In 2005, Fadi Ghandour invested his own wealth, as well as funding from Aramex, to launch Ruwwad Al-Tanmeya (meaning "entrepreneurs for development"), a community-based organisation that would provide a way for the private sector to partner with government, civil society organizations, and marginalized communities.

He mobilised Jordanian businessmen to contribute to Ruwwad’s seed funding, including Khaled Al Masri — at the time chairman of Cairo Amman Bank and today chairman of Astra Group — who remains vice-chairman of Ruwwad Jordan’s board of directors. Through these collaborations, Ruwwad would work deeply in targeted areas, helping youth who live in economically and socially harsh conditions to access education, volunteer opportunities, cultural nourishment, business skills, and community organizing, in an effort to drive community development.

The goal: to support people in struggling communities, as the experts of their own locales, to reduce inequities and solve problems.

From the outset, Ruwwad broke from status quo approaches in three fundamental ways. First, it took bold steps to focus on and invest in young people, as Ghandour believed they had the energy and capacity to drive change in their communities. Ruwwad would provide scholarships and programs to help youth acquire the knowledge, skills, and networks "to actively pursue their dreams for a better future."

It would also enlist youth in community service work to help them "understand how they can mobilize their assets and resources to create the change that they want to see in the world," says Samar Dudin, Ruwwad’s regional director and head of programs.

Further, Ruwwad would create a "safe space" for youth — a forum in the community for them to ask questions, think critically, and develop self-awareness, as they look to their futures. Above all, Ghandour wanted to show the youth in these communities an alternative path and to deliver a positive message: "You are valued."

Second, Ruwwad focused on a citizen-led approach to community development. It chose to work deeply in a small number of disenfranchised communities, rather than more lightly across many, and refused to view residents as passive beneficiaries. Instead of implementing a traditional top-down approach, which can create a cycle of dependency, Ruwwad would listen actively to discern the community’s needs and help residents feel empowered to jointly design and implement solutions.

"The model is a sincere commitment to listening and being present and co-authoring," says Dudin, who volunteered at Ruwwad for five years before assuming her management role.

Finally, Ruwwad created a channel for private sector companies and individuals to engage in social development, allowing them to invest not only capital, but also time and know-how. It demonstrated this opportunity through Ghandour’s example, both individually and as CEO of Aramex.

"We believed that a company has a role in the society, and the job for business is not only business,” says Ghandour. "We wanted to influence and participate in the development process in the communities that we chose."

Ruwwad’s early experience in Jordan shaped the core elements of its model. It has continued to build on these elements as it learns and responds to additional community needs. Its program offerings now span the categories of youth organizing, child development, and community support, with cross-sector partnerships being integral to each.

1. Youth organizing. Believing that "access to a good education is vital for achieving…a dignified life," Ghandour established the Mousab Khurma Youth Education and Empowerment Scholarship Fund (MKYEF), which he named for a close friend lost in a terror attack in 2005.

Ruwwad awards scholarships to young people aged 18 and older, to support them in completing degrees at quality universities and colleges. In exchange for the scholarship, youth spend a minimum of four hours per week throughout their scholarship term volunteering in other Ruwwad community programs. Ruwwad later connects youth scholars to internship and employment opportunities, provides them with career counseling in their chosen fields, and helps them expand their professional networks; supports that are not often available to students from disenfranchised areas. The organization also helps youth build self-esteem and real-world skills, such as thinking creatively and navigating social situations, so they can become active agents for change . Group discussions among the youth scholars and facilitators, called "Dardashat," promote free thought and encourage a diverse range of views.

"The questions at Dardashat start with 'who are we' and 'what sparks the way we see the world around us,' before moving to 'how do we navigate tensions to transform them into opportunities for problem solving and collective action,'" Dudin explains.

2. Child development. By working with youth, the team realized it could engage them even earlier in their lives. Helping children build strong character traits (such as resilience and compassion) and develop their creativity might better position them for long-term success.

