Ammon News - The heads of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief), and Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair Refugee Education Fund have held a virtual meeting to approve the first batch of projects funded by the Global Muslim Philanthropy Fund for Children (GMPFC), which was launched at the UN General Assembly in September 2019, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

The GMPFC, being administered by the IsDB, manages Islamic philanthropy resources that have been collected for the benefit of life-saving humanitarian aid and the achievement of sustainable development goals. The Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair Refugee Education Fund and KSrelief are the GMPFC’s first donors, having contributed USD 10 million and USD 9.2 million, respectively, to launch the Fund’s operations.

During the board meeting of the GMPFC, three projects with a total value of USD 12.1 million were approved. These projects will be implemented in partnership with UNICEF, for refugee children in Bangladesh, Jordan and Pakistan.

According to the agreement, KSrelief will fund lifesaving healthcare for children and women, in addition to providing nutrition support for children under the age of five, and pregnant and nursing mothers in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, where around 1.2 million Rohingya refugees and local population need humanitarian assistance. As for funding from the Abdul Al Aziz Al Ghurair Refugee Education Fund, it will be directed to Jordan which hosts more than 650,000 registered Syrian refugees. It will support vulnerable children and young people between the ages of 12 and 24 to strengthen their opportunities of learning and wellbeing, and in particular, to support their positive transition into adulthood, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

KSrelief’s donation will support immunisation coverage and health services for children under the age of five in selected districts in Pakistan, contributing to the reduction in the number of child deaths every year, which amounts to 250,000 children this year.

The board meeting which was co-chaired by President of IsDB Dr. Bandar Hajjar, and Executive Director of UNICEF Henrietta Fore reviewed the Fund’s operating procedures and discussed its future growth strategy.