Al Ghurair gives $10 million to Muslim fund

Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair signed the donor contribution agreement with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and Unicef as the lead donor for the Global Muslim Philanthropy Fund for Children (GMPFC).

This contribution marks the first significant commitment from a philanthropist to the Fund. The $10million contribution by Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair will focus on supporting refugee education programmes in the Middle East and North Africa region.

This contribution represents an important step towards the activation of the Fund.

Over a virtual signing ceremony, Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair signed the Donor Cooperation Agreement with Dr. Bandar Hajjar, President of IsDB, as the trustee to the Fund. Unicef’s Executive Director Henrietta Fore, as the co-founder of the Fund, signed as a witness to the agreement.

The Global Muslim Philanthropy Fund for Children is a unique Shariah-compliant global platform for Muslim philanthropists to collectively help achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for children and young people. The Fund aims to support children in need in IsDB member countries, particularly those facing humanitarian crises, by ensuring that children have access to health, education, safety and opportunity. The Fund is administered by the IsDB, which coordinates with Unicef and donors the selection of programmes and projects, which will reach children most in need and offer most long-term social benefit.

Based on shared values, the Fund brings together like-minded partners ranging from government agencies to philanthropists and foundations to harness the Islamic almsgiving and social finance for humanitarian and development purposes.

This initiative is important because it goes beyond simply pooling resources. It offers a platform to exchange ideas and solutions with a process to promote collaboration for delivering greater positive impact. This effort will result in supporting results-based programmes that address the challenges facing children and youth with the goal of achieving the United Nations’ SDGs.

The Fund will address cross-sectoral emerging needs in education, health and nutrition, water and sanitation, early childhood development, youth empowerment and more.

The signing of the Donor Cooperation Agreement is timely, given the unprecedented challenges resulting from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic crisis, as the Fund could play an important role in coordinating and channelling Muslim donor support to mitigate the public health and socioeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the vulnerable population.