Ruwwad partnered with the community to develop several programs for children aged eight to 13. Youth volunteers implement the programs, which include academic support, creative sessions in art and music, children’s literature, as well as sports and camps. Ruwwad uses inquiry-based learning as a framework for sessions on diversity, and recently introduced coding. It also works with both parents and schools in the community to create safe and conducive learning environments.

For boys and girls aged 14 to 17, Ruwwad provides workshops that focus on creating a safe environment for self-expression and reflection and are geared to developing problem-solving skills. It recruits these adolescents early as volunteers in the programs for younger children.

3. Community support. After launching the scholarship and youth program, Ruwwad began to hear from young people's families, with questions and requests on a much broader set of needs. Valuing the input of the community, the organization responded in two fundamental ways. First, the team set up its "Community Help Desk," where residents can seek support on anything from financial assistance and health issues, to job opportunities. Community volunteers work with residents to find solutions, often referring and connecting them to available resources, NGO programs, or services through the Ministries of Social Development, Labor, and Health.

When the help desk identifies common needs that span the entire community, Ruwwad responds by offering direct services, such as support for improving women's literacy and income generation.

Second, Ruwwad works to promote civic initiative and collective action among the citizens of Jabal Al Natheef by training and supporting them in launching campaigns for other necessary areas of change. Such campaigns have included:

• 6 Minutes Joy of Reading, which encouraged families to commit to reading for six minutes each day to their children to put them on an early path to literacy.
• Safe Homes, which brought families — especially mothers —together to share stories of domestic violence, evaluated domestic violence cases, and provided training on how to eliminate violence from the home.
• For Your Sake, which brought parents together to share stories of — and thereby encourage each other to speak out against — the physical abuse of children in schools and homes.
• Al Jana, which grew out of the previous campaigns, reaching out to more than 500 individuals through 20 educators to focus on better parenting, accountability, legal awareness, and intervention, for the sake of child protection.

A common denominator across all of Ruwwad's programs is Ghandour's dedication and heavy involvement. He interacts weekly with the regional director and head of programs, frequently engages and brainstorms with staff, and attends important events, such as career mentorship sessions. He also checks in regularly with youth scholars and other community members.

Catalyzing true change in disenfranchised communities is not easy, and Ruwwad has learned and evolved its approach along the way. In its early years in Jordan, Ruwwad tested many initiatives. Some proved to be too resource-intensive and did not tap sufficiently into citizens' full potential.

Recognizing this, Ruwwad began to focus more sharply on development, and trained its staff in helping local leaders develop their capabilities to overcome challenges. For example, the organization shifted away from running a nursery and focused on effective parenting, through community campaigns, to address early childhood needs.

As Ruwwad expanded to more communities, the team recognized the need to customize programming to fit local contexts. In Egypt, for example, Ruwwad learned it was more appropriate to award youth participants with two-year scholarships for vocational education in areas such as IT — rather than four-year, university scholarships — given the country's available employment opportunities.

The Ruwwad team also recognizes the need to deepen its investment in impact measurement, to provide a clearer line of sight into what works and what doesn't. While its measures to date have focused largely on reach, they are working to increasingly capture Ruwwad's intangible results, such as the extent to which the psychosocial supports enable young people to develop the patience, persistence, and other qualities that will help them succeed.

"You have to…keep asking questions, learning from success and failure, and reflecting," says Dudin.

In each of its current locations, Ruwwad plans to build on its model for civic engagement and grow its offerings — directly or indirectly through partnerships — as new community needs emerge. "We have become a platform, where there are opportunities for all people [interested in providing a service] to plug in," says Ghandour.

Ghandour also believes Ruwwad's model, with its focus on private sector engagement, citizen-led change, and youth empowerment, can lead to sustainable development in many more countries. To encourage leaders to replicate the approach, the team shares much of its information and experiences, even as it remains focused on the Arab region.

"We are passionate about our immediate geography, and this is where we feel we can have the most impact," adds Ghandour.