• In Mitrovica , Kosovo, Qatar Charity has successfully financed 144 income projects to support needy people for the year of 2017, and signed agreements to fund 60 others.
• Mitrovica’s Mayor: The projects of Qatar Charity have positively changed the lives of thousands of families.
• Projects Management Director of Qatar Charity: Our projects in Kosovo continue to support sustainable development, especially in the district of Mitrovica.

The nineties in Mitrovica, Kosovo were a chapter of a devastating conflict that greatly damaged the city. The aftermath of the war crippled the infrastructure, destroyed the lives of thousands, and caused a severe poverty.

To rebuild the shattered Mitrovica, one of Qatar Charity’s main priorities is to improve the lives of the affected families through improving their income and help them start a business of their own. Income Generation Projects will restore people’s sense of equality, opportunity, and dignity. 

Ceremony:

In the year of 2017, Qatar Charity successfully managed to fund 144 projects as part of its economic empowerment plan for the district of Mitrovica. Last May, 64 projects were financed while 80 others were distributed in a ceremony attended by Mr. Ajim Behitri – Mayor of Mitrovica District –, Mr. Khalid Abdullah Al Yafei – Head of Project Management in Qatar Charity-, and Mr. Biraam Kosumi – Deputy Minister of Public Administration in Kosovo.

The funded projects vary according to fields that include: agricultural greenhouses, agricultural machinery, rearing cattle (Cows & sheep for milk), apiaries, and commercial stores.

While delivering a speech during the ceremony, Mr. Al Yafei stated” Qatar Charity works tirelessly to improve the lives of those in need through increasing their income, creating more jobs opportunities, and financing their small yet impactful projects”

Signing New Agreement:

Mayor of Mitrovica district, Mr. Ajim Behitri expressed his appreciation and gratitude for the support provided by the people in Qatar. He thanked Qatar Charity for its dedication and hard work for the betterment of the society of Kosovo and the great impact on the lives of thousands of orphans and families.

Deputy Minister of Public Administration in Kosovo, Mr. Biraam Kosumi expressed his happiness to attend the ceremony and made a plea to all charitable organizations around the globe to stand for the people of Kosovo and take Qatar Charity as a model of dedication, hard work, and quality of projects.

The beneficiaries of the projects appreciated Qatar Charity’s efforts and hoped that more people in the region would also gain support and fund to help their poor families.

In appreciation of Qatar Charity’s humanitarian work in Kosovo, Mr.Behitri – Mayor of Mitrovica – offered Mr. Al Yefei the district shield as well as a gratitude certificate for all of Qatar Charity’s contributions.

As continuation of its development strategy in the region of Kosovo, Mr. Al Yefei – on behalf of Qatar Charity- has signed an agreement to execute 60 new projects to endorse sustainable development in Mitrovica. 

In addition, Qatar Charity sponsors 200 orphans in the city and aspires to make a real change in the lives of all those in need. 

HH Sheikh Hamad Bin Naser Al Thani, Chairman of Qatar Charity (QC), presented the "Change Maker" Award to HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, HH the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and the people of Qatar as they are the true change makers through their continued support for Humanitarian and Development Projects to help the poor and needy across the globe.

The Aid & Trade conference and exhibition held last month in London honored Qatar Charity (QC) with the “Change Maker Award”, for its humanitarian services, development efforts and activities in 70 countries. The award was received by HE Sheikh Hamad bin Naser Al-Thani, Chairman of Qatar Charity.

Sheikh Hamad bin Naser Al-Thani said that the award he received is the honor to the Qatari leadership, government, people and all the benefactors and supporters of the charitable work, considering them as the main supporters of Qatar Charity projects over the past three decades, which has achieved a positive impact on the lives of the beneficiaries.

“Since ancient times, Qatari people, leadership and government have been characterized by doing good, caring for the values of solidarity and compassion, supporting each other, helping the needy and providing relief to affected persons”, he said, noting that they are generous and continue to give bigheartedly in times of hardship and prosperity.

He extended thanks to all donors, supporters, sponsors, collaborators and volunteers. He also expressed his deep gratitude to the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs and Regulatory Authority for Charitable Activities for their continuous support to Qatar Charity by overcoming all the difficulties relating to the delivery of aid, donations and relief to the needy.

The Chairman also appreciated efforts exerted by government agencies and private entities within the State of Qatar to achieve the Qatar National Vision 2030, which aims to implement development and humanitarian initiatives for the purpose of achieving international peace, security and sustainable development.

The Chairman also thanked the members of the Board of Directors, the members of the General Assembly, the Executive Managements and the Directors of the field offices of Qatar Charity and all its employees for their role in QC’s achievements.

“Qatar Charity is looking forward to constantly improving its performance and enhancing its capabilities to support the development system in various fields around the world” the Chairman said.

Since Qatar Charity’s establishment, and with the support of the Qatari people, more than 90 million people have benefited from its relief and development projects in 70 countries around the world.

