unrwa zakat individual giving mid-term report 2020 your zakat to palestine refugees In 2018, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) launched a Zakat initiative aimed at providing food and cash assistance to extremely vulnerable Palestine refugees. Over two million Palestine refugees live in poverty and 1.7 million rely on cash and food assistance from UNRWA to meet their most basic needs. In the Gaza Strip, over 68 per cent of households, or about 1.3 million people, are severely or moderately food insecure. Since 2000, the number of Palestine refugees dependent on emergency food assistance has increased tenfold.
your zakat in action In Gaza, the provision of food assistance remains the primary means of extending relief to Palestine refugees in need. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exasperated the widespread food and economic insecurity that was originally the result of the blockade and the manmade humanitarian crisis. However, while the need in Gaza grows, the financial resources to meet that need have been increasingly under threat. In this dark year for Palestine refugees, funds raised from Zakat were a beacon of light – ensuring that families in Gaza continue to receive emergency food assistance.
at a glance
1,917
individuals supported the Zakat Fund
US$ 1,380,884 in Zakat funding
36,339
emergency food baskets delivered
218,034
Palestine refugees provided with food All numbers are as of June 30, 2020.
united nations relief and works agency for palestine refugees in the near east
www.unrwa.org
zakat individual giving mid-term report 2020 unrwa zakat fund in numbers In 2018, the inaugural year of the UNRWA Zakat initiative, over US$ 287,000 was raised from Zakat contributions, providing 7,577 emergency food baskets for over 45,000 Palestine refugees in Gaza. In 2019, UNRWA raised US$ 481,111 in Zakat funds and was able to deliver food baskets to over 76,000 of the most vulnerable Palestine refugees. For 2020, we have increased our target to US$ 800,000 – enough to deliver food assistance to over 125,000 of the neediest refugees in Gaza. Due to the generosity of our supporters, we raised US$ 610,831 in the first six months of 2020 – over 75 per cent of the way to our target.
emergency food assistance in pictures Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UNRWA team in Gaza has been working day and night to ensure that Palestine refugees get the food they need – without risking their health. To avoid large groups gathering to pick up food, our relief and social services staff have carefully mapped out communities and delivered food baskets directly to people’s homes. Now, thousands of families receive their food assistance via the new house-to-house delivery modality every day.
united nations relief and works agency for palestine refugees in the near east
www.unrwa.org
UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to a population of some 5.6 million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip to achieve their full potential in human development, pending a just solution to their plight. UNRWA services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance and emergency assistance. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions.
zakat individual giving mid-term report 2020
unrwa is zakat eligible UNRWA food and cash assistance programmes, which support the most vulnerable Palestine refugees, were deemed Zakat eligible by leading Islamic scholars. UNRWA has obtained official fatwas (Islamic edict) from Sheikh Al-Azhar in Egypt and the Imam of Al-Aqsa Grand Mosque in Jerusalem supporting the eligibility of vulnerable Palestine refugees for Zakat funds. UNRWA ensures that the beneficiaries meet stringent eligibility criteria of being “poor and needy�.
how does it work? All Zakat donations to UNRWA are segregated into a sub-account specifically earmarked to food and cash assistance and are distributed within the lunar year of the donation. Palestine refugee families eligible for food assistance include households that live below US$ 3.87 per person per day (absolute poverty) and US$ 1.47 per person per day (abject poverty). Food baskets contain wheat flour, rice, sunflower oil, sugar, dried milk, lentils and chickpeas. To learn more about our Zakat Appeal visit us at donate.unrwa.org/zakat/.
united nations relief and works agency for palestine refugees in the near east
www.unrwa.org
UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to a population of some 5.6 million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip to achieve their full potential in human development, pending a just solution to their plight. UNRWA services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance and emergency assistance. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions.