Vision, mission & values – What guides JHI
Identity & purpose
A partnership and implementation NGO.
JHI is a Canadian non-governmental organisation that builds partnerships with national and international organisations to jointly design and deploy projects serving local populations. JHI does not seek to replace actors already present: it brings together the expertise, resources and capabilities required around needs identified on the ground.
Mission
Identify priority needs, bring together the right expertise, structure partnerships and mobilise the funding required to deploy concrete, measurable and useful responses for local populations.
Operating principles
- Start from needs expressed by communities and partners present on the ground.
- Prioritise joint deployment with national and international organisations bringing complementary expertise.
- Strengthen local capacity rather than create dependency on external aid.
- Measure results, report transparently and adjust interventions.
- Focus resources on a limited number of projects with demonstrable impact.
Values
| Value | Site wording |
|---|---|
| Justice | Reduce inequalities in access to healthcare, protection and essential needs. |
| Humanity | Listen before acting and treat every beneficiary as a person. |
| Transparency | Make resource use, results, limitations and difficulties visible. |
| Accountability | Be accountable to communities, partners and donors in a documented manner. |
| Sustainability | Strengthen local capacity and build systems that can continue beyond JHI. |
Geographic focus
Syria as JHI's initial country of engagement. JHI's initial commitment is to Syria as a whole. The country is undergoing profound and rapid transformations that are reshaping its institutional, social and humanitarian environment. In this evolving context, JHI does not intend to define its mission around one specific administrative or political region. Our ambition is to progressively support vulnerable populations throughout Syria, according to identified needs and in cooperation with experienced and legitimate local, national and international organizations.
Why start in Northeast Syria? The decision to begin in Northeast Syria (NES) is first rooted in a personal story. Through this experience, one of JHI's founders discovered the region, met its people and developed a direct understanding of some of its human and social realities. This connection gradually developed into a desire to take concrete action and became one of the foundations behind the creation of JHI: transforming a human connection into useful, structured and sustainable action serving local populations.
NES also represents a coherent operational starting point. JHI already has knowledge of the region and, through its partnership with CIMRO, benefits from initial experience in the medical sector — CIMRO has notably delivered two training programmes to local medical teams in the region. This existing knowledge provides JHI with a more realistic foundation from which to design and implement its first projects, while remaining close to local needs and partners.
Northeast Syria is therefore JHI's starting point, not the geographical limit of its mission. Experience gained through these initial pilot projects should eventually allow JHI to assess their adaptation or deployment in other parts of Syria, according to humanitarian needs, available partnerships, access conditions and JHI's operational capacity.
JHI is intended to operate in different contexts over time, but its priority launch area is Northeast Syria (NES). This choice reflects both identified humanitarian needs and a deep personal attachment to Syria. For the founders, this attachment creates a particular responsibility: to transform a personal connection and family history into useful, concrete and respectful action for local populations. This can be understood as a duty to contribute and help repair, without ever overriding priorities expressed locally.