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HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, Chairman of Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation-Global and Dr. Ibrahim El-Ziq, The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Representative to the Gulf Area, signed a memorandum of understanding “MOU” on Sunday 24th March 2013, which works for children's rights, their survival, development and protection, to support a UNICEF project to provide quality basic education for girls in Yemen. Under the agreement, Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation – Global will donate US$250,000 to 15 schools. According to the one year agreement, the targeted schools will be become more child friendly, with new educational policies at local and national levels.

Estee Lauder Companies' corporate responsibility report, The Beauty Of Responsibility, examines its impact on Earth by reviewing how it conducts business. In the environmental aspects, ELC’s priorities are to reduce its contribution to global climate change by conserving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with its operations, as well as to recycle and reuse as many resources as possible. Every employee, brand and function within the company is encouraged to contribute to the sustainability and philanthropic efforts.

Achieving sustainability is the core of corporate social responsibility (CSR) worldwide, according to Tamkeen Company CEO Asya Al-Ashaikh. The focus is on interactions between the government and private sectors to boost CSR locally and create a Saudi CSR model, she added. Al-Ashaikh explained that CSR in the Kingdom needs to be led ideally by government entities. Moreover, CSR is not about donations and philanthropy but about corporates addressing socioeconomic and environmental issues based on their core competency, according to the Tamkeen CEO.

In keeping with its slogan of 'the orange bank that thinks green,' Al Hilal Bank, a progressive Islamic bank, has pledged to switch off the lights in all of its branches and offices starting at 9 pm on March 23, 2013 in celebration of 'Earth Hour.' Al Hilal Bank will use the event as a platform to reaffirm its sustainability commitments and show its support for the environmental goals included in the Abu Dhabi Vision 2030 development plan. The bank has engaged in various initiatives championing the environment under its 'Go Green' strategy.

Noor Awqaf, the joint venture between Noor Investment Group and the Awqaf and Minors Affairs Foundation (AMAF), have launched a humanitarian project that will give aid agencies around the world access to relief aid Halal meat at times of natural disasters and famine. In conjunction with Awqaf New Zealand, Noor Awqaf has forged links with New Zealand’s meat producers and processors to secure a robust supply chain of quality Halal meat for distribution by aid agencies at times of natural disasters or civil emergencies. The meat will be supplied to aid agencies in sealed pouches to ensure its edibility for two years.

The increased level of corruption and insecurity in the northern part of the country as well as mixed signals from power and petroleum sector reforms were likely to affect Nigeria's output performance, according to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. Moreover, the CBN for the ninth time in a row decided to leave the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) also known as the benchmark interest rate at 12 per cent with a corridor of +/- 200 basis points. It also maintained banks' cash reserve requirement (CRR) at 12 per cent and liquidity ratio at 30 per cent with the net open position at 1 per cent.

In the Middle East and North Africa, many of the region’s middle-class residents have grown dependent on their governments for jobs and services. To alter this, governments must first understand the middle class. There is, however, little information on this demographic group in the MENA region. The results of a study among 1,450 middle-class people show that for the most part, they do not believe that their home countries offer them what they need to succeed. The required strategic agenda should balance development across economic, social, and cultural parameters—and meets the expectations of the middle class in order to earn their trust.

Sheikh Ali Bin Abdullah Thani J. Al-Thani, Chairman of Pak-Qatar Takaful Group, inaugurated the village for Pakistani flood victims on February 27. The Sheikh Thani Bin Abdullah for Humanitarian Services foundation allocated a significant sum for the establishment of the "Doha Village Project". Total area of the village is 11 Acres and total number of beneficiaries is around 1600-2000. It includes 200 residential homes, a school, shops and clean drinking water, among other services.

Al-Arafah Islami Bank Ltd has provided scholarship worth more than Tk 1.85 million to the poor and meritorious students of Kurmitola High School recently under its corporate social responsibility activities. Chairman of the Bank Badiur Rahman handed over the scholarship cheques to the students. The ceremony was addressed by founder Chairman of the Bank Alhajj A Z M Shamsul Alam among others.

The GAVI Alliance and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to help save children’s lives by accelerating the introduction of life-saving vaccines in IDB member countries. The MoU was signed by Dr Seth Berkley, GAVI Alliance CEO, and Dr Ahmad Mohamed Ali, Islamic Development Bank Group Chairman. By 2020, GAVI plans to vaccinate more than 400 million children in at least 29 member countries. An estimated US$ 7 billion will be required to reach this target. IDB will work closely with GAVI to help secure sufficient funds for immunisation.

