Impact of Your Zakat in 2020 | Islamic Relief Canada

Your Zakat Changes Lives IMPACT REPORT | 2020

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Our Approach We strive to ensure that your Zakat empowers the individuals and families who receive it, and ultimately contributes to bringing them out of the difficult circumstances they are in.

Through careful assessment, we take special care to reach those who are most at risk.

They receive your Zakat

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in the form of medicines, education materials, food supplies, nutritional supplements, hygiene kits, water distributions, shelter kits, sustainable income and emergency relief.

Throughout it all, we work to ensure your Zakat donations are not just a simple transaction, but rather a means to uplift and transform.

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Our Distribution Process

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2 REACHING BENEFICIARIES

NEEDS ASSESSMENT Our case workers, staff and volunteers in our field offices around the world are trained to do a careful needs assessment of each beneficiary. Our teams use a standardized system to collect information, record notes and categorize, to determine if the individual or family is Zakat eligible.

Islamic Relief identifies those who are well below Nisab (the minimum threshold for Zakat eligibility). We work with the poorest of the poor and those who are most vulnerable in the face of conflict and disaster.

This includes orphan households, single female-headed households, people with disabilities, and the elderly.

PROJECT PROPOSAL

3 With your support, we strive to fulfill our global responsibility to care for those who are most vulnerable.

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Based on the recommendations of the field office for the needs of our beneficiaries, a project proposal is put together in accordance with the principles of distributing Zakat, and then submitted to Islamic Relief Worldwide to request funding by various Islamic Relief offices, including Islamic Relief Canada.

4 5 ZAKAT COLLECTIONS Throughout the year, and especially in Ramadan, Islamic Relief Canada collects Zakat donations to continuously fund projects that assist the poorest of the poor.

SENDING FUNDS Once Zakat funds are collected, Islamic Relief Canada allocates funds to those project proposals to put your donations into action. We wire the money to Islamic Relief Worldwide, which disburses it to the field offices for immediate implementation.

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YOUR DONATION IN ACTION Your Zakat is distributed through health projects by providing medical treatment and drugs; through education projects by providing materials, uniforms and food for orphans; through food distributions and nutritional supplements; through water trucking in areas of drought and hygiene kits; through livelihood projects by providing agriculture supplies or livestock for families to make an income; and through emergency relief by providing urgent food supplies, shelter kits and living essentials.

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YOUR IMPACT Once our beneficiaries receive your Zakat donations, our work is not over yet. As long as they are in need, they remain in our system to receive support every time there are more funds or other projects being implemented.

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FOLLOW YOUR ZAK AT

Bibi Irani, 66 years Pakistan Bibi Irani is 66 years old and lives in the Pishin district of Balochistan, Pakistan. She is the head of her family and bears the responsibility of their livelihood and survival.

Earlier this year, an extremely heavy snowfall disaster hit Balochistan, and Bibi’s animal shelter and home were damaged, and the roads around her were blocked.

Severe cold weather conditions, shortage of financial resources, food items and medical supplies due to blockage of roads put the affected communities at great risk to sickness and poverty because of the stoppage of economic activities.

Similarly, loss of human and animal lives as well as material damages to their possessions brought about mental and psychological distress for these affected communities. Women, the elderly, those with disabilities and orphan children faced more difficulties given their already vulnerable and unstable situation.

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Unluckily, the catastrophic snowstorm was quickly followed by Covid-19 and an ensuing countrywide lockdown. This further deteriorated the situation of Bibi’s community and her family. While her sons are menial labourers who used to work in Karachi, the imposition of the lockdown following the Covid-19 crisis led them to lose their jobs. A disruption of this nature for a family already living in difficult circumstances means that the financial condition of Bibi’s family was greatly worsened.

“I’m Bibi Irani and I belong to the Zamaystan village. I have a large family. We suffered greatly due to the heavy snowfall that destroyed my animals’ shelter, damaged our home and blocked the roads. When the situation started to improve, the Coronavirus came and locked down everything this meant my sons could not work.

