Transforming the Middle East’s Eco-tourism Pioneer

The September 2009 issue of Condé Nast Traveller featured an in-depth look at Jordanian nature reserves and eco-tourism, spotlighting the work of the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN). The Society—one of the leading and most respected conservation NGOs in the Middle East—has retained OHK Consultants to develop a transformation strategy that will enable it to expand its vital conservation work in Jordan while strengthening Jordan’s place as a world-wide ecotourism market. In exploring “the Power of Travel to Transform,” Condé Nast extols the efforts of the RSCN to protect the environment and improve livelihoods while encouraging and harnessing the power of tourism. The RSCN’s socio-economic projects—which employ local Jordanians as reserve managers, hiking guides, and producers of locally-sourced foodstuffs, candles, olive oil soaps, and handicrafts—not only offer “authenticity to travelers tired of hotel chains but also link rural communities to the modern economy while allowing them to remain in landscapes they know intimately.” This observation highlights the core of OHK’s mandate on this 2-year long assignment, which entailed the preservation of the environment through the engagement and involvement of local communities and the public, while ensuring sustainable business operations.

OHK’s work has been highly profiled among the decision makers in Jordan as well as in the media. Ajloun Forrest Reserve is a staple in visits to Jordan by Britain’s Prince Charles. Seen here accompanying HMQ Rania of Jordan on a visit to the reserve. Photo courtesy of the office of the Queen.

Eco-tourism has proved to be a primary nexus at which conservation and sustainable business development intersect for the RSCN. At the time of OHK’s engagement, the RSCN managed six nature reserves that not only protect some of the most unique and singularly biodiverse ecosystems in Jordan but also provide an impressive variety of tourism business experiences. Through OHK’s work, the Society expanded its mandate to manage more than twenty protected areas and reserves, more than doubling the area under its guardianship and further expanding its tourism enterprise into new products as well as boutique and niche markets. OHK’s transformation strategy facilitated this exponential growth while ensuring that that the Society’s dual commitment to nature and people is strengthened through staff capacity building, business-oriented growth strategies, and private sector partnership.

To learn more about OHK’s sustainable tourism capability, please contact us. 

To learn more about RSCN’s history, reserves and transformative work in Jordan, please visit their website.

Development Strategy and Visitation Growth Plan for the Baptismal Site of Jesus Christ

“John answered them, ‘I baptize with water; but among you stands one whom you do not know, even he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.’ This took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.”
—John 1:26–28

John the Baptist (Yaḥyā in Arabic) is a revered prophet in Christianity and Islam. It is widely accepted that he lived on the east side of the Jordan River and for about 20 years resided in a cave on the 2000-years old Al-Maghtas’s Elijah’s Hill. This area in Jordan has been globally authenticated by all major Christian Church leaders as one of the three holiest sites of Christianity, next to Bethlehem and Jerusalem, and as the place where Jesus was baptized. Photo was taken inside St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church, only a short walking distance from the Baptismal Site of Jesus Christ. Photo © OHK Consultants.

A team from OHK was hired to audit the infrastructure and services offered by the Government of Jordan on the Jordanian-side of the Jordan River where the site for the Baptism of Jesus and the ministry of John the Baptist are located, a 45-minute drive from the capital of Amman. The site is known in Jordan as the Al-Maghtas (baptism, or immersion in Arabic). The area is of global importance and as a result of our work has become, as of 2015, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Our team completed a collective scan of the region’s spatial and archaeological history from the times of when John the Baptist was baptizing in "Bethany beyond the Jordan"—the historic area of Bethabara. This area has developed into one of the earliest places of worships and pilgrimage for both Christians and Jews. Over a six-month period of research, and site mapping and analysis we built the first detailed GIS-based inventory of the area’s assets, including all known and documented archaeology and past and current buildings. Despite its significance, the area had never been digitally documented to high levels of detail, specificity, and accuracy. 

Our work produced a preliminary master plan of the Jordanian-side of the Jordan River where the site for the Baptism of Jesus and the ministry of John the Baptist are located, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and National Park, a 45-minute drive from the capital of Amman. We based our work on extensive GIS-based mapping and developed circulation and parcelization plans tied to three phases of revival including allocations to build churches and rehabilitated trails of old pilgrimage routes. Photo shows the Jordan River and one of thirteen different historic Christian denominations’ churches on site. Photo © OHK Consultants.

The GIS-inventory tracks for the first time any part of the site spatially and temporally and makes it possible to analyze almost two thousand years of development, research, documentation, and discoveries since the assumed dates for the start of the ministry of John the Baptist around 28–29 AD. Given the scale of this task, the mapping was in and of itself a standalone project and despite not being part of our contractual obligations, our team offered it as a courtesy to the Government of Jordan.

Based on the mapping, we implemented a few work tracks to analyze the area’s potential based on its mandate to preserve the site "as it is". Given Jordan’s increased growth as a tourist destination, we formulated several zero-impact development scenarios focused almost exclusively on minimum site footprint, enhanced visitor experience, improved site management, and better infrastructure and mobility. These scenarios maintain visitation to lower-bound numbers, and can easily sustain OHK's site visitation forecast until 2030. One of three zero-impact scenarios is currently in operation on the site, as of 2018.

