Drawing on a careful blend of qualitative and quantitative research techniques, the author provides not only a rare, people-centered account of a Jordanian development organization and its practices, from grass roots to the national level, but also an insider's critical reflections on a venture with which she has been involved since its inception—The Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development (JOHUD). Its evolution in rapidly changing domestic and international circumstances has provided the author with the unique opportunity to address a range of themes that today dominate the discourse of development, including participation, gender and development, micro-finance, and donor conditionality.