Our Story
Thirty-two years of working alongside communities
From the shores of a shrinking Aral Sea to the wheat fields of northern Afghanistan and the villages of Iraqi Kurdistan.
Beginnings in Uzbekistan
In 1992, Bob Hedlund moved his family to Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Bob was a mining engineer, trained at the Colorado School of Mines, with more than 17 years in the industry. He and his wife Cathy came to Central Asia as the Soviet Union came apart, and they were drawn to the people of Karakalpakstan, living with the environmental disaster of the drying Aral Sea.
JDA began operating in Uzbekistan in 1993, and in December 1994 the IRS recognized JDA as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. The work grew from humanitarian aid into community development: hand-pump wells in Karakalpakstan, a poultry program for widows and single mothers near Shakhrisabz, micro-credit in Muynak, care for leprosy-affected communities, and solar water disinfection in schools. It spread to the Ferghana Valley, Samarkand, and the provinces bordering Afghanistan.
Beginning in 2005, amid strained relations between the governments of Uzbekistan and the United States, Western NGOs were forced to close. JDA was among the last to lose its registration. It was ordered to close in October 2006 and contested the closure in the courts. Read about the work in Uzbekistan.
Northern Afghanistan, 2001 to 2019
After the fall of the Taliban in 2001, JDA opened an office in Mazar-i-Sharif. Village elders asked for schools, especially for girls, and JDA helped communities build them while delivering food and clothing to families returning home after years of war and drought.
Over the next 18 years the Mazar-i-Sharif office served Balkh, Samangan, Sar-e Pul, Jawzjan and Faryab provinces. JDA ran a research farm and used the Development Center outside the city, tested new crops and two-wheel tractors with farmers, trained university staff, drilled wells, and taught hygiene and nutrition with Afghan women educators. Program activities ended in 2019 because of security conditions and partner budget cuts. Read about the work in Afghanistan.
Since 2008, Bob has overseen JDA's work from Grand Junction, Colorado.
Iraqi Kurdistan, from 2017
In 2017 JDA began working in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. With the Dutch organization ZOA and the University of Duhok, JDA helped families who had returned home after displacement rebuild their livelihoods through cash-for-work, greenhouses, field crops and livestock. Read about the work in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Evacuation and resettlement
When Afghanistan's government fell in August 2021, JDA turned to its own people. With Help the Persecuted, JDA worked to evacuate former staff and at-risk Afghans and their families, and then helped them resettle, including in western Colorado through the Grand Valley Resettlement Program and the ARISE program. Read more, with notes on the figures.
Closing in 2025
JDA International closed its operations in October 2025, after 32 years. In his closing letter, Bob thanked the hundreds of local staff members in Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq who were "the heart and soul of JDA's mission," and wrote that the spirit of service will continue through the people and communities JDA served. Read the letter on the home page.
1992 to 2025
Timeline
Select a year to jump to it, then open an entry to read more. The original timeline is also available as a PDF (1.9 MB).
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1992 A move to Tashkent
Uzbekistan
Bob Hedlund, a mining engineer trained at the Colorado School of Mines, moves his family to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, shortly after the Soviet Union dissolves.
Source: JDA records
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1993 JDA begins work in Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Joint Development Associates International begins operating in Uzbekistan, first in humanitarian aid and then in longer-term community development.
Source: JDA records
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1994 U.S. nonprofit status
United States
In December 1994 the IRS grants JDA tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(3) organization (EIN 84-1286934).
Source: JDA records; IRS letter of May 20, 1999 confirms public charity status
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1996 Computer center in Jizzak
Uzbekistan
JDA opens a computer training center in Jizzak, later transferred to local management.
Source: JDA website, 2003
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1999 Poultry for widows and single mothers
Uzbekistan
A poultry program near Shakhrisabz starts with seven families. By 2003 it reaches about 160 families in 12 villages, most of them headed by women.
Source: JDA projects page, 2003
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2001 An office in Mazar-i-Sharif
Afghanistan
After the fall of the Taliban, JDA opens an office in Mazar-i-Sharif to serve the northern provinces.
Source: JDA "Who We Are" page, 2016
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2002 Food for returning families
Afghanistan
Working from Termez across the Amu Darya as a World Food Programme partner, JDA delivers about 5,000 metric tons of food to more than 20,000 families.