Today, I’m very happy to receive this cash grant from Islamic Relief. They have really done a great

service for our village by helping us with grants to recover our livelihood and basic needs, and by conducting health and hygiene sessions here. This amount will help me rebuild my animals’ shelter and meet our family’s needs in these hard times. I am so very thankful to Islamic Relief for coming here to help me and other people in need here.”

With your Zakat, we provided care and relief to Bibi’s family and so many families like hers to help them recover from the disaster and protect them in the face of Covid-19.

Through multi-purpose cash grants, beneficiaries were able to better meet their specific needs, which helps preserve the dignity of each family.

Islamic Relief also provided life saving medicine and medical supplies to public health centres in the area, to reduce illness and improve health services. We then provided training to local government authorities on

gender protection to enhance gender equality in emergency responses.

And together with the distribution of hygiene supplies, sanitizer, masks and gloves, hygiene awareness sessions were conducted to help their communities prevent the spread of Covid-19.

This is how your Zakat donations helped us deliver a well-rounded response that truly equipped Bibi’s community with the right resources to mitigate the severity of the disaster and pandemic. Thank you for bringing relief to Bibi Irani and so many others like her, who were desperately in need of your care and helping hand!

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projects

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countries

600,000 people

Your Zakat in Action Your Zakat donations went towards meeting the needs of some of the most vulnerable people around the world, preserving their dignity and empowering them to build a better life.

Wherever applicable, your Zakat donations helped to fund key elements of all the sectors listed here.

Islamic Relief employs an integrated approach in our emergency response and development work, and we design our projects to include multiple sectors. This helps to ensure an amplified and sustainable impact for the communities we serve.

Witness the impact of your 2020 Zakat donations, which have helped fund over 25 projects across 19 countries, and helped bring relief and transform the lives of over 600,000 people.

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Food Implementing innovative food solutions globally to improve food security, sustainability, and maternal health, and fight malnutrition.

Education Increasing access to equitable education, improving standards and facilities, and investing in better capacity for teachers and caregivers.

Your Zakat in Action

Emergency Responding immediately in the face of conflict and disasters, saving lives through urgent food, water and medical support, and helping families rebuild after.

Health Saving lives by providing urgent medical support for hospitals and clinics, increasing access to health and psychosocial services, and improving disease prevention.

Livelihood Empowering families to run their own businesses and implement innovative solutions, as a vital key to bringing communities out of poverty.

Protection Building safer and more equitable communities for women and girls by fighting gender-based violence, inequality and poverty, and advocating for human rights and dignity.

Shelter Ensuring adequate shelter and safety for families, women and children who are affected by conflict, disasters, poverty, and the impacts of climate change.

WASH Working to ensure that greater water equality, sanitation and hygiene is achieved to improve the basic health of the communities.

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BANGLADESH Cyclone Bulbul Recovery Project

Early Recovery Assistance to Cyclone Amphan Survivors

Emergency Monsoon Floods Response in Jamalpur

Prevention Of Child Marriage

Continuing to respond to the aftermath of the cyclone that hit in November 2019, by providing shelter kits, hygiene supplies and living essentials to affected families in the Satkhira District. Helping to restore livelihoods by providing families with agricultural and home gardening resources, as well as cash for work opportunities to rehabilitate community spaces and infrastructure.

Providing aid in the Satkhira District to help survivors of the cyclone that hit in May 2020, working with the poorest and most vulnerable people. This response helped provide food packages, agricultural supplies like high-yielding seeds and fertilizer, and hygiene kits to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Hygiene promotion sessions were also conducted to improve hygiene facilities and awareness.

Helping to strengthen the capacity of communities in Jamalpur affected by monsoon floods, as well as supporting local health centres with medical equipment to help fight the spread of Covid-19. This is done through providing access to shelter, dignified sanitation facilities, flood resilient tube wells, fast-growing seeds and fertilizer, immediate food supplies to those most in need, with a special focus on female-headed households.

Recognizing the pressing issue of early marriage in Rangpur, this project is working to empower communities to develop new norms and practices to end the practice. It aims to mobilize communities by generating awareness about the harmful effect of early marriage in society.

