Recognizing the vital role that Civil Society Organizations (CSO) play in development, the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD) (https://ISFD.IsDB.org), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Resilience and Climate Change Department, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), held an Introductory Seminar for CSOs in Jordan on 11 September 2022. The purpose of the Seminar was to introduce the “NGO Empowerment for Poverty Reduction Program (TADAMON)” an initiative that aims at lifting people out of poverty. The program is a smart partnership financed by ISFD, managed by IsDB’s Resilience and Climate Action Department, and implemented by UNDP.

The seminar started by welcoming remarks from H.E. Mr. Barq Al Dmour, General Secretary Ministry of Social Development Jordan, Dr. Hiba Ahmed, Director General, ISFD, Syed Husain Quadri, Director, Resilience and Climate Change Department, IsDB and Randa Aboul Hosn, Resident Representative UNDP Jordan.

A panel of speakers elaborated on TADAMON – the Arabic word for “solidarity” – and showed that TADAMON was developed to empower CSOs such that they are effective in improving the socio-economic well-being of the hard-to-reach communities. TADAMON is used to pilot grass-root level initiatives that help tackle poverty and social exclusion faced by the poor in general and by refugees, internally displaced persons, orphans, women, youth, and people with disabilities in particular.

The Seminar showed that TADAMON acknowledges scarce financial resources as a major hurdle facing CSOs, especially in poor areas. Hence, crowdfunding, alternative financing solutions, as well as enhancing the financing ecosystem for CSOs were targeted as important areas of the program. The TADAMON Crowdfunding Academy and TADAMON Kaya were established to provide e-learning programs for CSOs to develop their own resource mobilization strategies and campaigns as well as engage with other crowdfunding platforms. TADAMON also connects CSOs with partners and funders in addition to other relevant IsDB, ISFD and UNDP programs of support.

The seminar was very pragmatic where participants discussed the TADAMON program comparative advantage in general and in Jordan in particular. This is in addition to membership benefits in signing up for TADAMON, including the Jordan mapping exercise, TADAMON Aggregating Platform, and upcoming activities such as (Crowdfunding academy - TADAMON Accelerator - TADAMON’s Capacity Strengthening Hub - TADAMON Grants).  During the Seminar, a discussion led by Naua Organization, Bank Etihad and Local CBO explaining the crowdfunding opportunities and challenges in Jordan.