In the first of a new series of features on Women in Humanity, Al Shindagah looks at the work of Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan and the commitment she has made to improving the lives of the people of her country

Last month more than 400 volunteers and members, from various humanitarian societies in Jordan, gathered in Amman, to pay tribute to the young Queen Rania of Jordan for her unflagging efforts on behalf of the underprivileged and needy in her country.

Her Majesty Queen Rania beamed as she accepted a gift described as 'a torch of love and hope' signifying the appreciation of the eight non-profit associations and charitable societies operating under her patronage.

"Your sympathy, your loving heart, your noble stands and the continuous support you give to charitable societies are the source of light and hope that we, the beneficiaries, live by," Homam Doabis, a longtime recipient of medical aid from the Jordan Charitable Society for Friends of Thalessemia Patients, said of the Queen at the ceremony.

It was a fitting tribute for a young Queen (she will celebrate her 30th birthday this August) who has reigned for just one year, but who has swiftly won the hearts of Jordanians with her hard work and support of national charities and her active role promoting her country internationally.

Since Queen Rania and her husband His Majesty King Abdullah made their formal accession to the throne last June, the queen has patronised the National Association for the Mentally Handicapped, the Jordan Cancer Society, the Families Charitable Society for Development, the Jordanian Psychiatric Rehabilitation Society and the Friends of Archaeology.

Before her accession to the throne, as a princess after marrying King Abdullah, Queen Rania patronised the Jordan Society for Organ Donation, the Jordan Charitable Society for Friends of Thalessemia Patients and the Jordan River Foundation.

These societies run a wide range of activities which include child protection programmes, family rehabilitation, caring for orphans and training poor mothers. The societies also deal with micro-finance programmes, women's integration into society, funding healthcare for the poor and preserving Jordan's heritage and cultural identity.

The eyes of the world have been on the beautiful young queen, since her husband King Abdullah II of Jordan, was named as the successor to the throne of the Royal Hashemite Kingdom, by his father King Hussein, just weeks before he died of cancer last February.

Before this dramatic time, the young couple had always remained fairly low profile, with King Abdullah pursuing his career in the military, while the young Rania brought up their two children and worked behind the scenes on a voluntary basis for a number of charities and causes close to her heart.

When the line of succession changed and her husband became King of Jordan, Rania claims she was nonetheless surprised when he elevated his princess to the status of queen, just six weeks after his succession.

The title of Her Majesty the Queen, was bestowed on Rania (then just 28) in a letter from her 37 year old husband that was read over state television. In the letter her husband emphasised the qualities he felt made his young wife an ideal queen for the country he loves: saying her background as a commoner helped her better understand 'the hopes and outlooks of people' because she 'truly believes in their causes'.

He added that: 'Her Majesty Queen Rania al-Abdullah is my partner in the continued struggle to serve our dear Jordan and the honourable Arab nation'.

Her new role as queen may have come as a shock, but Queen Rania seems to have stepped into the role effortlessly, striking the correct balance of glamour and sophistication with a serious commitment to helping the underprivileged in her country. Interestingly, she is often compared with Britain's late Princess Diana, another beautiful young royal princess who did so much to help the charities close to her heart and was similarly seen very much as the 'people's princess'.

At the time of her accession, analysts pondered the role of the new queen. Many believed that the King had made a wise decision in making his Palestinian-born wife queen in a country where 60 per cent of the population consists of Palestinian refugees from the West Bank.

Rania's own troubled family background no doubt makes her empathetic to the situation of many in her country and must be a huge motivation for her seemingly tireless work for various charities nationally and internationally.

Rania Yassin (as she was known before her marriage) has roots in Tulkarm, a city on the western edge of the West Bank, about 25 miles northeast of Tel Aviv. Rania's story reflects the modern history of the region. Her father was a respected doctor in Tulkarm, who, along with thousands of Palestinians fled to Jordan during the Israeli occupation.

They then moved to Kuwait, where Rania was born on August 31, 1970. She grew up in comfort in the oil rich state, but all that changed with the Iraqi invasion in 1990. Once again her family fled ? arriving in Jordan in 1991 along with thousands of others.

Rania, who has a business degree from the American University in Cairo, went to work for Apple Computer. But two years later she gave up her career, following her marriage to the then Prince Abdullah of Jordan.

The couple met at a dinner party at his sister's house, while he was home on leave from the army, and fell in love immediately, say observers.

It is easy to understand the King's attraction to Rania. She has been feted as one of the most beautiful women in the world since becoming queen and in addition to this has proved herself to be intelligent and caring. Rania's family, the Yassin family, is known in her home city as a large and well-educated one, with many professionals in its ranks.

"She is very intelligent, from the beginning she was distinguished,"

says her aunt, Fadwa Yassin, echoing the sentiments of many admirers of the young queen both in her own country and internationally.

When Rania gave up her career for marriage and motherhood, she decided to used her new status as a royal to start working for her chosen charities on a voluntary basis and as patron.

Since her accession to the throne, Rania has stepped up her work on behalf of charities within Jordan and also takes a leading role in state affairs, often accompanying her husband on state visits and chairing state functions herself.

Unusually, for women in the Middle East, she is seen very much as her husband's partner. Perhaps it is this modern, young attitude that has won over Jordan's predominantly young population. A total of 70 per cent of Jordan's population are very young (under 35) and to them the royal couple are very much a symbol of their generation's aspirations.

As a one time working girl, now mother of two young children, Hussein (5) and Iman (3), with a third child on the way Rania is very much a people's queen. Understandably, as a devoted mother herself, the causes of under privileged children are those dearest to her heart. As a princess she started a network to help battered and abused children, a taboo subject in much of the Arab world. The fact that Rania has taken on some controversial causes with little or no backlash from the more conservative element of Jordanian society only goes to prove how deeply the country has taken her to its heart.