This is done by building wider public opinion about the issue by partnering with local leaders, religious leaders and elected representatives.

Selected vulnerable families are also receiving financial support and grants to sustain their livelihoods, which has proven to be one of the drivers for early marriage.

BENEFICIARIES

6,560 individuals

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5,100 individuals

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8,980 individuals

BENEFICIARIES

300 individuals

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JORDAN

LEBANON

MALI

Education and Shelter Support for Syrian Refugees and Host Communities

Enhancing Resilience and Improving Food Security For Vulnerable Syrian Refugees

Emergency Water & Sanitation Response

Supporting Economic Recovery and Resilience in the Circle of Douentza

Providing the children of both refugee and host communities with wellrounded opportunities for education and growth. This project aims to provide online academic support such as remedial classes in Arabic, Math, and English for children who are out of school, orphans, or need a little extra help. It also provides extra-curricular activities such as drama, art, sports, storytelling, and basic agriculture along with psychosocial programs in a safe space.

Families are provided with rent support to help reduce school dropout rates. This project focuses on the protection of women and children through support for violence survivors, as well as providing hygiene awareness and kits.

Helping to improve the living conditions of vulnerable Syrian refugees living in across 3 different shelters in Saida, through providing food and other essential support. This helps cover the basic nutritional needs of these families who are struggling to survive in the midst of Lebanon’s financial crisis and pandemic restrictions.

This response prioritizes female-headed households who are especially vulnerable and unable to feed their families, and helps alleviate negative survival strategies around food, clean water, and health.

Providing urgent support in the Circle of Gourma Rharous, to families who have been displaced due to violence and are struggling to survive without clean water. This response helped increase access to safe, potable water through the rehabilitation of drinking water points, while consulting and including women and girls who primarily are the ones to collect water. It also focused on strengthening social cohesion through the formation of genderinclusive committees, and conducting training sessions to improve hygiene practices, ensure child protection and help prevent gender-based violence.

Working across 5 villages, this project is focused on enhancing the resilience and socio-economic recovery of vulnerable households within the Circle of Douentza.

For extremely poor and food insecure households affected by conflict or climate change, cash grants, short cycle seeds, and vaccinated cows are being provided to assist with immediate recovery and increase income levels. A cereal bank is being formed and managed by a women’s cooperative to ensure resilience in lean seasons. A microdam is being established to help harvest rainwater, irrigate agriculture and increase rice production.

Also included is the establishment of fish farming and vegetable gardens, as well as training in climate adaptive farming techniques and business management.

A special focus is placed on fostering social cohesion through conflict management and peace plans, as well as working with faith leaders to advocate for the protection of women and children, across the 5 communities.

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1,300 individuals

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358 individuals

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6,000 individuals

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NEPAL

PAKISTAN

PALESTINE

Preventing Domestic Violence through SocioEconomic Empowerment

Emergency Winter Response in Balochistan

North Waziristan Initiative for Economic Uplifting

Social Safety Net (Phase 2)

In the face of extreme poverty and poor social conditions, women in the Rautahat district face the highest physical violence and abuse cases in the country. This project is working to mitigate the violence cycle, by providing women with livelihood opportunities, education and training support. It also provides health and psychosocial counselling, and gendersensitive toilets and washing facilities for an all encompassing approach to ending gender-based violence.

Responding to those impacted by the disastrous winter storms in Balochistan, by providing livelihood, hygiene, sanitation, and health support to vulnerable households. To assist families meet their basic needs in a dignified way, multi-purpose cash grants were given to the most vulnerable.

Hygiene supplies were provided along with awareness sessions to help communities prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Life saving medicine and medical supplies were provided to public health centres in disaster affected areas. Local government authorities were also provided with training on gender protection to enhance gender equality in emergency responses.

Ensuring socio-economic sustainability and resilience of communities in North Waziristan, with a particular focus on women and girls. The project helps improve food security by establishing fruit and forest plant nurseries, supporting and training farming cooperatives, and equipping women farmers with market-based skill development, kitchen gardening resources, poultry and livestock.

Environmentally conscious water technology is established through rain water harvesting ponds and irrigation structures.