During 2011-2017, Qatar Charity provided relief to 16.2 million displaced persons and Syrian refugees, while it currently sponsors more than 125 thousand people through social welfare programs.

During 2015-2017, Qatar Charity has provided food aid to 19.6 people, while 6.2 people benefited from health and medical projects. Moreover, 137 thousand families became able to earn a living due to QC’s Income-Generating Projects and 2.9 people benefited from its educational projects.

In the implementation of the grant of His Highness the Emir,

QFFD, Qatar Charity coordinate to implement projects for Rohingya refugees in Malaysia

Qatar Charity (QC) and the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) continue coordination to carry on implementing the projects of the $50mn grant by His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani the Amir of Qatar for Rohingya refugees in Malaysia.  

The grant projects cover three main areas: health, education and economic empowerment.

The work started in the health sector in October 2019, as agreements have been signed with the Malaysian National Welfare Foundation, an agency under the women, family, and community development minister, and three civil society institutions of proven competence in the medical field have been selected to carry out several projects within the medical area. The budget allocated for the health program is estimated at 14.7 million dollars over three years.

The health activities include six major programs, which are setting up five comprehensive primary health centers, operating four mobile clinics to cover the same peripheral areas inhabited by refugees, adopting the health awareness and education program for Rohingya refugees, providing necessary vaccinations for children, establishing medical shelters to receive patients who need special follow-up, and Patient  Referral Program to provide appropriate medical care.

The Qatari initiative works on the improvement of the refugee situation in Malaysia, especially as the official figures of United Nations confirm the presence of more than 178,000 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Malaysia.

The initiative aims to increase the percentage of refugees having access to primary health care services. The assessment of the health, social and economic situation of refugees from Myanmar in Malaysia has been carried through conducting a quick survey targeting all those involved in offering health services for refugees in Malaysia such as the Malaysian Ministry of Health, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Malaysian NGOs.

Health Centers

Aiming to facilitate the refugees' access to primary health care services, the Qatari initiative works to furnish, equip and operate five comprehensive health care centers in central Malaysia (Selangor and Kuala Lumpur), in the north (Kadah) and in the south (Johor), as these areas have the largest number of refugees.

Mobile Clinics

The initiative is working on the launch of four mobile medical clinics to contribute to facilitating access to primary health care services.

The goal of mobile clinics is to not only conduct medical examination and provide primary health care services, but also vaccinate children, promote health awareness, give advice in a number of areas, including nutrition, personal hygiene, and risk factors for chronic diseases, in addition to dispensing basic drugs, especially medicines for children and women, and providing care for chronic diseases.

Children Vaccination

Support for the vaccination program for refugee children has been approved in Malaysia to meet the urgent need of children for vaccination services. The program aims to provide basic vaccination doses to 24,000 children, over three years, according to the vaccination system of Malaysia.

Patient Referral

The initiative also contributes to providing secondary health care services to refugees through the referral program for critical cases and complicated deliveries. This program targets 1,200 patients over 3 years, in cooperation and coordination with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and hospitals certified by the Malaysian Ministry of Health.

Health Shelters

The initiative adopts the health care shelter program, due to the poor financial situation of refugees in Malaysia, which creates great difficulty for the refugees to follow up their treatment, especially patients who need to see a doctor more than once, who are waiting for the results of medical examinations, or who need special care. The initiative, therefore, works to establish, furnish, equip, and operate five health shelters for a period of three years, in addition to providing housing, nutrition, and case follow-up services.

Health Promotion

Through the Refugee Health Promotion Program in Malaysia, the initiative works, in cooperation with health partners, to implement the health promotion project to ease the main barriers to refugees’ access to health care, which are a lack of literacy, lack of awareness of individual rights to health care, and linguistic and cultural differences.

This is carried out through training health workers, who are chosen from among the refugees themselves to educate the refugees about of health care, health rights, methods of accessing health care, and personal hygiene, and provide guidance on mental health and psychological support services.

Achievements:

The first health center was inaugurated in November 2019, and it started working in January 2020 after obtaining the necessary permits.

Despite the challenging situations the world still is going through, due to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the work continues, as the remaining four clinics have been set up, and the restoration, furnishing and finishing work have been completed, with the exception of one center, which has recently received a permit. The number of operating clinics will be five by the end of the current.

Some 11,687 refugees benefited from primary and secondary health care services and specialized medical services.

The mobile clinics are back to work, with a medical team going twice a week to each clinic to provide free treatment to refugees.

As for the health education project, several trainings have been organized for health workers, benefiting 3,071 participants until the end of September.

With regard to the vaccine project, it is expected that work on children's vaccines will start at the end of November 2020.

Besides, there is a medical shelter in Kuala Lumpur, and the rest of the centers are being furnished and equipped with the necessary equipment, while the discussions on patients referrals to hospitals are still ongoing.