Visitors to one of the site’s many immersion pools listen to an explanation by a site guide. Our team recommended an autonomous Jordanian authority to manage the site and operate global marketing and promotion, an international qualification scheme for site guides, and best-practice quality standards for all facets of construction and operation. Photo © OHK Consultants.

Given the government’s desire to make the site one of the most pronounced, active and attractive pilgrimage sites globally, it was necessary to formulate additional growth and development scenarios that induce and serve a larger number of visitors. Three transitional phases were developed and coupled with a site tenant strategy and an international marketing campaign focused on all denominations and all faiths. A cornerstone of the first phase was to allocate land to thirteen different historic Christian denominations to build churches and facilities for doing baptisms, along with service infrastructure and immersion pools. This is the basis of a site-wide revival master plan which would later, as part of the second phase, accommodate rehabilitated trails to old pilgrimage routes of Mount Nebo or Maqam el-Nabi Musa (the burial place of Moses per Christian and some Islamic traditions), Madaba (home to the Byzantine-era mosaic map of the Holy Land), Umm al-Rassas (the biblical settlement of Mephaat) and Mukawir (where Herod imprisoned and executed John the Baptist).

The preliminary master plan included a footprint analysis map tied to circulation and parcelization as well as future development allocations, especially a third phase which would utilize more than 350 dunum of land adjacent to the site. Today this serves as the basis for the site management plan per UNESCO’s World Heritage Site requirements and supports the continued work of historians, archaeologists, and Church leaders and goers. The Baptism Site of Jesus continues to grow in popularity in light of three Popes having visited in the past two decades, Pope John Paul II in 2000, Pope Benedict in 2009, and finally four years ago, Pope Francis.

The identification and recognition of the Baptismal Site of Jesus Christ on the east bank of the River Jordan have given Jordan an unparalleled global asset which meant it was competing directly with Israel’s western bank for biblical and tourism visitors. We completed a benchmark study to evaluate the site versus its peer in Israel, including a visitation forecast study, a comparison between infrastructure and services, and a cross-mapping of key operational aspects, including marketing and promotion, and site guiding, The two share the same River immersion pool as shown in this photo taken from the Jordanian east bank looking at Israel’s western bank. Photo © OHK Consultants.

Included in our work was a benchmark study we conducted to compare the site to its peer on the Jordan River’s western side in Israel. Our comparison included a visitation forecast study, a comparison between infrastructure, and a cross-mapping of key operational aspects, including marketing and promotion, and site guiding. Despite the international recognition received by Jordan’s site, our forecast has shown that it will receive much lower numbers than the west bank’s. We developed an institutional blueprint to address competitive advantage and a weaker Jordan position to attract visitors. We urged five actions in tandem with the master plan, without which the site’s growth and competitiveness would be affected: an autonomous Jordanian authority to manage the site, an international board of trustees that supports the site’s position and finances, a continuous, well-financed and dedicated team and campaign for international marketing, a distinct. non-government, and open to all, international qualification scheme for site guides, and quality standards for all facets of construction and operation. Each of these actions is intended to address a weak competitive advantage of Jordan’s site compared to the west bank.

You can learn more about the Baptismal Site of Jesus Christ here. To learn more about our work in UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites and OHK's strategy practice and track record in planning areas of cultural, historical, and landscape significance, contact us. 

Baselining Productivity for New Economic Zones

OHK prepared the economic and spatial plan for developing North Jordan, a cornerstone in the country’s strategy for new economic zones in rural areas. In this blog post, we share analysis and viewpoints on baselining productivity in rural economies. All data come from OHK’s 2007-2030 socioeconomic model for the Jabal Ajloun region. 

OHK mapped the land cover and parcelization of almost 1000 square kilometers of land in Jabal Ajloun, one of the largest land baselining programs ever conducted in Jordan and the Middle East. We have found that there are only 216 privately-owned agricultural parcels larger than 50 dunums—a mere 0.8% of the total number of private agricultural parcels. This challenges the agricultural productivity of an area which is among the most fertile in the country. Photo © OHK Consultants.

Over the course of our many field visits to Jabal Ajloun, one could not help but marvel at the beauty of the region. Whether the dense, rolling forests in the north, or the breathtaking views along the southern ridge overlooking the Zarqa valley and the Balqa beyond; whether the trees heavy with apricots in Wadi Souf, or the charming village architecture amidst the hills above the Jordan Valley, Jabal Ajloun is replete with aesthetic character. 

And yet, despite the quiet, rural character of the area, our visits increasingly became tinged with urgency; for as we collected data on the baseline conditions of Jabal Ajloun we found that the socioeconomic, spatial, environmental, and institutional foundations of the landscape were growing ever more unsound. Although Ajloun has historically been spared some of the ravages of industrialization, worrisome trends have emerged, threatening to consign this jewel in the Jordanian crown to decay and foreclose on its nascent tourism potential before that potential can be realized. 

