Qatar Provides USD708 Million in Aid to Least Developed Countries in 2022

Doha, Qatar

A few days ahead of the UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5), to be held in Doha from March 5-9, the State of Qatar is considered one of the largest donors and supporters of the least developed countries.

The Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) has contributed USD708 million over the past year, in total humanitarian and development aid.

The State of Qatar's efforts have been able to contribute to achieving sustainable and lasting peace and development, and to making change in fragile and marginalized societies around the world, by supporting basic resources, in addition to implementing projects and programs for a number of UN organizations to back the least developed countries.

HE Director General of the QFFD Khalifa bin Jassim Al Kuwari indicated in a statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA) that the QFFD is committed to financing development and relief projects around the world, as this had a great and direct impact on people's lives, in more than 42 countries in 2022.

Al Kuwari said that the State of Qatar's financial contributions included many vital sectors, with USD101, 300,000 million having been provided to the education sector, USD71,300,000 million to the health care sector, about USD443,200,000 million to relief aid sector and nearly USD92 million to other development sectors. The QFFD also supported climate change projects.

As part of its long-term commitment to the UN and the least developed countries, the State of Qatar signed an agreement with the UN in October 2021 to host the LDC5, culminating in the adoption of the Doha Work Program for the Least Developed Countries for the period 2022-2031, which would help these countries face the challenges resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the economic crises and climate change.

The role of the State of Qatar has emerged during the pandemic crisis as an active, initiating and influential partner, whose actions precede words by providing contributions that exceeded USD140 million dollars to support international efforts to combat the epidemic, and provide aid to 92 countries through the QFFD, believing in the importance of global solidarity to overcome the effects of the pandemic, especially on the least developed countries.

Qatar also signed a basic contribution agreement with the World Health Organization worth USD10 million to support the organization's work program and the initiative to accelerate the availability of anti-Covid-19 tools in countries most in need.

In October 2021, the State of Qatar pledged an additional USD16 million to support the international efforts of the UN Development Program (UNDP) to combat poverty, climate change, and inequality around the world. In addition, the State of Qatar pledged an additional USD25 million to support the international humanitarian response to the worsening economic crises in the world.

Qatar has been keen to make voluntary donations to many UN funds and programs, which aim to alleviate poverty, spread basic education, and emergency response to disasters and crises.

Between 2000 and 2014, the State of Qatar donated to more than 41 UN bodies or entities.

The Director General of the QFFD stated that the fund has achieved many achievements in this field, the most important of which is the 'Sport for Peace' initiative, which was launched in cooperation with Qatar Charity, and consists of several projects that use sport as a tool to enhance humanitarian and development efforts to consolidate peace in less developed countries and fragile societies.

He pointed out that the fund launched, on the sidelines of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly, the 'Women in Conflict Areas' initiative, which seeks to empower girls and women in conflict areas and marginalized communities, by supporting their resilience, according to the five pillars of the sustainable development goals.

The QFFD works to improve the livelihoods of the poorest communities around the world, by providing financial tools to developing countries in the Arab world and beyond, effective response to humanitarian and development aid, empowering people by promoting education, health, social services, infrastructure and economic development, and building local and international partnerships to make a sustainable impact, and benefit from the experiences, capabilities and skills of the State of Qatar to achieve the desired results, and finally provide services based on pioneering standards and innovative solutions.

Al Kuwari noted that the QFFD signed a number of agreements in 2022 with international institutions, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to launch the Nanmo (growing together in Arabic) initiative concerned with climate change and agriculture in Africa, while continuing cooperation with the Orbis International to complete the process of addressing blindness and eye diseases in Ethiopia.

Qatar also signed an agreement with the International Organization for Migration to support Syrian refugees in the Beqaa Valley and northern Syria, in addition to an agreement with the UN Office of the Special Representative of Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict.

Qatar also signed seven agreements with the Ministries of Education in Uganda, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Pakistan, South Sudan and Haiti, where these agreements focus on opportunities to provide quality education for children outside schools and return them to regular schooling, in cooperation with the Education Above All Foundation and the Educate a Child program to break barriers and face difficulties, targeting about 1.6 million out-of-school children.

At the regional level, Qatar signed an agreement to fund the UNDP to support the rescue operation of the FSO Safer in Yemen in addition to cooperation with the GCC Interconnection Authority(GCCIA) to develop the GCC electrical interconnection system and connect to the southern Iraq network.

