east of Israel and the West Bank.
In terms of current events regarding the surrounding areas of Jordan, high-risk may be associated with this project.
“The cities we’re working with are within eyesight of the Syrian and Israeli borders also so obviously, unless you’re as dumb as a rock, you have to be a little concerned,” said Crowell.
Some of the partner cities in Jordan are larger in size and population than Pocatello, but the economic status including job growth, income growth and unemployment rates are similar.
“A lot of the cities in Jordan are grappling with issues of unemployment,” said Hummel. “Obviously their unemployment rates are higher than that of Pocatello, but our economic base such as the agricultural food processing industry and social capital element as well including education levels seem to be, although apples and oranges in comparison, very similar in other regards.”
The local governments in Jordan they will be partnering with are Tabaqet Fahel, Al-Mazar Al-Jadidah, Muath bin Jabal and Al-Shoula municipalities.
Each of these cities is in the process of implementing local and grant-funded agricultural, industrial or tourism projects.
“I think Jordan is moving in a direction to allow more than just local economy, which is really, really good for economic development,” said Hummel. “They know that cities in the United States have, to a certain extent, this local economy, and so they are able, for some time now, to take the initiative and develop some of these projects.”
Hummel said officials who have done extensive research started many of the projects, however, the city officials don’t have any personal experience implementing these projects and that’s where his and Crowell’s consultation will be extremely beneficial.
In addition to networking these cities during the two-week trip by providing practical theory and professional advice based on previous experience, Hummel and Crowell will continue their relationship by economically and socially assisting those cities virtually over the next five years.
After the two-week trip, a delegation of local government officials from the cities in Jordan will travel to Pocatello to tour various local economic projects in the city.
To read more about this project visit http://anchoredbyfate.wix.com/hummel-research.
