Najwa Khouri: Building Community, One Open Door at a Time

In Birzeit, Najwa Khouri is known for bringing people together. Her work is rooted in a simple belief: people need spaces where they feel safe, respected and heard.

For years, Najwa has worked with women, young people and older persons through community-based initiatives focused on psychosocial support, social cohesion and local participation. Her approach is practical and people-centred. She listens first, identifies needs with the community, and then works with others to turn those needs into action.

Najwa’s own path shaped the way she works. Her education was not a straight road. Like many women, she had to balance family responsibilities, work and personal ambitions. When she returned to study later in life, she understood more deeply what many women experience: delayed dreams, interrupted opportunities and the need for support that recognizes their full reality.

This experience influenced how she views community work. To Najwa, women, young people and older persons are not simply “beneficiaries”. They are people with knowledge, experience and potential. Her role is to help create conditions where they can participate, contribute and regain confidence.

One of the initiatives closest to her heart is a seniors’ club in Birzeit.

Since assuming responsibility for the club, she has led efforts to develop and rehabilitate it. Renovation and maintenance works were carried out, outstanding needs were addressed, and the club was equipped with the necessary facilities and services. These included establishing a medical room, upgrading the activity halls, and providing comfort amenities and technical equipment, transforming it into a space that meets the needs of older persons and offers them a dignified and supportive environment. Thanks to these efforts, together with contributions from the local community, the club has become a vibrant centre that regularly welcomes more than 50 older women and men.

The club gave older people a place to meet, talk, share memories and take part in social activities. For many, it reduced isolation and restored a sense of belonging. Najwa remembers one older woman, Hajjah Aisha, who came to the club quietly at first. After a few visits, she began to sing, laugh and take part in the group. She later said, “The club brought me back to life.” For Najwa, those words captured the purpose of the initiative.

Najwa also helped connect older people with practical support. In cooperation with Birzeit University, she supported efforts to provide hearing aids for persons experiencing hearing loss. She recalls the impact on one older man who was able to hear his grandchild say his name clearly. For Najwa, moments like this show that inclusion can be very concrete. It can begin with being able to hear, speak and take part again in family and community life.

Her work also reaches young women and girls. Najwa supported and encouraged a young neighbour who had left school early, married young and later faced difficult family circumstances. Najwa kept reminding her that education could still be a source of strength. Years later, the young woman contacted her to say she had completed her master’s degree. Najwa sees this as an example of how encouragement, when consistent and sincere, can help open a path back to opportunity.

Across her work, Najwa promotes dialogue between different groups in the community. She has supported initiatives that bring women, youth, older persons and families together, including spaces for social cohesion and intercommunal exchange. Her leadership style is participatory. She believes that effective community work starts by asking questions, listening carefully and involving people in decisions that affect them.

Najwa’s vision is also forward-looking. She wants the needs and rights of older persons to be better reflected in local policies and services. She also believes women in rural and marginalized communities should have a stronger voice in decision-making. For her, community initiatives are important, but they should also help influence how institutions understand and respond to people’s needs.

Her dream is to establish a model community home for older persons: a place that feels like a home, not an institution. It would include spaces for social activities, a garden, and opportunities for older people to share their views and remain active in community life. She wants older persons to be recognized not as a burden, but as people with knowledge, memory and experience.

Najwa’s work reflects the importance of local leadership in strengthening social cohesion and community resilience. Through small but meaningful initiatives, she has helped people reconnect with one another, regain confidence and feel seen.

“I will continue as long as I can,” she says. “I will listen before I speak, involve others before I decide, and build before I ask to be recognized.”

For Najwa, leadership is not about visibility. It is about trust, dignity and the everyday work of opening doors for others.