Johud: The Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development
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About us

Founded by Royal Decree in 1977 and chaired by HRH Princess Basma bint Talal, Johud is an independent national fund that works with communities across Jordan.

What is Johud?

Johud, the Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development, is Jordan's national NGO for community-led human development. Founded in 1977 and chaired by HRH Princess Basma bint Talal, Johud operates more than 50 Community Development Centres (CDCs) in every one of Jordan's 12 governorates. Last year alone, 138,479 people participated in Johud programmes. Sixty percent of centre leadership positions are held by women. Johud does not deliver development to communities: it builds platforms with them, platforms that remain long after any single project ends.

Our story

A Johud staff member overlooking Amman and the Jordanian flag

The Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development (Johud) was founded on 1 November 1977 by Royal Decree of His Majesty the late King Hussein bin Talal. It is an independent, non-profit national fund.

‘In 1977, His Majesty the late King Hussein bin Talal honoured me with the founding of a charitable foundation for community development and for supporting those in need. Four decades on, it has grown into Jordan’s largest and most widely networked development institution.’

HRH Princess Basma bint Talal

Programmes and priorities have changed many times in five decades. Our presence in communities has not.

Many of the people who run our centres today grew up with Johud: children in summer clubs, then volunteers, then leaders in their own communities. No organisation can plan a journey like that. It only comes from staying, year after year.

Our foundations

Vision
Communities with the voice, the means and the institutions to shape their own development.In our words: a development platform built on participation, justice and a dignified life for all.
Mission
Community · Continuity · ConnectionWe work alongside communities, stay with them for the long term, and connect people, institutions, knowledge and resources.
Our motto
Development is built with communities – not delivered to them.
Johud team members outside the organisation's building in Amman

A national fund

Much development work runs on projects: priorities set far from the community, short cycles, fixed targets. As a national fund, Johud looks after something different – a lasting network of centres, institutions, enterprises and volunteers – and uses projects only where they strengthen it.

Projects begin and end. Centres, relationships and local presence stay.

Institutions before projects. Learning before scale.

Why we stay in communities

A project answers the question it was set up to answer, then stops. We have chosen to keep asking questions.

We follow communities over time.

Staying in the same place lets us see change rather than assume it.

We treat what people know about their own places as evidence that counts.

No survey can replace it, and we learn it by talking with them.

A Mujawara gathering under pine trees: participants seated in a circle, linked by threads of yarn

This practice has a name: Al-Mujawara. It grew out of a series of gatherings led by Dr. Munir Fasheh, and it is how we listen and connect – inside Johud and with communities across Jordan.

‘Many of Johud’s centres are the beating heart of their local communities, tied to the place and context of each one. They are not copies of ready-made, imported institutions; they were born of the reality in each place, and there is much to learn and gain from them.’

– Dr. Munir Fasheh, Palestinian educator
Read the Social Learning and Sustainable Livelihoods Framework

What we won’t accept

There is work we turn down, however much funding is on offer: anything that divides a community’s own decision-making, sets up systems alongside the ones communities already have, undermines a centre’s standing where it works, skips the learning, or asks more of the local team than it can carry.

These limits apply to every partnership we enter into.

What we believe

Participation means the power to decide, not just a seat in the room.

  1. Trust is built over decades and protected every day.
  2. Learning means being honest about what didn’t work.

Our journey

19772027

An archival photograph from the Fund's launch in 1977

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1977

The beginning

The Queen Alia Fund for Social Work is founded to stand with communities and the people most in need.

An archival photograph from the Fund's launch in 19771 / 4

Governance

HRH Princess Basma bint Talal chairs Johud’s Board of Trustees. The Board sets direction, oversees how resources are used and holds the executive management to account. Johud operates under Law No. 37 of 1985.

Governance, reports and policies
Chairperson
Vice-Chair
  • H.E. Dr. Wesam Al Rabadi
Executive Director
  • H.E. Farah Daghistani
Minister of Planning and International Cooperation
Minister of Social Development
Appointed Members
  • Dr. Bassam Hannoun
  • Mr. Fadi Faza
  • Mr. Hani Fadayel
  • Mrs. Ibtisam Al Ayoubi
  • Mr. Maher Al Mahrouq
  • Mr. Marwan Al Rifai
A meeting of the Johud Board of Trustees, image 1

Our friends

Our Impact

How Johud measures its work: what we count, how we count it, and what has changed for people, communities and institutions. A reach figure tells you how many people we reached, not what changed in their lives. Both matter, so we say what every number stands for.

Our Impact