These issues, therefore, have substantially informed the contents of OHK’s strategic planning, and have set the stakes for the future of 1% of Jordan’s land area. 

Ajlounis suffer from many of the socioeconomic ills that are bedevil rural areas; however, as unpalatable this is on a national scale, it is all the more unfortunate in an area as rich in tourism and agricultural potential as Jabal Ajloun. It is a sad irony indeed that a land which was once regarded by the Ottomans as among the most productive in the Levant faces such economic and social marginalization. 

Despite being one of Jordan’s most promising tourist destinations, employment in tourism accounts on average for a mere 1.2% of the total employment market, reflecting a particularly underdeveloped tourism infrastructure. Tourism products need a much-needed boost to improve quality, size, and offerings. Photo shows status quo of some tourist facilities in 2008 which OHK has redesigned as part of a transformational tourist strategy in park areas. Photo © OHK Consultants. 

Perhaps the most serious socioeconomic issue is the inadequate and unsustainable economic base that often works to the detriment of the landscape. Jabal Ajloun is home to the least diverse employment base in the entire kingdom. Of those who are employed, by far the single most common economic activity is in the public sector (i.e., employment by the government, whether military or administrative). This reflects the dearth of employment opportunities in the region; so limited is private sector employment that the government must afford employment directly. 

In Ajloun Governorate, an average of 65% of the total population of employed persons worked for the government – the highest figure for any governorate, and close to double the nationwide average. Curiously, jobs in agriculture and forestry account for less than 5% of the employment base in Ajloun – an area which is among the most fertile in the country. While the Ajlouni values are marginally higher than the nationwide average, they are still lower than in other, surprisingly arid governorates like Mafraq (5.1%) and Karak (7.2%). 

Moreover, employment in tourism accounts on average for a mere 1.2% of the total employment market, reflecting a particularly underdeveloped tourism infrastructure. We can see the overwhelming preponderance of public sector employment. Moreover, only in Burma and Kufrangeh are the agricultural sectors more than negligible; however, these districts are the two least inhabited districts in Jabal Ajloun. Of course, these figures are relevant only for those who are employed: the unemployment rate in Jabal Ajloun ranged from 14% in Kufrangeh to 26% in Sakhra, with an overall rate for Ajloun Governorate at 18% – the second highest figure in Jordan. 

In terms of agriculture, production is based primarily on fruit and olive tree harvesting, together with wheat and barley growing (generally on plateaus or in wide valleys, and on a smaller, water-dependent scale). Fruiting trees and vines constitute nearly 200,000 dunums of Jabal Ajloun and are consequently of greater strategic interest to the Jabal Ajloun region. The most common of these trees are olive trees, some of which date from the Byzantine era. Ajlouni olive oil, with its high quality and unique taste, is and will continue to remain an essential element of the Ajlouni agricultural regime. Indeed, olive oil pressing represents the primary industrial activity in the Ajloun Governorate. 

Around a decade ago, the Ajloun Governorate contained 14 oil pressing factories which together constituted 26 production lines producing over two tons of olive oil annually. This has increased in 2018. Nevertheless, agricultural production remains small scale, and suffers from substantial technical and administrative problems, including a lack of resources, complex land ownership, poor infrastructure, and the absence of a central agriculture market in Ajloun.

Fruiting trees and vines constitute nearly a quarter of Jabal Ajloun (200,000 dunums) and are consequently of greater strategic interest. Some of the olive trees date from the Byzantine era. Photo © OHK Consultants.

The small scale of agriculture in Ajloun is in some ways a blessing; most agriculture remains rain-fed, and while economic gains are currently modest, the sector has avoided the more flagrant and deleterious environmental effects that often proceed from commercial agriculture. Even more importantly, Ajlouni agriculture lends itself quite effectively to the imperatives of agritourism (in terms of authenticity, character, and scenic value) as well as boutique and potentially brand-able products (such as Ajlouni olive oil or local fruit). 

Furthermore, a number of wild cultivars with potential boutique value are found in Jabal Ajloun, including rosemary, capers, and wild asparagus. However, exploiting this boutique potential and reaping the economic benefit from such production requires technical, administrative, and marketing capabilities that are nonexistent in Ajloun. Diversification in downstream production, marketing and distribution is direly needed to support agro-based industries. 

Most disturbing, however, is the subsuming of fertile agricultural lands by unplanned urban development. Though OHK has been unable to quantify changes in agricultural land cover historically, we have reason to believe that agriculture faces destruction by urbanization and irrelevance by parcelization into areas incapable of supporting economically feasible crop production. The latter is particularly pressing.

It has been estimated that an agricultural land parcel must be no less than 50 dunums in order to be considered commercially sustainable. However, our quantification of agricultural land parcels demonstrated that there are only 216 privately-owned agricultural parcels larger than 50 dunums in Jabal Ajloun – a mere 0.8% of the total number of private agricultural parcels. 

