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The plenary session 'Philanthropy in the Muslim world: Harnessing the abundance of underutilised capital for social development' was held at the Global Islamic Economy Summit in Dubai. Tayeb Al Rais, secretary-general of the Awqaf and Minors Affairs Foundation, highlighted that Waqf was in decline and overlooked in modern Islamic societies. Clare Woodcraft, CEO of Emirates Foundation, said that foundations could benefit from narrowing their focus. Maysa Jalbout, CEO of the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education, agreed that focus was key and added that charities and foundations need to be more innovative if they are to maximise impact. Woodcraft said that Western foundations have much to learn from Islamic finance with its focus on ethical investment.

The third Global Islamic Economy Summit (GIES) to be held in Dubai on October 11 and 12 will set a special focus on the utilisation of Islamic funds for social and entrepreneurial development. One plenary session will deal with the issue of Islamic charity funds or trusts (waqf) created by philanthropic giving in Muslim communities which remain an underused social development instrument. These funds contain significant assets, estimated by some to exceed a value of $500bn annually. Waqf can not only be used in its traditional, real estate-related form, but also in movable form of cash, potentially creating wide-reaching opportunities for social investment. Abdul Aziz al-Ghurair, chairman of Dubai-based Al Ghurair Foundation for Education, said the concept was about harnessing the abundance of underutilised capital for social development.

The Lives and Livelihoods Fund (LLF) was officially launched on Thursday. It was first announced two years ago by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and is now supported by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD), Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The decision-making body approved projects worth $363mn for the first of the five years that the fund will be operational. These projects will be primarily in the Middle East and several Islamic and African countries. The funds will be used to protect communities from the risk of malaria and HIV/Aids, increase access to water and primary healthcare, and empower poor farmers to grow more food. Administered by the IsDB, the fund combines $2bn of IsDB financing with $500mn in grants from donors.

Emirates Islamic disbursed AED 1 million to Dubai Charity Association from its Zakat fund. The contribution will fund the association’s various charitable activities, such as helping the poor and needy and individuals in debt. The cheque was presented by Awatif Al Harmoodi, General Manager at Emirates Islamic and handed over to Abdul Rahim Gargash, Vice Chairman at Dubai Charity Association. In 2016, the bank has so far distributed more than AED 30 million to various charitable causes. Emirates Islamic has disbursed funds towards medical and rehabilitation equipment to government and privately run institutions including Ministry of Health, Ajman Club for disabled and Al Ihsan Medical Complex.

The International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) launched today a new major regional program to empower young Arab women scientists. Funded by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Young Arab Women Scientists Leadership (Tamkeen) Program is the first of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. IsDB Department Director Osman El-Feil said that empowering women with the right skills in agricultural research will contribute to alleviating poverty and making food available to the poor. The Program will also help to identify and empower groups of women champions and build a critical mass of pathfinders.

After a string of sukuk issued for purposes of liquidity, Senegal’s recent sukuk bought a welcome return to an Islamic finance transaction for the purposes of social good. Senegal closed its sukuk in late July, marking its second sovereign sukuk issuance. The West African nation will use the proceeds of the CFA 150 billion transaction to finance a drinking water supply program and an implementation program of road network and street lighting. The International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm) sells bonds on the capital markets to raise funds to save children’s lives. IFFIm has so far issued two sukuk with a December 2014 transaction for $500 million and a September 2015 transaction for $200 million. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) issued a five-year Sukuk in 2015 which was used to support IFC’s developmental financing activities in the Middle East and North Africa. Mahmoud Mohieldin of the World Bank Group said the group planned the issuance of an inaugural humanitarian sukuk program.

The Islamic Advisory Group (IAG) for Polio Eradication has adopted a new work plan to end polio in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The announcement came at the third annual IAG meeting held at the Islamic Development Bank’s headquarters in Jeddah. In a statement issued by the meeting, the IAG affirms the religious obligation of parents to vaccinate their children to keep them healthy. According to IAG deputy Dr. Abbas Shouman, the misperceptions usually arise due to fatwas issued by non-specialists who leave children exposed to handicap or death. IDB president Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali urged the partner institutions of the IAG to coordinate with WHO to transfer their experience in polio to other emergency and epidemic situations, particularly in Africa.

Over the last two decades, Islamic finance and socially-responsible investments (SRI) have become essential part of the development discourse. These two have seen the most rapidly growing areas of finance, of which Islamic financial assets have grown by 15-20% a year and its volume in 2014 exceeded US$2 trillion (RM8 trillion), while the SRI assets globally in the same year soared from US$13 trillion to US$20 trillion in two years. The principles of Islamic finance share common threads with SRI. These commonalities provide opportunities for Islamic finance to broaden its portfolio by tapping into the large amount of SRI funds available in global market.
Malaysia already started in August 2014, when it launched its Sustainable Responsible Investment Sukuk Framework to facilitate the financing of SRI initiatives. SRI sukuk can act as a compass for investors in the creation of shared value within society.