Young entrepreneurs and livelihoods are supported through grants and capacity building, and the community is involved in adopting climate-adaptive practices and genderinclusive decision making for better social cohesion and sustainability.

Providing protection for the most vulnerable households in the Gaza Strip through food vouchers, rent subsidies, medicines and personal health supplies, school materials and tuition for children with disabilities.

Each family receives tailored support based on their individual needs, which helps preserve their dignity in difficult circumstances. This project applies the Family Empowerment Model (FEM) as an integrated approach that aims to transition vulnerable households from dependency to resilience and selfreliance. This focuses on households that have forms of vulnerabilities, but also have high potentials and vision for improving their livelihoods towards a successful future and dignified life.

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17,933 individuals

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43,298 individuals

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28,503 individuals

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4,760 individuals

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PHILIPPINES

SOMALIA

Cyclone Emergency Response for Typhoon Goni

Sustaining Transformative & Resilient Initiatives in Vulnerable Communities

Flood Response in Belet Weyne

Health, Education, Agriculture and Livelihood Project (Phase 2)

This project is providing shelter repair kits and essential supplies to households needing recovery, along with safer shelter construction training. The response will also ensure quality education for children continues by providing teachers and students with the proper equipment and materials. Special priority will be given to advocate for the specific needs of groups of people, based on gender, age, disability or other vulnerability criteria so that they are protected against violence and have equal access to humanitarian aid without discrimination.

This 3 year project is helping to revive and strengthen the local economic activities such as farming and fishing, local industries and other forms of livelihoods in Ranao. This is done through the formation of self help groups, enhancing local skills, improving technology and promoting innovative and transformative solutions to resource management and climate change adaptation. Islamic interest-free microfinance is also introduced to enable these communities to access halal and just forms of capitalization and resources.

Stipends are also being given to families to keep 600 young children in school, to reduce drop-out rates, and selected schools are provided with any necessary refurbishments for better access to water and sanitation, libraries, laboratories or recreational materials. Local governance will be supported to implement innovative solutions to outstanding problems of resource depletion, disaster risk reduction, environmental protection and livelihood sustainability.

For families devastated by flash flooding, we provided cash support especially to female-headed households to access urgent food and their most immediate needs in a dignified manner. Shelter materials, mosquito nets, and mosquito sprays were distributed to prevent the spread of malaria and dengue fever.

This project aims to improve the livelihood of vulnerable communities in five different ways.

Providing primary health care services through a health facility. Supporting the current school in the local district through training and teaching materials for students.

Increasing food security by supporting farming households with low-cost, high-quality agricultural technology to increase food production. Strengthening community level resilience with micro-financing and skills improvements training provided to women. Finally, improving sanitation through construction of culturally appropriate latrines for the affected communities.

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2,500 individuals

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4,218 individuals 16

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1,705 individuals

BENEFICIARIES

90,000 individuals

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SOUTH SUDAN

SUDAN

Promoting Gender Equality and Resilient Livelihoods

This project is helping to increase the resilience of vulnerable populations in the Eastern Equatoria State through a twopronged community-based approach. The first aspect helps to improve protection and access to structured psychosocial services for survivors of gender-based violence, through the formation of women and child-friendly spaces and community based protection committees. The second aspect helps to enhance livelihoods of vulnerable farmer households, and especially female farmers.

Through specialized agricultural and irrigation

training, farmers are able to tackle the challenges they are facing in food production, and implement sustainable agricultural practices to grow more food and gain better income. To assist with this, solar installations and drip irrigation systems are being upgraded and repaired.

Farmers are being equipped with training on disease surveillance and livestock husbandry, as well as much needed vaccinations and restocking of veterinary drugs, to prevent the loss of livestock.

BENEFICIARIES

35,700 individuals

Terekeka Flood Emergency Response in Central Equatoria State

Shelter and WASH Support for FloodAffected Communities in West Kordofan

This response is focused on flood affected groups who are especially vulnerable due to being young children, elderly, people living with HIV –who are immuno-compromised and can easily be exposed to several diseases– and being displaced. Families are receiving urgent food supplies to prevent acute hunger and starvation.

