During more than 35 years international and local NGOs involved in poverty alleviation in developing countries have made many mistakes but also learned a lot. One of the lessons learned has been that the “charity” or relief aid did not give opportunities and tools for local people to grow in their capacity and to take full responsibility about their life. Local communities were not participating but were reduced to passive beneficiaries for whom the aid was offered from outside (e.g. from Western countries or national and local governments). In many cases very little or nothing was left after the outside support was stopped.

The agencies have been obliged to develop an approach, which focuses on partnership with and participation of local communities. Expatriates or national organizations are facilitating the process in which the capacity and resources of the local communities and NGOs are to be used and multiplied in an effective way.

The results of this approach have been very encouraging all over the developing world and also in Jordan. Instead of getting only short-term relief local poor villages or vulnerable groups in cities have become able to develop their life and organize themselves for the benefit of the whole community. This is exactly what Fida Development Co-operation Agency is aiming for in Jordan. It has a vision of long-term partnership for development with local communities (see more details in the section “Strategy” in this home page). The end results are healthy families in healthy communities where an increasing number of families have learned to think more positively about their life opportunities and to take advantage of their improved capacity. This will not, of course, happen overnight but it is possible to start after committing to make sustainable efforts, at first in partnership and later independently