Bank Muamalat Indonesia was appointed as the National Zakat Collector Agency through its affiliation called Baitulmaal Muamalat (BMM). Bank Muamalat has distributed assistance fund to 4,500 orphans across Indonesia, which amounts to Rp1.35 billion (US$100,000) worth of zakat collected by BMM. The fund is distributed through a number of programs, namely community empowerment programs, like Orphan Kafala and educational programs, like the Islamic Solidarity School (ISS). The fund is also distributed through the B-Smart program that provides scholarships for accomplished students, and the Fi Sabilillah program that provides scholarships for orphans finishing their undergraduate studies.

The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has revealed the urgent need to provide humanitarian aid to 8 million of Syria’s children, who are suffering from the ravaging civil war. The aid is estimated to be around $800 million and according to UNICEF there are more than 14 million children in war zones in the MENA region. Furthermore, there are around 10 million Yemeni children who are in need for urgent humanitarian aid. UNICEF spokesperson Juliette Touma pointed out that Saudi Arabia has donated $30 million to aid Yemeni children, but there is still a $60 million shortage of humanitarian funding.

Emirates Islamic Bank has made two donations of Dh2 million and Dh50,000 to inmates of Dubai Police’s Punitive and Correctional Establishments. The Dh2 million was allocated from the Zakat accounts to help inmates who are incarcerated for financial issues. The other donation, that of Dh50,000, was allocated from the charity accounts to pay for plane tickets for needy inmates.

Sultan Nazrin Shah will lead a special session on Islamic Social Finance at the United Nation’s inaugural World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) in Istanbul. The summit is calling for a 'Grand Bargain' on finance and aid organisations will be told to stop competing for resources. The UN fell short of US$7.5bil (RM30.6bil) in funding needs last year, 30% of what it required. IDB’s research on zakat in 2015 shows an estimated US$600bil (RM2.4 trillion) available to meet humanitarian needs. If 1% of this is made available, it can meet the global funding deficit for 2015.

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Emirates Islamic announced the launch of the Emirates Islamic charity fund, to govern and manage the bank’s strategy for charitable donations and giving. The fund’s activities will be managed by Awatif Al Harmoudi. The fund has been set up with the primary objective of allocation of financial aid to large charities, public and private institutions, as well as individuals in need.

More than half of the 170 local and regional banks surveyed by the World Bank reported losing their relationships with global partner banks. Banks also have closed accounts for hundreds of money-transfer firms that provide lifelines to migrants and their families in the $582bn remittance business. As long as governments show little sign of flexibility, banks don’t dare take a chance running afoul of money-laundering and terrorist-financing restrictions.

Dubai’s Awqaf and Minors Affairs Foundation (AMAF) has continued to spread its reach to a greater number of people with its initiatives and beneficiaries doubling last year. AMAF recorded a growth of 19 per cent last year, with its revenue reaching Dh172 million, up from Dh144 million in 2014. Tayeb Abdul Rahman Al Rais, secretary-general of AMAF, said there are currently 26 projects and initiatives that help orphans and ensure their well-being in a sustainable way.

According to the fourth annual BNP Paribas Individual Philanthropy Index by Forbes Insights, the United States remains the leader globally in personal philanthropy. Europe comes in as a close second, followed by Asia, with the Middle East achieving the sharpest increase in philanthropic giving. Almost all countries were focused on Health as the top area of philanthropic giving (United States at 60%), while Asia as a region chose Environment.

Resetting Priorities - Redefining Roles

Five years ago, the Global Donors Forum was convened in Dubai to take on a challenging task: to define the roadmap for Muslim giving into the next decade. As a growing network of philanthropists, grantmaking foundations and socially responsible corporations, the Forum lead a consultative dialogue among the thought leaders from which, it was hoped, a new social compact could emerge.

Half a decade on, with the world having changed dramatically as events in the Middle East would attest, the Global Donors Forum 2016, has a new set of issues to focus upon. Foremost among these is the need to rigorously analyse the past decade in order to ascertain how best to formulate strategies to counter emerging challenges. The GDF 2016 will, therefore, attempt to set new priorities as it looks to redefine the role of philanthropy, with a focus on the Muslim world in a radically changed global landscape.

“Ending Extreme Poverty: A Moral and Spiritual Imperative”

Over 30 leaders from major world religions and heads of global faith-based organizations today launched a clarion call to action to end extreme poverty by 2030, a goal shared by the World Bank Group.

Ending Extreme Poverty: A Moral and Spiritual Imperative notes that remarkable progress has been made in reducing extreme poverty. Over 25 years the world has gone from nearly 2 billion people to fewer than 1 billion living in extreme poverty. Now, for the first time in human history there exists both the capacity and moral responsibility to ensure that no one has to live in extreme poverty’s grip

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