JEDDAH — Funded the Global Muslim Philanthropy Fund for Children (GMPFC), projects worth $12.1 million will be implemented in partnership with UNICEF, for refugee children in Bangladesh, Jordan, and Pakistan. The heads of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief), and Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair Refugee Education Fund held a virtual meeting this week to approve the first batch of projects funded by the GMPFC, which was launched at the UN General Assembly in September 2019. The Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair Refugee Education Fund and KSrelief are the GMPFC's first donors and have contributed $10 million and $9.2 million, respectively to launch the fund's operations. According to the agreement, KSrelief will fund lifesaving healthcare for children and women, in addition to providing nutrition support for children under the age of five, and pregnant and nursing mothers in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, where around 1.2 million Rohingya refugees and the local population need humanitarian assistance. As for funding from the Abdul Al Aziz Al Ghurair Refugee Education Fund, it will be directed to Jordan which hosts more than 650,000 registered Syrian refugees. It will support vulnerable children and young people between the ages of 12 and 24 to strengthen their opportunities for learning and wellbeing, and in particular, to support their positive transition into adulthood. KSrelief's donation will support immunization coverage and health services for children under the age of five in selected districts in Pakistan, which will help reduce child deaths in the country which saw 250,000 children dying this year.
