Jordan Times
Wednesday, November 3, 2004
Queen Rania attends JRF
fundraiser
Foundation announces the completion of the country's first family and
child centre
AMMAN (JT) — As part of the Jordan River Foundation's (JRF) annual activities
benefiting its various programmes Kingdom-wide, Her Majesty Queen Rania,
chairperson of JRF, on Monday attended a Ramadan fundraising event at the Four
Seasons Hotel.
Proceeds of the event, organised by the JRF volunteers, will benefit the various
developmental programmes of the foundation, established by Queen Rania in 1995.
The JRF works in two main areas: Protecting the rights and needs of children
through the Jordan River Children Programme and empowering individuals and
communities through the Community Empowerment Programme.
Addressing attendees, sponsors and volunteers, JRF Director General Maha Khatib
presented an overview of the work of the foundation and its initiatives in
creating and supporting sustainable social, economic and cultural programmes, as
well as empowering communities and individuals based on their needs and
priorities.
Khatib explained how the Child Safety Programme and its other components,
including therapy, legal consultation, and awareness campaigns, work to support
the objectives of the programme.
Launched in 2001, the programme focused on the basic component of prevention
services. However, as work on child safety progressed, JRF, under Queen Rania's
directions, recognised the greater need for preventive intervention to minimise
the number of cases and avert the negative spiral of consequences, whether on an
individual, domestic or societal level.
It was because of that purpose that the idea of launching the Queen Rania Family
and Child Centre came about as a pioneering initiative that would present an
innovative Arab model of a community centre, providing training and support
through a multifaceted and comprehensive approach addressing the multiplicity of
causes that lead to abuse, and identifying protective factors along the system
levels.
The multipurpose centre, for which Queen Rania laid the cornerstone in May 2003,
is due to open soon in Jabal Al Nasr and will be the first of its kind in the
Kingdom and the region. It focuses on quality training and healthy adult-child
interaction for the purpose of upgrading development, health, nutrition and
education services within the framework of child and human rights, with the goal
of ultimately combating child abuse and neglect.
Initially, the centre will serve the local community and later expand its area
of coverage to include other rural, nomadic and urban communities with similar
backgrounds, first in Jordan and, at a later stage, in the Arab world.
The centre will include a training facility for parents and children, where
various services and activities will be provided including a computer centre, a
kitchen for children, an art workshop, an interactive library and parenthood and
life skills training.
While the land for building the centre was donated by the Greater Amman
Municipality, an agreement with the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation
(AECI), plus the revenues of JRF's fundraising gala dinner in Paris in September
2002, helped cover the cost of construction.
JRF is nonprofit nongovernmental organisation whose mission is to promote, in
partnership with stakeholders, the development of a dynamic society by
initiating and supporting sustainable social, economic and cultural programmes
that empower communities and individuals based on their needs and priorities.
The foundation is recognised nationally, regionally and internationally as an
agent for positive change and as a leading local institution contributing to
social and economic well-being of citizens.