Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Upon her marriage to His Majesty King Hussein in 1978, Her Majesty Queen Noor Al Hussein embraced her role as a Jordanian public servant. Queen Noor is also a global humanitarian and outspoken advocate for international understanding and conflict prevention and recovery issues such as refugees, missing persons, poverty alleviation, climate change and disarmament. Her peace-building work has focused on the Middle East, the Balkans, Central and Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa. Queen Noor’s work in Jordan and the Arab world has focused on national and regional human security in the areas of education, sustainable development, human rights and cross-cultural understanding. Since 1979, the initiatives of the Noor Al Hussein and the King Hussein Foundations which she founded and chairs have advanced development thinking in Jordan and the Middle East through pioneering best practice programs in the fields of poverty eradication, women’s empowerment, microfinance, health, and arts as a medium for social development and cross-cultural exchange. The Foundations provide training and capacity building expertise in these areas in the broader Arab and Asian regions.
The KHF, today, encompasses the Noor Al Hussein Foundation and eight specialized development institutions: the Jubilee Institute (JI), the Information and Research Center (IRC), the National Music Conservatory (NMC), the National Center for Culture and Arts (NCCA) and the initiatives of NHF: the Institute for Family Health (IFH), the Community Development Program (CDP), Tamweelcom the Jordan Micro Credit Company and most recently, the Islamic micro finance company, Ethmar.
The KHF’s Jubilee Institute, focuses on expanding access to quality education and leadership training throughout Jordan and the region. The Jubilee School and the Jubilee Center for Excellence in Education (JCEE), promote advanced learning and innovation to prepare future leaders committed to serving their country and capable of addressing global challenges.
The JCEE national outreach has expanded to include a STEM training center in Irbid and the training of hundreds of teachers and students from public and private schools, in addition to organizing national and international competitions on STEM.
A strong supporter of integrating e-learning in academic and personal development curricula, Queen Noor launched Jordan’s first ‘Smart Class’ as part of the Jubilee School’s pioneering efforts to advance educational standards in Jordan with a focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).
Jubilee School students continue to receive national and international awards. One of the educational games developed by the Jubilee students won Jordan’s App Challenge last year and the game was ranked among the top 20 edutainment games globally.
The Jubilee school has expanded its education options by achieving accreditation to introduce the International Baccalaureate curriculum, in addition to its enriched/advanced curricula that includes the Jordanian national program and the IGCSE.
The Jubilee Center for Excellence in Education has become the first accredited STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) training institution in Jordan.
The KHF promotes social equity and economic empowerment by providing access to work opportunities, loans, equity investments, and enterprise development. Since 1999 until mid-2015, Tamweelcom (Jordan Micro Credit Company) extended micro-financial services to nearly 420,000 aspiring and existing low-income entrepreneurs in Jordan, 90% of them are women. Tamweelcom recently launched two youth empowerment initiatives - Fikrati, and Amal Al Shabab to provide seed money, business literacy, and mentoring to aspiring entrepreneurs. Early this year, Tamweelcom pioneered a mobile micro-loan branch; a bus that tours remote areas in northern Jordan and soon to be followed by another mobile branch for southern Jordan.
Queen Noor recently launched "Ethmar": Jordan's first micro-finance company developing Sharia compliant financial products reflecting Queen Noor’s belief in inclusive and culturally sensitive social and economic empowerment choices. The first branch of Ethmar will open September 2015.
The Community Development Program (CDP) continues to contribute to the national efforts in socio-economic empowerment of under privileged families and capacity building for local community based organizations. Earlier this year, Queen Noor launched Ajloun’s first business development incubator, bringing the total of CDP’s run incubators to four, in Irbid, Aqaba, Ajloun and Tafileh.
Addressing comprehensive family health needs in Jordan and the region has been another focus area of focus for Queen Noor and the KHF primarily through the Institute for Family Health (IFH). Currently the IFH is managing, with its specialized staff, 18 clinics across Jordan, including 4 clinics in Syrian refugee camps in partnership with U.N. agencies and other national and international NGOs. In the last six months, the IFH has provided Jordanians and refugees from conflict areas 17,435 medical services, with additional 9,625 services for children with special needs, and trauma counseling to 1,626 individuals.
The IFH has become a regional training center specialized in psychosocial interventions, clinical treatment for survivors of rape, gender-based violence, and child protection to teams from Syria, Iraq, Abu Dhabi, Gaza/West Bank, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt.
