Queen Noor celebrates birthday tomorrow

Upon her marriage to His Majesty King Hussein in 1978, Her Majesty Queen Noor Al Hussein, daughter of an Arab-American family distinguished for its public service, embraced her role as a Jordanian public servant focusing on national and regional human security issues in the areas of education, conservation, sustainable development, human rights and cross-cultural understanding. She is also an outspoken advocate for international exchange and understanding of Arab, Muslim and Western relations, and conflict prevention and recovery focusing on refugees, missing persons, poverty, climate change and disarmament. Her peace-building work has concentrated on the Middle East, the Balkans, Central and Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa. Since 1979, the initiatives of the Noor Al Hussein Foundation (NHF), have provided development models for Jordan and beyond through pioneering programs in the fields of poverty eradication and sustainable development, women’s empowerment, microfinance, health, and the arts as a medium for social development and cross-cultural exchange, many of which have become recognized models for the developing world. NHF provides training and assistance in implementing these best practice programs in the broader Arab and Asian regions through the Institute for Family Health, WAGE: Women and Girls Empowerment- Securing the Future, Tamweelcom the Jordan Micro Credit Company, and the Community Development Program. In response to regional crises, the Institute for Family Health is expanding its pioneering work in trauma rehabilitation for victims of violence across Jordan and the Middle East, in addition to developing safeguards against child protection and gender-based violence for local communities and refugees seeking safety in Jordan, in partnership with U.N. and other NGOs. Tamweelcom, has disbursed 368,668 loans since 1999 and increasingly focusses on youth empowerment programs most recently joining forces with Arab Student Aid International, Qatari-based Silatech ,Youth Business International- Prince’s charities, UK. As of 15 August 2013 Tamweelcom’s launched the first mobile microfinance facility in Jordan and the region. Tamweelcom bus will visit twice weekly Ramtha’s downtown bus station, Mafraq’s police kiosk, and Shuneh’s main market to increase access to micro-finance services in Jordan’s northern poverty pockets. The Community Development Program‘s latest economic interventions in Phase III of the national Poverty Pockets Empowerment Program, is supporting impoverished families to build financially sustainable micro and small enterprises in addition to interactive educational training to students and teachers and improvement in public infrastructure such as providing health centers with medical equipment and wheel chairs. Her Majesty also chairs the King Hussein Foundation (KHF) and the King Hussein Foundation International (KHFI), which she founded in 1999 to build on King Hussein’s humanitarian vision and legacy in Jordan and abroad through national, regional and international programs that promote education and leadership, economic empowerment, tolerance and cross cultural dialogue and media that enhance mutual understanding and respect among different cultures and across conflict lines. The Foundation encompasses the Noor Al Hussein Foundation, the Jubilee Institute, the National Center for Culture and Arts (NCCA), the National Music Conservatory (NMC) and the Information and Research Center which is currently working with UNICEF on the Jordanian National Youth Survey to collect and update data on the status, priorities, and aspirations of Jordanian youth. The NCCA was recognized this year by the UNFPA as a regional center of excellence in theater-based education. The NMC has expanded its partnerships with local institutions, as well as with the Iraqi Symphony Orchestra and performances with international organizations like the Dutch embassy and Harvard-Radcliff Orchestra. The Jubilee School will mark its 20th anniversary this year on the occasion of the late King Hussein’s birthday by celebrating the inspiring journey of students and alumni, highlighting their academic achievements as well as their personal and professional accomplishments. This year, alone, Jubilee School students earned awards at the International Intel-ISEF Competition, the “Spring of Democracy” Local Film Competition, the Open Arab Robotics Championship, and Microsoft’s Imagine Cup, among others. The Jubilee Center for Excellence in Education (JCEE) has trained teachers and students from Qatar, Yemen and Oman in the fields of robotics, mathematics, and science. In Jordan, the JCEE is leading Robotics and artificial intelligence initiatives through its National Educational Center for Robotics in coordination with the Consultative Committee of Robotics Competitions for Universities. The King Hussein Foundation International awards the annual King Hussein Leadership Prize to individuals, groups or institutions that demonstrate inspiring and courageous leadership in their efforts to promote sustainable development, human rights, tolerance, social equity and peace. The Prize committee nominated Malala Yousafzai for 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, Her Majesty 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 hundreds of thousands of Syrians displaced since the onset of the 2011 Syrian civil war. In 1980, following the Arab Summit Meeting in Amman, the Queen called for an annual meeting of Arab youth– the Arab Youth Congress, which for over 30 years has brought young people together in Amman from throughout the Arab world and, since 2004, from the international community to promote understanding, tolerance, and solidarity. In 2011 the First Sheihka Fatima Bint Mubarak International Awards for Arab Youth were launched in partnership with the Congress at the International Arab Youth Congress in Petra. This year the awards will be presented in Abu Dhabi. 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 (RSCN), 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, specifications to measure and control air pollution. 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. 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 and human rights cases including, Iraq, Libya and Lebanon. 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 (KHF Publishing, 2000) and Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life (Miramax Books, 2003), a New York Times best seller published in 17 languages. Queen Noor has four children, Their Royal Highnesses Princes Hamzah and Hashim and Princesses Iman and Raiyah.