An almost two-decade-old socioeconomic program for local communities that was established by the Royal Society of Nature manufactured agro- and nature-inspired products in Ajloun.  OHK overhauled the program with a focus on transforming products, distribution, and rebranding, which included setting up new distribution and retail channels outside of the region. Photo was taken in 2018 and shows the program’s flagship store “the nature shop” located in Queen Alia International Airport which was set up as a result.  Photo © OHK Consultants.

In terms of income and expenditures, statistics suggest that the Ajlouni household must endure comparatively tight finances. The average income of Ajlouni households contains the highest proportion of money from pensions and government aid in the Kingdom, whereby around a third of household income comes from these sources. Moreover, Ajlounis have a far higher dependence on government pension money (just under 18% of total household income) than the nationwide average which hovers around 10%. 

At the same time, Ajlouni households are far less likely to derive household income from rent or entrepreneurial endeavors. As for expenditures, on the one hand, Ajloun household expenditures consistently rank among the lowest in the Kingdom, with the majority of households spending less than 5,000 JD per year, and over 4% of households spending less than 1,800 JD per year. On the other hand, those expenditures tend to be disproportionately higher for food items and fuel, while lower for education and medical care. 

Finally, from a social perspective, Jabal Ajloun suffers from a lack of healthcare institutions as well as cultural and civil-society entities. As of 2006, the entire governorate of Ajloun was served by only a single hospital and a mere 105 beds, which translates into eight beds per 10,000 people – one of the lowest ratios in the entire kingdom. These numbers have improved in the last decade but not enough. Thus, putting this in context, an area that contained 2.3% of the population of Jordan was served by less than 1% of the hospital beds in the Kingdom.  Primary health care clinics have struggled to address this failure of coverage; though there are primary and maternity clinics, there are comparatively few peripheral and dental care clinics. All of these issues, and many of those that will follow, will be exacerbated by demographic pressure. 

In 2007, we estimated that Jabal Ajloun had a population of 385,303 people in 2007 (nearly 7% of the population of Jordan). We assumed that if population growth continues at the historic rate of 2.37%, the population will reach over 660,000 people in 2030. Even using the more conservative World Bank projection for Jordan, the Ajlouni population was estimated to grow by 168 thousand people between 2007 and 2030 – 44% of the baseline population. In light of this growth, and in light of the fact that around 41% of the Ajlouni population is under 15 years of age, the socioeconomic problems in the area will worsen without some change in economic base in Ajloun.

This is the second post in a series on OHK’s work in North Jordan. See our previous post ‘The Case of Regional Economies’. For more information about our development and economic strategy practice, contact us.

The Case of Regional Economies

A holistic and ultimately successful development plan of regional economies demands close attention to the strategic resources, assets, and points of identity that cohere to form a region. Much has been said about developing rural economies, and in our attempts to understand the essential dynamics that give them their specificity and uniqueness, we have availed ourselves not just upon economic factors but also upon the ecological, geological, and cultural foundation which has historically proven so determinative. After having studied and planned more than 20 regions in the world, we have found that rural economies are more similar than different.   

This post reflects on our experience in Jabal Ajloun (Arabic: عجلون‎), a hilly region in Jordan that boosts hundreds of villages and contains the historic towns of Ajloun and Jerash.

The Ajloun landscape is one of a kind in the Middle East. Photo shows view from the Ajloun Castle, a 12th-century Ayyubids-built castle nestled on one of the highest hilltops in Jabal Ajlun. Known as "the castle of the faubourg", its name resonates with the region’s rural economy and the various small settlements that interwind with agricultural lands, and historic and natural landmarks until this day. Photo © OHK Consultants.

Few places in Jordan could have supported such a rich ecology and heritage in Ajloun, and the layers of this history are still visible throughout the region. Though perhaps a mere coincidence of geology and climate, the mild temperatures, comparatively high rainfall, and fertile soils of Jabal Ajloun have nonetheless supported a rich, rural landscape that even today remains prominent in the imagination of Jordanians. 

Any plans in this area of Jordan are usually met with intense scrutiny and concern for the impacts of such development on the sensitive and unique environment of Northern Jordan. Our study of land uses illustrated the need for rational planning in rural areas and stressed the importance of thoughtful controls and clear mechanisms to organize development in a way that preserves natural (and particularly forested) landscape in Jordan. 

In order to define Jabal Ajloun spatially, it has been necessary to reject the somewhat arbitrary administrative boundaries imposed upon Ajloun, represented by the three governorates (Ajloun, Irbid, and Jerash) and three capitals that encompass the region, and to expand our spatial understanding beyond the rigidly geopolitical. The boundaries we have established for the Ajloun region follow the contours of the land literally and figuratively: the areas encompassed by the boundary share both a geological character which has contributed to the unique ecological, arboreal, and agricultural nature of the region, as well as an exceptional cultural heritage found nowhere else in the country. 

Urban sprawl in rural economies is affecting their prime resources. Ruins of Greco-Roman settlements, like the City of Gerasa, known today as Jerash (Arabic: جرش), are flanked by roads, cars and urban density that houses tens of thousands of homes. Photo © OHK Consultants.

