NGOs can play an important role in digital transformation, as demonstrated during the COVID-19 response. NGOs are non-profit organizations that operate independently of government to serve scientific, technical, social or political purposes. They rely on various funding sources and can have large budgets. Digital transformation involves integrating digital technology across all areas of business and society. During COVID-19, digital tools have helped enable remote healthcare, research collaboration, and work from home practices. In Jordan, NGOs like INTAJ and EHDA have promoted issues around digital economy, telework, and sustainability during the pandemic.

1. Regional Webinar on:
Digital Health, Innovation and COVID-19 response:
Global and EMR Perspectives
18 May 2020
WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean
Cairo, Egypt

2. Role of NGOs in digital
transformation: the case for
supporting COVID-19 response
Dr Najeeb Shorbaji,
President, eHealth Development Association of Jordan;
President, Jordan Library and Information Association
Former Director, Knowledge Ethics and Research, WHO/HQ

3. Non-Governmental Organizations
• A non-governmental organization (NGO) is a non-profit, citizen-based
group that functions independently of government;
• NGOs, sometimes called civil societies, are organized on community,
national and international levels to serve specific scientific, technical, social
or political purposes, and are cooperative, rather than commercial, in
nature;
• NGOs may focus on being:
• Operational
• Advocacy
• The statute of an NGO defines its mandate, governance structure,
objectives and activities. There are several distinct types of NGO, each with
its own mandate;

4. Roles and types of NGOs
• NGOs play a major role in national and international development, aid, and
philanthropy:
• eHealth Development Association, Jordan (Ministry of Health) www.ehda.org.jo
• Jordan Library and Information Association (Ministry of Culture) www.jlia.org
• Jordan Computer Society (Ministry of Information and Telecommunication)
https://jcs.org.jo/
• Information Technology Association of Jordan (INTAJ) (Ministry of Information and
Telecommunication) https://www.intaj.net/
• NGOs are non-profit by definition, but may run budgets of millions or up to
billions of dollars each year:
• Al-Hussein Cancer Foundation http://www.khcc.jo/en
• Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation https://www.gatesfoundation.org/
• Rockefeller Foundation https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/

5. Funding and financing of NGOs
• As such, NGOs rely on a variety of funding sources from private donations,
membership dues to government contribution;
• Waqf: endowment made by a Muslim to a religious, educational, or
charitable cause is a major sustainable funding model;
• In Jordan, the Ministry of Social Development maintains a registry database
of all licensed NGOs; http://www.mosd.gov.jo/UI/Arabic/Default.aspx
• Technical, scientific and cultural NGO are attached to different ministries;
• Charities are all attached to the Ministry of Social Development;
• An estimate of 7000 NGOs in the Arab world of which 262 are listed in
Jordan out of 5108 in the Ministry's directory. https://arab.org/directory/

6. Digital transformation: what do we mean?
• Digital transformation is the integration of digital technology into all
areas of a business, fundamentally changing how you operate and
deliver value to customers. It's also a cultural change that requires
organizations to continually challenge the status quo, experiment,
and get comfortable with failure. The Enterprisers Project
(https://enterprisersproject.com/what-is-digital-transformation#q1
• Digital transformation is the “changes associated with the application
of digital technology in all aspects of human society,”. “It is the move
from physical to digital”. https://www.techopedia.com/definition/30119/digital-
transformation
• Digital transformation is about changing the way the sector is run. It
entails change in culture, people, technology and processes.

7. Digital transformation in healthcare
• Michael Reddy identified 7 Key Trends shaping Digital Transformation
in Healthcare in 2020: https://www.digitalauthority.me/resources/state-of-digital-
transformation-healthcare/
1. The rise of on-demand healthcare (why patients want healthcare on their
own schedule);
2. The importance of big data in healthcare;
3. Treating patients with virtual reality;
4. The growth of wearable medical devices;
5. Predictive healthcare;
6. The wonders of artificial intelligence;
7. Blockchain and the promise of better electronic health records.

8. Digital transformation driven by COVID-19
• COVID-19 is changing very fast;
• The change has affected social, economic, political and health sectors;
• Lockdown, curfews, social distancing and fear are becoming the norms;
• Stay at home, work form home, telework, partial workforce, learn and
study from home;
• Misinformation and disinformation have resulted in “Infodemic”;
• Provision of health care services at distance means among many other
things telehealth, telemedicine, sensors, personal care, etc. which simply
means use digital tools rather than face-to-face care delivery;
• Accelerated multisite research efforts based on big data.

9. Role of NGOs in digital transformation
• Collaborative and knowledge sharing rather than competitive and
secretive;
• Public vs. private;
• Neutral, unbiased and independent;
• Voluntary work rather than paid;
• Working across disciplines i.e. multidisciplinary approach to problem
solving;
• Freedom from formal (official) commitments in expression of opinion and
ideas;
• Enabling individuals and institutions to realize their full potential;
• Work anywhere and anytime;

10. Information Technology Association of Jordan
(INTAJ): an example
• To provide members with a platform of products & services that
support their continuous growth, expansion, and prosperity toward a
mature sector that substantially contributes to the national economy
and provides quality jobs for Jordanians;
• Under the current crisis, INTAJ has been discussing and promoting
issues such as: https://www.intaj.net/
• Electrifying Jordan economy through digital transformation;
• Jordan can overcome Corona crises through digital economy;
• Working from home to increase predictivity and decrease cost;
• A teleconference to discuss the sustainability of companies in the ICT sector in
light of the Corona virus crisis.

11. eHealth Development Association: an
example (www.ehda.org.jo) 1/2
• Support cooperation between non-governmental organizations on the one
hand and governmental and non-governmental institutions on the other;
• Support national telemedicine and eHealth organizations;
• Promote the cause of telemedicine and eHealth within the country, as well
as with international institutions or organizations;
• Contribute to the dissemination and exchange of knowledge, information
and technologies relating to eHealth applications;
• Promote initial and supplementary theoretical and practical training in the
field of telemedicine and eHealth, including its applications throughout the
health sector regardless of professional or geographical limits;

12. eHealth Development Association: an
example (www.ehda.org.jo) 2/2
• Support daily activities relating to eHealth research and development
and its application
• Bring together eHealth users, scientists and researchers and
sponsors, advisers and manufacturers and distributors and their
scientific personnel;
• Promote the formulation and publication of rules for good practice
and also guidelines and information on such practice;
• Support activities relating to the establishment of appropriate legal
and regulatory frameworks for tele-medicine and eHealth
applications in Jordan.

13. Thank you
Q& A