College of Public Policy (CPP) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) organized a webinar to launch its latest project, in line with its mission to support and contribute to effective policy development and implementation.

Menatracker.org was introduced to an online audience by staff members at CPP and HBKU’s College of Health and Life Sciences (CHLS) on October 22. The project provides a policy tracker of government responses (PTGR) to the pandemic in 10 Middle East and North African (MENA) countries. Funded by Qatar National Research Fund, menatracker.org focuses on Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Morocco in addition to the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states.

In addition to providing real-time insight and tracking of policies and measures, menatracker.org primarily covers three major areas of government responses to COVID-19. This provides the user with qualitative and quantitative data for interventions covering public health, economy, and social policies in the process.

International organizations, government websites, official statements, and other sources and converted into data, benefiting regional policymakers, academics, and the public who, additionally, have opportunities access to policy briefs and participate in an online conference to share results and facilitate discussions.

Dr. Andreas Rechkemmer, Senior Professor at CPP and the Project Lead Principal Investigator, stated “While COVID-19 provides the foundations, menatracker.org nevertheless builds on a solid tradition of governance and policy indicators. That said, the PTGR stands on its own as a unique and precious data resource on what regional governments did – and continue to do – to tackle the pandemic. With countries now experiencing a second wave of COVID-19 infections, instant and unfettered access to policy-relevant information will prove crucial when formulating responses. To this end, we’re committed to providing this to the countries covered by the initiative.”

According to Dr. Leslie A. Pal, Founding Dean of CPP, “These are exciting times for our college and faculty members. In a short space of time, we’ve launched three first-of-its-kind projects for the MENA region, including menatracker.org. This was by no means easy given the current circumstances; however, all credit goes to the project founders and leaders for their resilience and unwavering commitment to the task at hand. It goes without saying that we have high ambitions for menatracker.org. While COVID-19 will, unfortunately, provide us with ample data to work with, we nevertheless believe that the initiative will inspire policy and decision-making processes even after the pandemic subsides.”

Click here to find out more about the work of HBKU’s College of Public Policy.

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