PAS Amman Conducts Web Dialogue

UNCLAS AMMAN 001629

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ELA, NEA/PPD, IIP

E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: KPAO OIIP KIRC EAID SCUL JO
SUBJECT: PAS Amman Conducts Web Dialogue



1. PAS Amman hosted February 17 a web dialogue on the
Embassy's public website between USAID Jordan Mission
Director Anne Aarnes and the Jordanian public. This
is the first of what are planned as monthly web
dialogue sessions with senior country team members.
The web dialogue enabled Jordanians, mainly youth, to
ask Embassy officers directly about aspects of our
bilateral relations - foreign policy, aid, MEPI and
other subjects - in which they have direct interest.
Besides providing the U.S. view, this program
highlights our commitment to dialogue with the
ordinary Jordanian. A link to the dialogue can be
found on the top right hand corner of the Embassy's
homepage at: http://jordan.usembassy.gov


2. The monthly web dialogue is modeled on the daily
"ask the whitehouse" feature on whitehouse.gov
website. Our idea is to give individual senior
country team members greater access to the public and
to build viewership of Embassy Amman's public website.
We plan similar sessions with the Consul General, PAO,
ECON Counselor and FCS officer in coming months.


3. We advertised this initial discussion for about
two weeks prior to the event, receiving numerous
questions through our webserver and in emails sent
directly to the Embassy webmaster. The dialogue was
conducted in English, although we invited questions in
Arabic, which were translated with an Arabic language
response going directly to the sender (note: Embassy
Amman's website is almost 100 percent bilingual Arabic-
English. End Note.) The dialogue enabled us to reach
a unique audience about US assistance programs in
Jordan and to address in some detail a number of
specific USAID programs, including those targeting the
water, health, education, IT and youth sectors, in
addition to democracy-promotion and USAID's economic
opportunities portfolio.


3. PAS Amman had earlier experimented with this idea
in a discussion session conducted with two Amman-area
high schools in the days prior to the November
Presidential Election. That event elicited an
extremely positive response. We intend to augment our
monthly web dialogues described above with individual,
real-time scheduled discussions with high school and
university groups.


4. PAS Amman's public website is hosted locally and
runs on a locally-developed Content Management System.
Among the features of this CMS are discussion forums
and real-time dialogues of which we plan to make
increasing use as the Embassy expands its internet
outreach to the Jordanian public.
HALE