HM Queen Noor's Résumé

H.M. Queen Noor of Jordan

Her Majesty Queen Noor was born Lisa Najeeb Halaby on 23 August 1951, to a distinguished Arab-American family. She attended schools in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., New York City and Concord Academy in Massachusetts, before entering Princeton University in its first co-educational freshman class.

After receiving a B.A. in Architecture and Urban Planning from Princeton University in 1974, Queen Noor participated in several international urban planning and design projects in Australia, Iran, the United States and Jordan. In 1976, she traveled throughout the Arab world to research aviation training facilities for the preparation of a master plan for an Arab Air University to be established in Jordan. Subsequently, she joined ‘Royal Jordanian’ airline as Director of Planning and Design Projects.

Their Majesties the late King Hussein and Queen Noor were married on 15 June 1978. They have two sons: HRH Prince Hamzah (born 29 March 1980) and HRH Prince Hashim (born 10 June 1981), and two daughters: HRH Princess Iman (born 24 April 1983) and HRH Princess Raiyah (born 9 February 1986). Their family also included the two children of His Majesty’s previous marriage, HRH Princess Haya and HRH Prince Ali, and Ms. Abir Muheisen.

December 1996 family photo: (from left to right)
Front row: HRH Princess Iman, HRH Princess Raiyah and HRH Princess Haya
Middle row: HM Queen Noor, HM King Hussein and Ms. Abir Muheisen.
Last row: HRH Prince Hamzah, HRH Prince Ali and HRH Prince Hashim.

Since 1978, Queen Noor has played a major role in promoting international exchange and understanding of Middle Eastern politics, Arab-Western relations and current global issues throughout the world

In Jordan, Queen Noor initiates, directs and sponsors projects and activities which respond to specific national needs in the areas of mother and child health care, education, women’s development, environmental protection, culture, and public architecture and planning. She is actively involved with several international and United Nations organizations that address global challenges in these fields.

In 1979, Queen Noor chaired the National Committee for the International Year of the Child and actively launched a national immunization campaign, children's parks and literature programs and an initiative to establish Jordan’s first children’s hospital.

Also in 1979, the Queen established the Royal Endowment for Culture and Education (RECE), which conducted the first development research on the country’s specific manpower needs. The RECE provides scholarships for students, with special emphasis on outstanding women, to pursue their graduate studies in fields vital to Jordan’s future development.

Arab Children's Congress In 1980, the Queen convened the first Arab Children’s Congress which annually brings together young representatives from throughout the Arab world in a program designed to promote understanding and solidarity. During two weeks of travel, learning and cultural interaction in Jordan, these children are encouraged to appreciate more fully the contemporary challenges facing the Arab nation and the cultural and historical bonds shared by all Arabs.

In 1981, Queen Noor, with a group of Jordanian philanthropists, faculty and students from Yarmouk University in northern Jordan, founded the Jerash Festival for Culture and Arts to promote Jordanian, Arab and international cultural and artistic interaction at one of Jordan’s most important archaeological sites. The annual festival provides a vibrant venue for Arab and international performing artists, and serves as a dynamic catalyst for the promotion of Jordanian and Arab culture and arts.

In 1984, Queen Noor assumed responsibility for the implementation of an educational project to commemorate His Majesty King Hussein’s Silver Jubilee. Jubilee School logo The Jubilee School, an independent co-educational secondary school, was established in 1993 to develop the academic and leadership potential of outstanding scholarship students from the country and the region, with special emphasis on students from less developed areas of Jordan. The School provides a unique educational environment which promotes creative thinking and social responsibility. The School’s Center for Excellence in Education advances national and regional educational standards through the development of innovative curricula and training programs, and workshops for public and private school teachers.

The National Music Conservatory was initiated by Queen Noor in 1985 to develop accomplished musicians in classical Arabic and Western music, to foster music appreciation and to promote teacher training and public school music curricula in Jordan. Its annual program includes concerts, recitals and instruction by local and world - renowned international musicians.

In 1985 the Queen launched the National Handicrafts Development Project to revive and preserve a unique aspect of Jordan’s national Heritage. Subsequently. the Jordan Design and Trade Center was established to raise the standards of handicrafts production, to increase women’s productivity and economic role, to create new jobs, marketing strategies and opportunities for the industry to become a new, sustainable source of national income.

In 1985 the Noor Al Hussein Foundation (NHF) was established to consolidate the administration of the Queen’s diverse and expanding development initiatives. The Foundation initiates and supports national, regional and international projects in the fields of integrated community development, education, culture, children’s welfare, family health, women and enterprise development. NHF programs have successfully advanced and modernized development thinking in Jordan by progressing beyond traditional charity-oriented social welfare practices to integrate social development strategies more closely with national economic priorities. NHF projects promote individual and community self-reliance, grassroots participation in decision-making and project implementation, equal opportunity with special emphasis on the empowerment of women, and intersectoral co-operation. The NHF, in co-operation with the Jordanian Government and United Nations and international organizations, has designed and implemented innovative projects and programs, which are sensitive to local values and traditions and have received international recognition as development models for the Middle East and the developing world -- the Quality of Life Project, the Women-in-Development Project, the Institute for Child Health and Development, the Jubilee School, the National Handicrafts Development Project, the National Music Conservatory, and the Performing Arts Center.