Through the Information and Research Center, KHF has been providing critical research to policymakers and development advocates. Access to information and evidence based research is now available online through "Haqqi"; a free database of research, legislation and media related to human rights and gender issues in Jordan and the region developed by the IRC. To date, Haqqi, has 640 publications and 2000 registered users.
An advocate for social inclusion and equity, the IRC is currently examining challenges faced by orphans, with a focus on children deprived of family ties in addition to the challenges children with disabilities face in education.
Queen Noor’s appreciation for the role of culture and the arts in the formation of individual and national identity is reflected in a wide range of her national and international initiatives including the National Center for Culture and Arts and the National Music Conservatory established in 1986. Both institutions have been effective in enhancing social development, tolerance, and cross-cultural understanding through the performing arts.
In 2015, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) recognized the NCAA as a "global center of excellence in theatre based peer education training". Over 145 trainees were trained from 16 Arab countries including Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, and Djibouti.
The NMC, Jordan’s first academic music institution, renewed its agreement with the Yarmouk University to grant (BA) degrees in music education. Members from Jordan's Public Security Directorate and others from the Lebanese army received advanced training in music. 215 aspiring young musicians were enrolled at the NMC, and over 60 participated in the Young Musicians Orchestra and the Children’s Choir. The NMC’s role in promoting music appreciation was accomplished by reaching over 3000 school children through music clubs and music classes in underprivileged areas.
In addition, Queen Noor is the Honorary chairperson of JOrchestra, which was founded in close partnership with the private sector and the diplomatic corps, to revive Jordan’s first professional orchestra initiated by the NMC in 2007.
This year, Queen Noor’s pioneering youth initiative founded in 1980 - the International Arab Youth Congress, celebrated its 34th year with 120 participants from 12 countries. The highlight of this year’s congress was a youth led community service initiative, which was launched among school students in Jordan and emulated in other participating countries to enhance the values of civic responsibility, tolerance and solidarity among global youth.
Queen Noor has made environmental priorities an essential component of her work to promote human security and conflict resolution. Not long after her marriage, Queen Noor became patron of Jordan’s Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, the Middle East’s first environmental NGO. She chaired Jordan’s National Commission in 1990 which developed Jordan’s National Environment Strategy, the region’s first, and Jordan’s Environment Law which set standards for water use and quality, and specifications to measure and control air pollution.
Building on KHF's founding mission to advance sustainable development the KHF is reducing the ecological footprint of the Foundation and contributing to Jordan's Green Economy strategy by installing a solar farm, which is expected to be operational by 2016.
The Queen is Patron of IUCN, the oldest international conservation organization in the world, Founding President and Honorary President Emeritus of BirdLife International, trustee emeritus of Conservation International and a member of OceanElders.
Queen Noor is also chair of King Hussein Foundation International which, since 2001, has awarded the 'King Hussein Leadership Prize' to individuals, groups, or institutions that demonstrate inspiring leadership in their efforts to promote sustainable development, human rights, tolerance, social equity and peace. The Prize committee announced Malala Yousafzai as the winner of the 2012 award for her courageous and dedicated commitment to girls’ education. A long-time advocate for a just Arab-Israeli peace and for Palestinian refugees, Queen Noor is a board member of Refugees International and an outspoken voice for the protection of civilians in conflict and displaced persons around the world. Her ongoing focus includes advocacy for Iraqis displaced in Iraq, Jordan, Syria and other countries after the 2003 Iraq conflict, and for the millions of Syrians displaced since the onset of the 2011 Syrian civil war.
She is a Commissioner of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), created at the 1996 G8 summit to promote reconciliation and conflict resolution after the Balkans war and now is the leading provider of DNA-assisted identifications to countries worldwide dealing with natural catastrophes, human rights abuses and conflict including in Iraq, Libya and Lebanon. She is also advisor to Trust Women -the Thomson Reuters Foundation annual conference aiming to put the rule of law behind women's rights.
Queen Noor has been an advisor to, and global advocate for, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines since 1998, advocating for Jordan’s accession to the treaty as well as with governments in Central and Southeast Asia, the Balkans, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, supporting NGOs, and land mine survivors struggling to recover and reclaim their lives. She is also a founding leader of Global Zero, an international movement working for the worldwide elimination of nuclear weapons.
She has published two books, Hussein of Jordan, and Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life, a New York Times best seller published in 17 languages.
Her Majesty Queen Noor has four children, Their Royal Highnesses Princes Hamzah and Hashim and Princesses Iman and Raiyah and 8 grandchildren.
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