Thus, the lands embraced by our boundary share a common climate, fertility, altitude, and cultural identity, including a unified vernacular architecture and pattern of land tenure. Roughly, our boundary encompasses the elevated limestone dome—known historically as Mount Ajloun or Jabal Ajloun—that gives the region of Ajloun its commanding height, bounded by the Jordan Valley to the west, the Zarqa River to the south, the Irbid plateau to the north, and the deserts beyond Jerash to the east. In total, Jabal Ajloun measures 921,893 dunums, or nearly 922 km2—an area which constitutes nearly 1% of the total area of Jordan. 

There are six ways for the visitor to approach Jabal Ajloun, and each entrance is a threshold, offering a glimpse of the landscape within. From the southeast, the approach to Jabal Ajloun crosses the Zarqa, a river of biblical renown, winding uphill past farms and eucalyptus trees, eventually giving way to the yellow Rendzina soils of the southern Hauran. From the east, the visitor stops in the shadow of Hadrian’s Gate, ancient entrance to Roman Jerash, and ascends westward into the olive groves and limestone cliffs around Sakib. The northeast approach passes rumbling quarries, only to emerge amidst antiquated, sleepy villages of stone. In the north, the road from the bustling Kura District dips into a wadi and rises amidst the oak forests of Birqish. In the northwest, the visitor encounters the Roman city of Pella, and follows the ancient Roman road upwards into the highlands, along valleys scored by the grazing of goats. And to the west, the road rises from the sweltering Ghor, following the contours of a lush wadi inhabited for millennia. 

No approach to Jabal Ajloun is the same, and yet the experience of arriving at a place unlike any other in Jordan pervades them all. In choosing the boundary of planning, it is imperative to bring together into one overarching panorama all of the factors which characterize Ajloun, and which can be drawn upon to ensure that it not only survives, but flourishes. The affinity in the hearts of Jordanians informs the vision for Ajloun but a holistic view to understanding its boundaries ensure the right framing. The necessity of striking such a balance between is as important to matching investment to certain areas on the one hand and conserving existing cultural and environmental resources on the other. 

Pella (known in Arabic as Tabaqat Fahl, طبقةفحل) is located within Irbid Governorate and about 27 kilometers south of the Sea of Galilee. As one of the Decapolis cities that were founded during the Hellenistic period, it is a huddled into the Jordan Valley, 130 kilometers north of Amman, which frames it as a natural northern boundary of the Jabal Ajloun planning area. Photo © OHK Consultants.

The impetus for carrying out a vision was to identify hundreds of areas of touristic and natural value, thereby not only preserving the natural and cultural resources of the landscape but also channeling public and investment flows to improve livelihoods and bolster the economy. The natural and cultural resources which made Ajloun such a promising backdrop to Amman and a visitation hub resonated with the objectives of a development plan for the Ajloun region. 

Working with the Royal Hashemite Court the vision proposed four interlocked elements. First, establishing a knowledge baseline, in which information on the spatial, economic, and environmental state of Jabal Ajloun was determined to better plan intervention. Secondly, setting a high-level, multi-sector economy development plan for the various areas based upon a rigorous asset inventory and demand analysis. Thirdly, developing a master plan that proposes not only a comprehensive land use regulatory framework for the Ajlouni landscape, but also a series of investment packages and a healthy pipeline of projects. Last, this was framed within an institutional setup designed to facilitate the implementation of the transformation and capacity building to ensure its continued alignment with the vision. 

Endeavoring a strategy for the region of Ajloun that attracts meaningful development while complementing and conserving the landscape provides an example for how to plan and execute a sustainable future of rural regions. In upcoming posts, we will share a few of the key themes and challenges common in rural economies and explain best practices from our analytical work and the tools we use. 

This is part of several posts that provide perspectives and lessons learnt from our economic strategy work in various economies in countries in transition and emerging. For more information about OHK's work, contact us.

OHK-designed Civic Center in Dammam on Track for Phase 1 Completion

This week, Saudi Officials from the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and the Eastern Province Municipality in Dammam have completed a visit of the King Abdullah Civic Center site, a landmark waterfront development for Dammam and the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Progress is well underway since reclamation broke ground on the site in 2012. OHK’s Ahmed Hassan and Adam Kucharski led an international consortium of local and international firms including COWI, DHI, and Ai+, and collaborated closely with local engineering lead Zuhair Fayez Partnership to complete a master plan and provide landscape and architectural design services.

Adam led the economic strategy of the 200,000 square-meter development program which includes a civic center and exhibition center, covered stage/theater, marketplace, maritime museum, public library, and the King Abdullah Center for Cultural Understanding. In addition, two hotels are planned: one family-oriented and one for business travelers, along with a sports training facility, marina, mosque, amphitheater, gardens, parks, and public squares. 

OHK's Conservation Fellows Conclude Training in South Africa

The four Jordanian winners competed for the National Nature Guide Training Scholarship Competition, organized by OHK Consultants and launched by Jordan’s Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature.

After a year of intensive training in South Africa, Jordan’s first certified conservationists and nature guides have returned home to help elevate the country’s eco-tourism industry. The four young Jordanians are the first group of Arab students to acquire nature guidance qualifications and accreditation from the Field Guides Association of Southern Africa. OHK designed the training fellowship program for the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) as a foundation for the development of national conservation training in the Kingdom.