In 1986, Queen Noor launched Jordan’s and the Arab World’s first children’s museum, the Children’s Heritage and Science Museum and in 1988, the Mobile Life and Science Museum, as an outreach program for the children’s museum targeting young people in rural areas. Using computers, books, exhibits and hands-on educational and recreational activities, young children learn about environmental protection, health, the sciences and Jordan’s history.

In 1995, His Majesty King Hussein directed Queen Noor to establish and chair a National Task Force for Children to monitor and evaluate the condition and status of Jordan’s children in accordance with Arab and international conventions on the rights of the child and the national plan of action for children and to ensure that the welfare of children is given priority in national development plans. In 1997, the NTFC established the National Coalition for Children as a forum to coordinate and promote partnership among specialists and public and private institutions and NGOs involved with children's affairs and a national Research and Database Unit.

The King Hussein Foundation, chaired by Queen Noor was established by Royal Decree, in 1999. The Foundation is a national and international non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to give meaningful expression to the late King’s humanitarian vision and legacy with emphasis on democracy and peace, education and leadership, environment and health.

Queen Noor is an active patron or president of several national institutions which serve the Jordanian community. These include: the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, the Petra National Trust, the Royal Society of Fine Arts, the National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, the National Committee for the Protection of the Environment, the SOS Children’s Village Association the Queen Noor Technical College for Civil Aviation, the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, the Jordanian Physiotherapy Society, the Jordan Tennis Federation and the Women’s Sports Club.

HM Queen Noor regularly visited Gulf War evacuees. During the Gulf Crisis, over a million evacuees of different nationalities fled to Jordan in addition to over 300,000 Jordanian returnees from Gulf countries

Queen Noor chairs the Al Amal Cancer Center – Jordan’s first comprehensive cancer center serving Jordan and the region

In 1980, Queen Noor initiated the establishment of The Jordan Society in Washington D.C. to promote understanding and closer ties between Jordan and the United States. In 1999, the non-profit organization, was renamed the King Hussein Foundation - USA.

Internationally, Queen Noor is Patron of The World Conservation Union (IUCN), the oldest international conservation organization in the world, Honorary President of BirdLife International, which has the widest global network of conservation organizations and Board Member of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). In 1995, she received the United Nations Environment Program Global 500 Award for her activism in environmental protection, in promoting awareness and in initiating community action for the preservation of Jordan’s natural heritage.

The Queen is the President of the United World Colleges, a network of 10 equal-opportunity international colleges around the world, which foster cross-cultural understanding and global peace.

She is Chair of the advisory board of the Center for the Global South at American University, which examines critical issues affecting the poorer developing countries of the world, as well as Chair of the international advisory committee for the United Nations University International Leadership Academy which is the first global leadership training facility as well as the first UN institution to be initiated and established in the Middle East.

In 1994, Queen Noor, a member of the International Commission on Peace and Food (ICPF) presented the results of a five year international research program : "Uncommon Opportunities: An Agenda For Peace And Equitable Development" to the United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali for adoption by the UN, The report presented practical strategies to accelerate political stability, progress and peace, to ensure food security and employment, to promote human development, demilitarization and the protection of the environment.

Queen Noor has assumed an advocacy role in the international fight to ban antipersonnel mines. As Patron of Landmine Survivors Network (LSN), she patronized the first “International Conference on Landmine Injury & Rehabilitation in the Middle East” in Amman in 1998. On 1^st October 1998, Queen Noor, member of the international advisory board of the Nobel Prize winning International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), of whose international advisory board the Queen is member, announced at the United Nations the 40^th ratification of the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty, new measures to universalize the Ottawa treaty and to promote victim-survivors assistance.” Queen Noor is also Patron of International Alert’s Women and Peace-building campaign, which focuses on women’s role and contribution to peace building and conflict resolution.

She is an Ambassador of Future Harvest, a network of international research centers located around the world that seek to make agricultural issues and the need for international agricultural research more immediate and relevant to policymakers, the media and the general public. She is also a director on the global board of The Hunger Project, an honorary member of the General Assembly of the SOS-Kinderdorf International, NEF logo a member of the International Council of the Near East Foundation, a Trustee of the Mentor Foundation, which works in collaboration with organizations involved in the prevention of substance abuse among young at the grassroots level. The Queen is President of Journey of a Lifetime Trust in the UK and a member of the honorary Global Committed of the Center for Development and Population Activities.

Upon her marriage, Queen Noor received Jordan’s Grand Cordon of the Jeweled Al Nahda, and shortly after, the Grand Collar of Al Hussein Bin Ali in addition to numerous decorations from around the world. In recognition of her efforts to advance development, democracy and peace, the Queen has been awarded numerous honorary doctorates in international relations, law, and humane letters, and international awards.

Queen Noor speaks Arabic, English and French. She enjoys skiing, water skiing, tennis, sailing, horseback riding, reading, gardening and photography.

HM Queen Noor's e-mail is: noor@nic.net.jo