Financed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the Jordan Human Development Report 2004 was prepared by the Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Decvelopment (JOHUD). The report will be available in English and Arabic.

The 2004 report takes as its theme: Building Sustainable Livelihoods, and focuses on the poor people in Jordan. The analysis in the report takes as its starting point the lives and perceptions of the poor themselves, taken from a consultation process involving over 800 poor people in seven communities across Jordan. Their voice, views and stories are included throughout the report and inform the analysis. Each chapter of the report includes detailed recommendations for targeted interventions tailored to meet the needs of the poor.

The report also includes composite indices for human development and gender development at the governorate level as well as human poverty and gender empowerment. The combination of quantitative and qualitative data provides a more rounded understanding of the nature, scale and causes of poverty in order to equipping Jordanian policymakers with culturally specific data for informed decisionmaking.

The 2004 Report builds on the foundation laid down by the first NHDR, launched in 2001 and focussing on “Youth”. National Human Development Reports, an offshoot of UNDP’s global Human Development Report, track national trends in such areas as poverty, governance, education, health, gender and human settlements, uncovering socio-economic disparities within the country. They are tools for policy analysis reflecting people’s priorities, strengthening national capacities, engaging national partners, identifying inequities and measuring progress. They place human development at the forefront of the national political agenda. Above all, the National Human Development Report is there to be used by decision-makers at all levels to ensure that resources are harnessed and action is taken to tackle the challenge of poverty alleviation and to ensure the well-being of all citizens in Jordan.