OHK designed the 1-year training program to offer the RSCN with a thorough understanding of the best national qualifications framework for environmental planning and management in the world. The four Jordanians were placed within various South African conservation and ecotourism organizations and trained on a standardized, outcome-based syllabus, an assessment system based on high standards of competence, and certification-based training courses.

USAID-Jordan Mission Director Beth Paige celebrating the success with RSCN’s Chair, HE Khalid Irani.

As a supplement to this capacity building program, the RSCN is set to complete its $3.9 million Academy, which will host the four Jordanians as research and teaching staff and implement their training framework. It will provide the first regional center of excellence in environmental planning and conservation management in the Middle East.

OHK Undertakes an Aerial Survey of Jordan's Economic Zones

The Jordanian Royal Court retained OHK Consultants to perform an aerial survey of Jordan’s economic zones. In conjunction with the No. 7 Squadron of the Royal Jordanian Air Force, OHK’s Ahmed Hassan and Adam Kucharski conducted survey tours from Marka Air Base across the kingdom, supplementing satellite imagery with aerial photography to reveal land use patterns useful in regional planning of economic zones. More than 5,000 images were collected to analyze and study urbanization and conservation trends.

A catalogue of imagery and photographs was indexed at regional, urban, and village scales, providing some of the most up-to-date and high-res imagery available. The catalogue has since been used to develop conservation strategies and spatial development plans for the Dead Sea, Ajloun, and Petra regions. OHK has introduced selects portions of the catalogue into the public domain as reference for study into Jordan’s earth sciences, regional planning, and conservation efforts. 

Contact OHK’s Adam Kucharski for further information.

OHK Leads Jordanian Delegation to Tuscany

Jordan’s various declared “Development Zones,” The Ajloun zone in the northern reaches of the country is one of the more dynamic, targeting tourism, hospitality, wellness, agro- and eco-businesses among its forests, hundreds of villages, and myriad heritage sites. Jordan’s Royal Court was keen to learn from successes in similar regions elsewhere in the world; notably, Tuscany, Italy.

OHK designed a study tour to facilitate this learning. Participants in the tour were from six leadership organizations charged with the management, regulation, and the development of investments in key sectors of the economy. Six ministerial-level commissioners took part in the tour, each responsible for a major area of regulatory or operational activity. Visits to key sites in Tuscany were coupled with workshops and seminars with various central and local government entities as well as private investors.

The tour encouraged its participants to think of ways to establish the institutional frameworks and program governance necessary to enable execution of development zones like Ajloun and how to devise policies that can be endorsed and adopted by the government of Jordan particularly in light of multiple and overlapping jurisdictions.

OHK to Conduct Diligence on Planned Saudi-Egypt Causeway

OHK Consultants was retained by a private investment consortium to conduct due diligence on the Saudi Arabia-Egypt Causeway, a proposed, US$4 billion bridge linking the two countries through Tiran Island in the Gulf of Aqaba. We evaluated the bridge – which would be the longest single-span bridge in the world – as a potential nexus between Asia and Africa, and shared likely investor views of the project with government officials on both sides.

Our team conducted visits to Sheikh Humaid in Saudi Arabia and Tiran Island (shown in the photo above) to evaluate the potential for the project to alter regional development and trigger “ripple effect” land-based investment opportunities.  OHK’s Ahmed Hassan presented findings and recommendations in a roundtable with the investor group in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

OHK Managing Partner Builds on Lawrence of Arabia Legacy

Ahmed Hassan, our Managing Partner, has been retained as an advisor to the President of Najwa Tourism & Investment Company Ms. Sirin Al-Masri, for the US$50 million development of a unique eco-resort and spa in Wadi Rum. The first 7-star luxury resort in Jordan, set to be one of the best in the world, is located 300 km from Amman in the Wadi Rum Desert of southern Jordan.

The project is the first entry of the Al-Masri Family into the luxury hotel market. It currently controls a multi-billion empire across the Middle East, including Astra, the fifth largest privately owned company in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Jordan's largest bank the Arab Bank as well as Zara Investment, one of the Middle East’s largest hotel investment companies.

Much of David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia was filmed on the project site and represents one of the most fascinating and pristine natural sites in the world. The rugged desert terrain combined with the majestic mountains engulfing the site act as both ecological arks and unlikely natural sculptures carved by the forces of water, wind, and sand.

Ahmed’s role is to ensure the site will be sensitively developed, with the theme of sanctuary central - both as an ecological sanctuary for the recovery of the natural systems, and the creation of a sanctuary for people to recover from the varied stresses of today's fast-paced life, while ensuring its commercial viability in the international market place on par with some of the world’s most luxurious resorts in the Maldives, Seychelles, and Dubai.  Ahmed advises a large client team, which includes renowned and award winning international architects and designers, such as Daniel Ost and Savin Couëlle.