One of the causes Rania has been most closely associated with, both before and after she became queen, is the Jordan River Designs (JRD) project.

JRD, established by Save the Children Fund in cooperation with the Noor Al Hussein Foundation in 1987, has been transferred to the Jordan River Development Projects (JRDP), a non-profit organisation under the presidency of HRH Queen Rania. The objectives of the project are to "improve the financial, cultural, health, social, educational, technical skills and the well being of the community at large."

JRDP's projects include prevention of child abuse and youth employment.

The scheme is a handicrafts income-generating project for women in the East Amman squatter camps. It allows them to gain up-scale handicraft skills in order to generate income and part-time employment to supplement their families income and as a result to improve their lives and those of their children

The charity has pioneered a successful model partnering the skilled craftmanship of over 1,600 women with entrepreneurial and management skills of established professional Jordanian businesswomen.

One of the projects biggest success stories is the Bani Hamida Women's Weaving Project, a cottage industry, which currently involves 1,644 recently settled Bedouin women from 450 families, who produce traditionally made weavings and rugs.

As well as being patron of JRD, Queen Rania plays an active role in raising awareness about the project and supporting its various events and projects. She recently visited the Abu Thar Gufari Centre, a society offering comprehensive education, health, and social development services to the remote community of Wadi Nasir.

Providing housing, an orphanage and financial assistance to more than 200 families, the centre also works in coordination with organisations such as UNICEF, Save the Children, as well as the JRD to provide awareness about social issues in the community, as well as training courses for women, children and youth.

The centre, established in 1965 as part of the Islamic Society, is a prime example of an institution that has shifted from a reliance on charity hand-outs to the encouragement of sustainable economic development within its community.

The centre holds regular health seminars with the women of Wadi Nasir, and, through the Jordan River foundation, raises awareness about family and children's safety issues. The centre also hosts regular educational seminars on topics such as the eradication of illiteracy.

Save the Children has been working with the centre since 1997 to raise capacity-building in the community. Through training courses such as Peer Consultants, 14-to-18-year-old youths are taught the value of self-confidence and esteem and ways to express themselves, as well as awareness about gender and community issues.

It is this kind of active support by Queen Rania, as president of the JRD, that Karim Kawar, vice president of the Jordan River Foundation, paid special tribute to at the recent awards ceremony in Amman: "This ceremony is in appreciation of Her Majesty's efforts to support all the associations that serve the underprivileged and the needy."

A current project very dear to Rania's heart is the establishment of a nationwide student union. Under her support and supervision, the Youth Ministry in Jordan has recently announced plans to launch a broad-based youth organisation for both students and young workers.

After making the announcement, the ministry's secretary general, Thogan Obeidat, said that the proposed National Youth Forum would "present Jordanian youth with open-minded principles and options without imposing any choices on them." He said the forum would gather university students, young labourers, and public and private sector employees under the umbrella of a new "youth leadership."

Obeidat went onto say that Jordanian youths would have the chance to express themselves freely and bravely, away from the dominance of an old-fashioned patriarchal instruction. Again, in supporting this kind of movement Rania has aligned herself with the new generation of Jordan proving she is concerned about their affairs and well being ? and crucially giving them a voice.

Perhaps it is this concern for the younger generation, who after all represent the future of her country, that last month prompted Queen Rania to meet with a high-level delegation of the Arab Gulf Programme for United Nations Development Organisations (AGFUND), headed by Saudi Prince Talal Bin Abdul Aziz. The delegates were in Jordan to explore possible future cooperation between Jordan and the fund.

During the three-hour meeting the Queen and the delegates reportedly discussed AGFUND's projects in the fields of women and children's issues, micro-finance, education, information technology (IT), and research. AGFUND is currently setting up the Arab Open University, a pan-Arab university that trains teachers and allows students to enrol in courses and obtain a university degree wherever they may reside.

The proposed university seeks to provide learning opportunities, using computing skills and IT, for both teachers and students across the Arab world. The fund is particularly interested in focusing on women in rural areas, an aim that many of Queen Rania's chosen charities also support.

"A university degree allowing women to take their courses from home would constitute an essential empowerment tool for women who aspired to earning a higher education while simultaneously raising their families,"

said the Queen, following the high level meeting. Much of AGFUND's work focuses on the needs of children through the establishment of education and cultural institutions, carrying out research and studies in the field of education development, and writing up educational curricula.

Regarding the role of micro-lending in alleviating poverty in the Arab world, an initiative in which both the Queen and AGFUND have been actively involved in, Queen Rania spoke also of the necessity of building institutions around micro-finance and the need to provide training for people wishing to set up small businesses through micro-credit initiatives.

Though many of these proposed projects have a long way to go, with dedication and commitment Queen Rania has shown in her first year that what at the moment are dreams will soon become a reality for the people of Jordan.

As well as supporting charities at home in Jordan, Rania has also recently carried out a number of international engagements, showing a willingness to cash in on her personal celebrity to raise awareness of problems in her own country and elsewhere.

Recently, while speaking at the annual British Red Cross fund-raiser in London, she paid tribute to the work of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, saying it had made a tremendous difference in the lives of people across the globe since its foundation over 135 years ago.

"We underscore the world's appreciation for the movement, which has helped people recover from devastation and misery, rebuild their futures and carry on with their lives. And has spread compassion around the world...in the midst of tragedy and suffering, over generations of war and peace."

The words were spoken in a heart-felt manner, by a young woman whose own family has suffered displacement and trauma due to war, and who in her role as queen is already doing so much alleviate the suffering of others in a similar situation.