Why an Islamic Finance training programme?

The Islamic banking and finance (IBF) sector has experienced substantial and unprecedented growth in recent years: growing at a rate of 10-15% per year. Today, more than 500 IBF institutions are operating worldwide, which are claimed to manage assets worth no less than $1.2 trillion, while the assets held in IBF institutions were only less than $10 billion in 1985. In Malaysia the IBF institutions are planned to capture the 25% of the market share, in terms of assets owned, by 2012, while it is expected that Islamic finance will be the mainstream finance in the Gulf region in the next decade.

Such immense growth has brought Islamic finance to the attention of the international banking and finance community, prompting the major banks to set up Islamic financial windows to take advantage of demand for Shari'ah compliant finance.

According to a new Deloitte report, an organization's environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance can directly and indirectly impact its market valuation. The report highlights that short-term ESG issues and events, including human rights issues, product recalls, boycotts and protests often trigger the strongest and most immediate impact on stock prices. However, there is less convincing evidence that ESG performance leads to higher stock returns over the long-term. Deloitte's report highlights how and why ESG performance is expected to continue to be a consideration in financial valuation and several reasons risks may play an increasingly important role on performance.

Egypt’s Islamist government is making preparations for the country’s first sovereign sukuk after the cabinet of ministers approved the new draft sukuk bill on January 16. The new finance minister, El-Morsi Hegazy, reportedly plans the law might ultimately raise an additional $10 billion for the sovereign. Investors, however, do not yet sound convinced, since there might be another revolution to come. Nevertheless, Egypt has considerable potential as an Islamic finance market.

Demographic dividends are usually explained in terms of higher population growth in emerging markets leading to an expanding working age population This in turn means that the society can benefit from having more people who are both able to work as well as eager to consume. However, neither high population growth nor a great amount of young people can on their own deliver better economic performance. Without adequate investment in educating, providing health care for the young and sufficient investment in the economy to generate productive employment, youth unemployment and underemployment with all the associated social and political problems is the consequence. So the challenge is how to ensure that the expanding young population in the developing countries is converted into demographic dividends. Financial inclusion is an important part of that, since its benefits are not just economic, but social and political as well.

3BL 'Triple Bottom Line' Associates (3BL), Bahrain's first social impact and sustainability consultancy, has released the results of the Bahrain Responsible Business Survey. According to report, the most popular understanding of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is community engagement. Whereas, the most prevalent CSR activities are: Community Engagement, Employee Wellness, Transparency, Corporate Governance, Health and Safety, and Gender Equality and Diversity. The importance given to the environment among survey respondents was much lower than for social responsibility.

Managing-Director of Bank Mellat Ali Divandari announced that his bank has been removed from the European Union's sanctions list. The EU Council had listed Bank Mellat and its then-chairman Dr Divandari in the designated list in July 2010 on the basis that it was a legitimate part of its regime of sanctions designed to stop the Iranian nuclear program. Both the bank and Dr Divandari challenged the sanctions in the European Court which finally declared a ruling in support of Bank Mellat.

On January 30, the UN High Level Panel started its meeting in Liberia to discuss the current Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and their replacement after they expire in 2015. The focus will be on economic transformation and reduction of poverty. Followers of the financial inclusion project believe increased access to financial services can help achieve these aims and recommend the High Level Panel to develop strategies that help create financial inclusion.

The Iranian Bank Mellat plans to sue the European Union governments for damages after a European court annulled sanctions against the company. The reasons for the court's decision are that the EU failed to provide enough evidence that Bank Mellat was linked to Iran's disputed nuclear progamme. However, EU governments may appeal the decision. Bank Mellat now plans to resume trading in Europe although broader European sanctions against Iranian banks could still limit Bank Mellat's ability to function there.

The European Court of Justice annulled the European Union (EU) sanctions imposed against the Iranian Bank Mellat in July 2010. According to the bank's Managing-Director Ali Divandari, the Court also required the EU to cover the costs of legal procedures. Additionally, Bank Mellat will receive all legal expenses as well as compensation from the EU for losses incurred because of these sanctions. Divandari also said vague reasons were used by the EU to impose the sanctions two and a half years ago.

FNB and Al Baraka Bank froze the bank accounts of Al Aqsa Foundation after it was added to the US Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control list. According to the US departments website Al Aqsa funnels money collected for charitable purposes to Hamas terrorists. However, foundation spokesman Melissa Hoole denied ties to that organisation. Al Baraka had since agreed to allow some activity in the account.