OHK's Managing Partner Delivers Master-class on MENA Healthcare Tourism Industry

Ahmed Hassan, OHK's Managing Partner, has delivered two master-classes in the Middle East Healthcare Conference in Dubai. The event addressed all aspects of the healthcare market in the Middle East: examining the strategic direction of the sector, detailing high profile partnerships, discussing regulatory changes and what they mean for private sector involvement, and addressing design issues.

The master-class - "The essential guide to developing the Middle East healthcare tourism industry" - was aimed at senior executives and key decision-makers from healthcare providers, operators and other organizations working in healthcare. It provided 20 leading executives from the sector with practical advice and insights into how regions around the world have grown themselves as healthcare destinations in this emerging market. The region's healthcare infrastructure and facilities will need to undergo significant development to meet rising demand.

The master-class was described as "a chance to capitalize on this rapidly growing global market and attract foreign visitors to your healthcare facilities, as well as encourage nationals to remain in the region for treatment." 

Project in the Spotlight as King Abdullah II of Jordan visits Jabal Ajloun

His Majesty King Abdullah chaired a high-level meeting, where top officials updated him on progress made in development projects designed for various regions of the Kingdom.  One of the key projects is OHK'S physical, economical and institutional master plan for North Jordan and the region of Jabal Ajloun targeted for development and investment. The plan, the King said, is expected to improve the situation of Jordanian citizens and support them with attractive tourism projects. Outlining the core objective of the master plan, Prime Minister Nader Dahabi said the development scheme is meant to protect the targeted areas from random development, highlighting in this context the need for municipalities to commit themselves to the proposed master plan. Dahabi added that the development plans are expected to create jobs through a package of projects with a view to ease rural-urban migration. Environment Minister HE Khalid Irani, who has spearheaded the effort on behalf of the Royal Court, outlined a comprehensive plan to develop the Ajloun Mountain area with a view to turning it into a global tourism hub and enhancing the living standards in the area, which ranks among the poorest nationwide. Our plan covers Ajloun Governorate and parts of the adjacent Jerash and Irbid governorates; Irani added that the scheme entails an economic strategy to carry out investment projects in various sectors while safe guarding the area's natural beauty. The King and Queen visited the Ajloun area in anticipation of a national launch event as the region’s administration gets handed over to a special economic zone commission to be charged with implementation.

OHK Explores Urban Economic Diversification Strategies in Dubai

Good city building and management is critical to counter Egypt’s urban sprawl and replace poor planning with a vision of sustainable design that allows for improved livelihoods for Egyptians and a desirable environment for investment. Dubai’s proactive planning and investor-friendly climate contains lessons for Egypt’s future cities and investment corridors in Suez, South Red Sea, Sinai, the Mediterranean, Cairo satellite cities, and future capital considerations.

Over two weeks, OHK conducted a study tour examining the rise of Dubai as a city as well as the cultural and political forces that have shaped its urban development and economic growth. The tour presented ministerial and high-ranking leadership in the Egyptian government with the complex organizational setup mediating among developers, municipal actors, and the private, aiming to decode the puzzle of this booming metropolis and lessons learnt for Egypt. The tour was a combination of meetings with Dubai and Abu Dhabi officials, visits with leading developers, government organizations involved in city management, and investment vehicles and the decision-making process shared amongst them.

OHK Study Tour Informs a White Paper on Coastal Town Infrastructure Development

Egypt’s investment legislation has been ambitious but has suffered from capacity gaps on local and technical levels, wherein reform has targeted remote and coastal areas with poor resources and capabilities. OHK designed and implemented a study tour for Egyptian officials to Sweden and Denmark to support Egypt’s economic reform activities and address implementation challenges. The study tour was heavy on training modules for innovative decision-making in municipal-type organizations with a focus on technical tools for assisting technical managers in planning mixed urban infrastructure assets and coastal projects.

Our team prefaced the tour by conducting an analysis of the current coastal situation in Egypt’s various shoreline governorates and the key development priorities and management challenges, and formulated in discussion with Egyptian experts and officials a long-term vision for coastal planning and investment management. The resulting conclusions, enriched by the comparative experience in Northern Europe, made their way into a White Paper that now serves as a foundational reference for local officials.

OHK's Australian Study Tour Enriches Egypt's Natural Heritage

Egypt’s natural resources are under threat from extensive economic development, foreign investment, and tourist visitors. Of particular relevance is the Egyptian Red Sea, where diverse ecosystems that are vital to the welfare of local communities are under constant pressure. OHK’s study tour program was designed to help participating Egyptian organizations develop management programs – particularly reef protection – as well as specific laws and regulations for the establishment of a regional network of monitoring units.

This observational study to Australia included a series of workshops on environmental monitoring tools and techniques, inspection methods and tools, and the use of management systems for economic planning and environmental management. 

OHK Executive Produces Anti-Poverty Ad Campaign in Egypt

As part of the UK Department for International Development’s (DfID) program to fight poverty in rural Egypt, OHK’s Ahmed Hassan will act as executive producer for an ad campaign and a series of video casts, leading production and subject matter expert teams from Egypt and the UK on a tour of 50 rural regions across six Governorates in Egypt’s Nile Valley. As Mr. Hassan noted: “This is not a job – it's an honor to be able to help get priority attention to the poor communities and deprived areas of Egypt. There is dire need to go beyond the meager public funds available and get the private sector involved.”