To increase safety for women and children, they are also being provided with temporary shelter materials and sanitation items. The response includes hygiene training and community capacity building to help prevent the spread of disease as well as the Covid-19.

Our project was focused on improving water, sanitation and hygiene conditions for flood-affected households.

This included providing emergency shelter kits, mosquito nets, hygiene and dignity kits and water purification materials.

We are continuing to work on rehabilitating water sources and pumps, building and rehabilitating latrines, as well as improving hygiene conditions and awareness.

Female-headed households, the elderly, children, and people with disabilities were prioritized to ensure that we reach those who are most vulnerable. A gendersensitive approach is also taken to empower women and girls with hygiene knowledge and supplies.

BENEFICIARIES

9,000 individuals

BENEFICIARIES

25,000 individuals

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SYRIA

TUNISIA

TURKEY

Emergency Response to Displaced Families from Idlib

Water & Sanitation Services in Northwest Syria

Supporting Libyan Refugees (Phase 2)

Emergency Support for Uighur Refugees

Responding to the vast displacement of families who escaped deadly escalations and bombardments in Idlib, and were trying to survive freezing temperatures.

This included providing highly needed tents, blankets, plastic sheeting and mattresses to vulnerable families through flexible vouchers.

This allowed families to select the items of their choice to better meet their specific needs, and helps preserve the dignity of each family.

This project aims to help alleviate the suffering of the vulnerable and displaced Syrians and their host communities with emergency water and sanitation services across Aleppo and Idlib.

These services included establishing a solar powered network for water pumps and sewage, as well as improving waste disposal, living environments and hygiene conditions. It also focuses on the improved quality of basic education for 2724 school children through the construction and maintenance of water and sanitation facilities in camp schools. To help combat the spread of Covid-19, specialized hygiene kits are being provided along with increased hygiene awareness and promotion.

This project is helping Libyan migrants settle in Tunisia by strengthening their urban settlement capabilities through access to basic services in three different sectors.

In the health sector, the project will provide access to quality health services such as doctor consultations, laboratory analysis and medicines.

Psycho-social and protection services will continue to be made available for migrants who have experienced trauma as well as more general activities for stress and anxiety relief. Education is another key factor of this project with the provision of school bags, libraries, and training for teachers.

Distributing urgent food support as well as clothing vouchers to help vulnerable Uighur refugees who were living in harsh winter conditions in Istanbul, and struggling to make ends meet. Our teams are conducted in-depth assessments to appropriately tailor support to each household, with special attention given to women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities due to their heightened vulnerability.

BENEFICIARIES

22,519 individuals

BENEFICIARIES

4,550 individuals

BENEFICIARIES

4,700 individuals

BENEFICIARIES

233,510 individuals

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TURKEY Smiles for Syrian Orphans

The project will directly contribute to better integrate orphaned refugee Syrian children in the community and positively influence their personal development through improving their social skills and mental health. The project works to provide a supportive environment for these children through access to meals, art supplies, activities, gifts, and psychological support.

This helps positively influence their personal development, social skills and mental health, and helps integrate them into society more easily.

BENEFICIARIES

500 individuals

AFGHANISTAN, BANGLADESH (COX’S BAZAR), BOSNIA, CANADA, CHECHNYA, JORDAN, LEBANON, SYRIA

Winter Warmth

Providing families in vulnerable conditions with essential items to protect against harsh winter conditions. These include fuel and heaters, warm blankets and bedding, winter clothing and shoes, construction and insulation materials, as well as tents and shelter supplies.

These efforts especially serve orphans, single mothers, refugees and poor families..

BENEFICIARIES

46,225 individuals

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Thank You! Your Zakat is not just another transaction. It reaches those in need in the form of medicines, education, food, water, shelter, and so much more.

Your support is so often the gift of life itself and we take special care to reach those who are most at risk. We’ve seen with our own eyes how their lives have been uplifted and transformed by what you give.

We could not have done it without you, thank you.

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3501 Mainway Burlington, ON L7M 1A9 info@islamicrelief.ca 1-855-377-4673 (HOPE)

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