At the local level, the QFFD works with a number of Qatari institutions, including Qatar Charity and the Qatar Red Crescent Society, to provide development and urgent assistance. It also works with the Ministry of Public Health, Hamad Medical Corporation, the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya), and the Qatari Amiri Air Force to send urgent aid to Somalia, Somaliland, Afghanistan, South Africa, Pakistan and Sudan. 

HE Khalifa bin Jassim Al Kuwari revealed in a statement to QNA the endeavors to innovate modern methods and technologies to sustain and increase productivity in fragile states with conflicts, especially since the QFFD's most prominent achievement in this regard is the proactive work of humanitarian aid. In Nov. 2021, it signed an agreement with its partner, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) to help Somalia improve its resilience to climate change.

In terms of sustainable economic development amid crises, the QFFD signed in December, under the umbrella of the "Women in Conflict" initiative, an agreement with the Turquoise Mountain Organization as part of the Response and Resilience Program to alleviate poverty in humanitarian crises, through direct support for ways to living for women working in the weaving profession in Afghanistan.

In this regard, the QFFD continues its efforts to find innovative solutions to provide sustainable income and livelihoods, in line with his vision of giving hope, and promoting peace and justice through sustainable and inclusive development.

The Director General of the QFFD stressed that the world is witnessing an increasing number of crises resulting from conflicts and natural disasters, with the increase in long-term crises, and the multiplication of the accompanying effects, such as poverty, hunger, and epidemics, threatening the ability of people to obtain basic rights.

The QFFD is committed to providing foreign assistance through a broad portfolio of financial instruments, including grants, soft loans, commercial loans, guarantees, and development investments, with a focus on the least developed, fragile and conflict-affected countries to develop and empower them and to restore hope to their people, in addition to providing immediate assistance to face the difficult humanitarian conditions that countries around the world are going through, such as facing natural disasters, health epidemics, and other humanitarian crises, especially those that cannot be predicted when they occur.

Qatar has made a lot of relief and development efforts. Within the framework of the urgent response to the emergency humanitarian situation in Gaza, HH the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani granted a of USD360 million financial grant to Gaza Strip. The QFFD is working to fulfill this grant, as it has in in previous years, as it fulfilled many grants from the State of Qatar for the benefit of the Palestinian people.

The QFFD, in partnership with Qatar Charity, provided urgent aid to those affected by floods and rains in Chad, as the aid was distributed to 14,000 beneficiaries. In July, the QFFD sent urgent aid to those affected by the Durban floods in South Africa, via an air bridge of the Qatari Amiri Air Force. In implementation of the directives of HH the Amir to launch an air bridge for those affected by the floods in Pakistan, an urgent relief aid plane of the Amiri Air Force was dispatched, in cooperation with the Permanent Search and Rescue Committee of the Internal Security Forces (Lekhwiya), Qatar Charity, and the Qatar Red Crescent.

In April, the QFFD sent 45 tons of food baskets, for the benefit of 750 affected families in Somaliland; with the aim of addressing the difficult conditions as a result of the drought that struck the region, in cooperation with the Qatar Amiri Air Force.

The QFFD also sent, in cooperation with Qatar Charity and the Qatari Armed Forces, aid to deal with the earthquake in Afghanistan, and two planes carrying aid to support the Sudanese people as part of an urgent relief campaign to address the floods, which contained 62 tons of food aid and 600 tents for families affected by the floods.

One of the QFFD's most prominent initiatives in the education sector is the Qatar Scholarships program, which is one of the initiatives that support the efforts of the State of Qatar in its pursuit of the fourth goal of the sustainable development goals, which is quality education, by offering scholarships to male and female students from developing countries to complete their university education.

Al Kuwari stressed the QFFD's keenness to benefit from the expertise and capabilities of the State of Qatar to achieve the desired results, provide services based on innovative standards and solutions, and empower people by building local and international partnerships to create a sustainable impact.

The Director-General explained that the QFFD seeks to invest in the sectors of infrastructure and climate change, in addition to humanitarian relief contributions, and support the budget of the least developed countries and countries affected by conflicts, in addition to that the QFFD is working to achieve other sustainable development goals, such as the second goal on the complete eradication of hunger and the sixth related to providing clean water and sanitation, and most importantly the 17th on partnerships to achieve the goals.

Source: QNA