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Jordan

The Higher Council for Food Security

Jordan's Higher Council for Food Security is chaired by the Prime Minister and brings ministers together with three private sector bodies as full members with equal voice. Four specialist committees supply evidence and strategic recommendations, and a secretariat in the agriculture ministry supports the Council's work.

Institutional set-up and structure

Established in 2023 by cabinet regulation, the Council was recently brought under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister, having previously been chaired from the Ministry of Agriculture; its secretariat remains within that Ministry. Four specialist committees cover food loss, policy and planning, information, and finance. They function as expert groups, providing evidence and decision-making tools and making strategic recommendations.

Mandate and decision-making power

The Council oversees the national food security strategy and decides the course of action. It aligns the work of different ministries and avoids duplication, decides policy priorities and high-level strategies, formulates recommendations and decides between policy alternatives. The secretariat supplies the data and information that informs strategic direction and takes many of the operational decisions.

The Council is tasked with the following roles (building blocks):

  • Agenda setting: advocacy and dialogue; deciding on goals and strategic priorities

  • Policy formulation and decision making: providing technical advice; coordinating policy development; developing policies for consideration by the relevant authorities; deciding and enacting them

  • Implementation: coordinating policy and programme delivery

  • Monitoring and evaluation: tracking progress, evaluating and reporting

Who is involved

  • Government: ministers, with each ministry represented at ministerial level

  • Private sector: the department of industry, the chamber of commerce and the farmers' association, as full members with the same rights and voice as ministers

  • Non-governmental organisations: members of the specialist committees rather than of the Council

  • Academia and development partners: not members

How it works in practice

  • Meets every three months

  • Any member may raise an issue; priorities are set by the members themselves

  • Decisions are taken by vote to reach consensus, with the chair deciding where a vote is tied

  • A food security management system with 36 priority indicators reports annually

  • Minutes of both Council and committee meetings are made available to the public

  • Conflict-of-interest questions are handled through compromise rather than a formal procedure

Opportunities for improvement

  • Locating the secretariat in a suprasectoral office rather than a line ministry would even out influence over the Council's agenda

  • Clarifying the boundary between the Council's strategic decisions and the secretariat's operational ones would make the division of roles clearer

  • Broadening membership to academia and development partners could widen the evidence available to the Council

Evidence base: key informant interviews and policy documents, 2026. Last updated: September 2026.

Strengths

  • The Council is composed of the Prime Minister and ministers in person rather than their deputies

  • It is the first umbrella council for food security to sit under the Prime Minister

  • The specialist committees add considerable expertise, supplying evidence and decision-making tools

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