Source: JDA projects page, 2003
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2003 Food for work and new homes
Afghanistan
With Food for the Hungry, a food-for-work program repairs roads and canals and digs shallow wells in Balkh and Jawzjan. With Habitat for Humanity, JDA helps build more than 200 homes.
Source: JDA projects page, 2003
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2004 Sultan Ibrahim School dedicated
Afghanistan
The Sultan Ibrahim School, about an hour and a half from Mazar-i-Sharif, is dedicated on June 16, 2004. A second floor is finished in August 2006.
Source: JDA school dedication page, 2004; JDA home page, 2007
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2005 Two-wheel tractors and SODIS
Afghanistan and Uzbekistan
JDA begins its long work with two-wheel tractors in northern Afghanistan. In Uzbekistan, the Ministry of Health approves expansion of JDA's solar water disinfection (SODIS) program to five regions.
Source: JDA two-wheel tractor story; JDA SODIS story, August 2005
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2006 Forced closure in Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Western NGOs in Uzbekistan are forced to close beginning in 2005. JDA is among the last to lose its registration; it is ordered to close in October 2006 and contests the closure in the courts.
Source: JDA timeline; JDA home page, 2007
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2007 Wheat into rice stubble
Afghanistan
Under USAID's AWATT project, a JDA mechanization specialist uses a two-wheel tractor to plant wheat into rice stubble in Kaldar district, starting a wave of private tractor purchases. OHT, JDA's sister company, begins importing the tractors early in the year; it imports 494 in all.
Source: JDA two-wheel tractor story; OHT company profile; tractor total from JDA records
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2008 Leading from Grand Junction
United States
Bob Hedlund oversees the work from Grand Junction, Colorado. In Afghanistan, JDA trains farmers in melon fly control with IFDC.
Source: JDA history page, 2016; JDA melon fly report, 2008
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2009 Water, sanitation and hygiene
Afghanistan
JDA's WASH program begins: wells with hand pumps, biosand filters, and hygiene training led by Afghan women educators. In all, 30,000 women are trained in sanitation and hygiene.
Source: JDA community health page
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2013 BLiSS for women
Afghanistan
BLiSS (Birth Life Saving Skills) begins teaching women basic life-saving skills for pregnancy, birth and newborn care. More than 1,300 women take part by May 2018.
Source: JDA BLiSS materials, 2018
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2014 RADP-North
Afghanistan
JDA becomes an implementer in USAID's five-year Regional Agricultural Development Program-North, training wheat farmers in Baghlan, Balkh, Jawzjan and Samangan.
Source: JDA RADP-North page; RADP-North fact sheet, 2014
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2017 Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan
JDA begins work in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and registers there.
Source: JDA records; JDA Kurdistan summary
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2018 RIVAL with ZOA
Iraqi Kurdistan
With ZOA and funding from the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, JDA starts RIVAL, a livelihoods program for returnees, displaced families and host communities.
Source: JDA Kurdistan summary; annual report 2019
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2019 Afghanistan programs end
Afghanistan
RADP-North ends in May 2019. Because of security conditions and partner budget cuts, JDA ends its program activities in Afghanistan after more than 18 years.
Source: Annual report 2019
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2021 Evacuation
Afghanistan
From August 2021, JDA and Help the Persecuted work to evacuate former JDA staff and at-risk Afghans. About 600 associates and family members are evacuated.
Source: JDA GVRP page, 2025; see the notes on the Afghanistan page
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2022 Grand Valley Resettlement Program
United States
JDA's Grand Valley Resettlement Program begins welcoming Afghan families to western Colorado. In December 2022 it is approved as a community partner of the U.S. refugee program through Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.
Source: JDA GVRP page, 2025
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2023 ARISE announced
United States
JDA and GVRP announce ARISE (Afghan Resettlement, Integration, Stabilization, and Empowerment) in Grand Junction, described in 2024 as "set to begin in December 2023".
Source: JDA home page, 2024
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2025 Closure
All
JDA International closes operations in October 2025 after 32 years. This site preserves its history.
Source: JDA closure notice, 2025
Sources for this page
- Dates of the move to Tashkent (1992), the start of operations (1993) and 501(c)(3) status (December 1994): JDA records.
- JDA website pages "History" and "Who We Are" (2016), projects page (2003), home pages (2007, 2024), and GVRP page (2025), as archived by the Internet Archive.
- JDA annual report 2019 and the JDA timeline (Reports).