The campaign will focus on presenting business-minded approaches to poverty that can make a difference through private investments in micro, small, and medium size enterprises in rural regions. In his role during the tour, Ahmed will devise 100 projects that meet both the expectations of investors and the needs of poor communities. “This advocacy campaign will tell a story about the role that private investment has to play in some of the most impoverished parts of Egypt – a role that links profit margins to the improvement of local livelihoods.”

Update: as of 2004, more than 100 hours of public TV streaming and 5,000 DVDs have been distributed to the Egyptian public.

Improving Egyptian Environmental Planning and Governance with the European Model

Egypt’s centralized model of governance has struggled in the face of mounting population growth and a lack of resources. The aim of this study tour was to showcase decentralization of environmental planning and management. Several case studies from Europe have shown how a small municipality can, entirely through local initiatives, become sustainable. The tour focused on meetings with key European organizations that have supported the localization of environmental planning and management, where the participants explored mechanisms for citizen participation in the planning of community priorities, allocating financial resources, and monitoring implementation of both community and development projects.

The purpose of the Study Tour was to offer those in the Egyptian government charged with planning and implementing environmental policies and programs the opportunity to enhance their understanding of worldwide experience with environmentally compatible governance. The tour was developed to ensure the most efficient use of the participants’ time and to extend their knowledge in areas applicable to Egypt's five-year macroeconomic framework and strategy. Of particular importance was learning from efforts in Spain and France to implement Local Agenda 21 as a key tool for sustainability policies at a local level.

As a result of the Study Tour, the Egyptian participants were exposed to practical examples of how to build several local government units charged with environmental planning and mitigation strategies. Knowledge transfer was critical to strengthening Egypt’s EIA and monitoring capacities, by which projects are assessed according to an integrated system of environmental plans and local management mechanisms. Today this forms an integral part of Egypt’s environmental governance at national and local levels.

OHK's Ahmed Hassan Co-chairs International Tourism Conference in Egypt

The conference branding and identity as developed by OHK consultants.

Under the auspices of Egypt’s Prime Minister and the World Tourism Organization UNWTO, OHK’s Ahmed Hassan co-chaired the Sustainable Tourism Egypt Conference held in Cairo on May 27-29, 2003, with funding from the US Agency for International Development. The conference was attended by a large number of international organizations and institutions, international environmental and tourism experts, bilateral and multilateral donor institutions and projects, and prominent tourism figures and developers representing various tourism projects and products from Egypt, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and Europe. Countries formally represented in the conference included Belgium, USA, Germany, Jamaica, South Africa, UK, Mexico, Denmark, Australia, Bulgaria, Italy, Norway, Tanzania, Bahrain, Kenya, Nepal, India, and Sri Lanka. OHK’s Hoda Hamdy was the key facilitator of a plenary session on tourism accounting, satellite accounts, and global organizations in tourism statistics and certification.

OHK Leads Egyptians to Malaysia and Singapore on a Tour of New City Development

OHK designed a study tour to offer Egyptian officials insights into international business practices in building and managing new cities in the 21st century. The 2-week long tour was aimed at offering participants access to municipal leaders in Asia, exploring how the latter have built Singapore and Kuala Lumpur into sustainable urban centers and Putrajaya as a “smart” government center. Through a series of government department visits and workshops with central and state government officials, the Egyptian participants learned firsthand about policies and institutional instruments governing new city developments in Malaysia and Singapore.

The Egyptian participants’ exposure to Asian smart city initiatives is expected to help Egypt navigate its own urban growth. To this end, we brought together leading experts from Malaysia and Singapore to explain city standards and best practices of building a smart city blueprint, enabling a sustainable ecosystem, engaging citizens, and designing citizen-centric smart services. Topics included smart cities, public-private partnerships, renewable energy, water supply, waste management, traffic management, power demand, urban mobility, ICT connectivity, and e-governance.

OHK Leads Egyptians to South Africa on a Study Tour of PPP Finance

OHK designed and implemented an extensive study tour program of workshops and site visits for Egyptian government officials in South Africa, focusing on decentralization of government budgeting, development of rolling spending and forecast plans, reduction of budget micromanagement by the treasury, and maximizing national and provincial departments’ accountability for decisions and outcomes. The tour was intended to help the Egyptian officials learn from South African efforts to push forward a sustainable agenda for public service innovation, finance service infrastructure, and enhance inclusive and collaborative governance.

Among the nine modules that OHK designed for the tour participants were visits and exchanges with various South African government entities such as the Departments of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Energy, Public Enterprises, Public Services and Administration, and Public Works, as well as various public and private developers in South Africa. Given South Africa’s prodigious efforts in creating a successful public private partnership capacity, we conducted site visits to learn about the Public Finance Management Act, the Treasury’s PPP Unit, and the Municipal Finance Management Act as models for Egyptian financing of public services.