Ms. Khader was selected this year for her actions taken to advance the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the theme of this year’s International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. The MDGs represent a set of time bound and measurable goals and targets for combating poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women.

Ms. Khader’s national, regional and international concerns are intertwined where her actions and discourse has stemmed from the notion of “think global, act regional/national.”

Khader is coordinator of SIGI's human rights education program in Jordan. She is former President of the Jordanian Women's Union, and member of the Arab Lawyer's Union and the Arab Organization for Human Rights. She is a lawyer and human rights activist who were instrumental in creating a Legal Literacy/Civic Education program for Jordanian women. She served as a Judge in the 1997 public hearings on violence against women at The Women's Court: The Permanent Arab Court To Resist Violence Against Women. Ms. Khader was recently appointed to the Executive Committee of the International Commission of Jurists.

Believing that change begins with education, Khader identified a strong need for human rights education, and began conducting human rights education workshops in 1984 in different areas in Jordan. A new programme was launched by Khader to integrate human rights education within the school curricula.

Asma participated in numerous organizations as an active member and presided over a variety of commissions on human rights and has been mandated as a supervisor of numerous trials related to public freedoms and human rights by several human rights organizations.

Ms. Asma Khader is also the founder and reporter of the National Network for Poverty Alleviation. Supported by UNDP’s Poverty Strategy Initiative, the network was established in October 2000 in cooperation with the Families Development Association, which is headed by Miyasser Al Saadi, 1998 IDEP Awardee.

Encompassing more than 90 participants from governmental and non-governmental organizations as well as independent individuals the network focuses on tackling poverty in Jordan and is also involved in the preparation for the Millennium Development Goals Report in Jordan.

As a member of both the Civil Society Organizations (SCOs) Advisory Committee to the UNDP Administrator and a member of the UN Secretary-General’s Panel of Eminent Persons on Civil Society, Ms. Khader have focused on engaging CSOs early in the MDG processes as a key to gathering and sustaining political momentum for country and regional campaigns.

Asma’s friends view her as an aspiration for all of them and consider that her award is an award to all Jordanians, men and women, who believe in their country and in the future of their children.

Her friends add that she is an example of a person who works for the convictions he or she believes in and is not afraid of changing views and opinions once she is proven to be wrong. Her practical methods and her experience are viable and valuable for all of those who work on human rights and on advancement of women issues in Jordan.

She strives to fulfill her dream, Asma says, “Since I was a child I had a dream to see all people around me living in peace dignity freedom and enjoying their lives”.