Qatar Charity and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) signed two grant agreements for a total of $2mn to address the humanitarian needs caused by the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak in Syria and Jordan.

Qatar Charity allocated $1mn to provide access to life-saving water, sanitation and hygiene services for Syrian refugees in Jordan and an additional $1mn to support Unicef in its efforts to improve Covid-19 preparedness and response levels in Syria.

Unicef executive director Henrietta Fore expressed her thanks to Qatar Charity for its support and contribution, according to a statement issued by the latter.

The agreements reflect the commitment of Qatar Charity and Unicef to teamwork and partnerships in the humanitarian sector, which are more important than ever to protect the vulnerable.

The agreements come in line with Qatar Charity’s Coronavirus Prevention and Response Plan to support and scale up vulnerable countries’ preparedness and response efforts.

In the beginning of March, Qatar Charity urgently scaled up relief efforts across 27 countries where Qatar Charity is supporting local governments’ efforts by mitigating the socio-economic impacts of measures taken by these countries to curb the spread of the virus.

Qatar Charity and Unicef hold a solid and long history of co-operation in support of vulnerable children and needy adults. On September 22, 2019, a strategic memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in New York by Qatar Charity CEO Yusuf AlKuwari and Unicef's Fore, to framework the existing co-operation efforts and better serve the needs of children and young adults living in difficult conditions.

The MoU enables Qatar Charity and Unicef to maximise the impact of the projects implemented through knowledge sharing, capacity building, joint funding and joint implementation. For instance, a project to provide water, sanitation and hygiene services for 44,000 households in 98 villages in Punjab Province, Pakistan, is currently being jointly implemented by both parties.

Child care and protection remain central in Qatar Charity’s work since its inception in 1982 as a community initiative known as " The Qatar Committee for the Orphan Sponsor Project" before expanding its activities and changing its name to "Qatar Charity" in 1992.

Qatar Charity’s work in child care and protection has evolved over more than three decades, and it became one of the largest umbrellas of orphans across the world with more than 163,000 sponsored children, in addition to many qualitative projects and integrated care programs for orphans.


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