Where The Money Goes

In Charity Week, the choice of what projects will be funded is in the hands of all of you who raise funds for Orphans and Children in Need. Have a read below and click the link to give your preference as to what should be funded this year.

Rebuilding Syria

As well as providing emergency support, Islamic Relief is committed to helping those in need recover and rebuild after disaster strikes. 

After years of violence and crisis in Syria, the worst earthquake in a century struck, compounding the ongoing tragedy.  The survivors now face extensive damage to homes, buildings and water systems. Islamic Relief swiftly aided rescuers and provided essentials like tents and blankets to support immediate survival needs.

As the cameras and attention move away, we are moving to the next steps of relief, focusing on the rebuilding efforts. This project aims to establish safety & security though permanent homes, rebuild lives though life changing prosthetics & rebuild education! 

Permanent Homes

Almost two million Syrians are living in tents in Northern Syria. These tents are inadequate in providing safe shelter, and leave families suffering from the freezing cold and winter storms, as well as the harsh conditions in the summer.

  • We aim to build permanent homes for families that have survived the earthquake in Syria
  • Each home will be 65 square metres, and be able to host a family-of-five
  • The family will own their new home for life
Prosthetics & Physiotherapy 

Prosthetics can be life changing to allow those with amputations to be more independent, access their education, support their families and upkeep their mental health. 

Those supported are based in North Western Syria, including those affected by the earthquake. 

  • This project will support a prosthetic limb centre with all the necessary equipment and consumables to deliver nearly 350 amputees with upper, lower & bionic limbs
  • The physiotherapy centre will be supported with their costs & maintenance to deliver 8000 free physiotherapy and rehabilitation sessions
Health

Many Syrians find themselves as refugees, and those with health problems can be the most vulnerable. Syrian Refugees in Jordan, requiring life saving regular dialysis due to kidney failure are supported by Islamic Relief. 

  • This project will ensure Syrian patients will continue being cared for, and support their long term care by supplying the unit with 10 dialysis machines and corresponding chairs
  • Health staff will have their training facilitated to ensure up to date knowledge
Education

The project aims to ensure educational opportunities for all children boys/girls, aged 5-17 years affected by the earthquake in north-western Syria and ensure their access to high-quality education in a comprehensive method. 

  • Schools will be refurbished to create a safe and inclusive learning environment for students and teachers
  • This involves maintaining school buildings, sanitary facilities, child-friendly spaces, and other necessary infrastructure

Education

58 million children of primary school age do not attend school, with the majority of them coming from marginalised groups

Quality learning requires a safe, friendly environment, qualified and motivated teachers. A lack of trained teachers, inadequate learning materials, makeshift classes and poor sanitation facilities make learning difficult for many children. Others come to school too hungry, sick or exhausted from work or household tasks to benefit from their lessons.

The consequences: There are an estimated 617 million children and adolescents around the world are unable to reach minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics, even though two thirds of them are in school.

Providing Education for Rohingya Refugees in Malaysia

In the last 6 years the number of Rohingya refugees has increased in Malaysia. Among the challenges as a refugee in Malaysia, one is their restricted access to education as refugees.

Many also struggle with travelling further distances due to lack of personal transport. Thus, the only option is bringing education to them. 

Islamic Relief has created an alternative learning centre for refugees, which will support these efforts by providing educational materials and training to teachers to deliver the Cambridge syllabus, as well as covering running costs of the school and for activities for the students. 

Empowering futures in Pakistan

The resources needed to educate children are simple. A building that is safe with all the services and equipment needed to be functional and teachers who are equipped with the appropriate training to educate and care for the children they are teaching.

This project is a large scale project which aims to:

  • Refurbish educational institutes as well as ensuring accessibility by constructing ramps
  • Install solar panels for sustainable power
  • Deliver teacher's training on safeguarding and protection issues
Upliftment and Sustainability of Schools in Somalia

More than 50% of primary school aged children in Somalia are out of education. This is further heightened with a disproportionate impact among girls, extreme poor & rural children.

This project aims to strengthen the education facilities by:

  • Construction of one school laboratory
  • Purchase and equipping of learning material
  • Rehabilitation of classrooms and Water & Sanitation facilities.
  • Provision of teacher salaries 
Educating children in South Africa

An-Nur is an educational institute, which strives to create inclusivity through team building programs. The vision is to have well educated competent and dynamic youth leaders from within the less fortunate communities, who are able to serve as role models to other youth as well as addressing the socio-economic challenges within their own communities.

Orphans can be one of the most disadvantaged, and this project aims to empower them with knowledge, skills, and emotional support to thrive academically and personally, by uplifting this existing educational centre equipped with qualified teachers, educational resources, and mentoring programs.

Education support for children out of education in Sudan

In 2016, more than half of South Sudan's children were not in school. In 2021, more than 6 million citizens of South Sudan were in great need of humanitarian assistance. Not being able to read impacts individuals’ knowledge of health and food, therefore contributing to a poor community. This project works to: 

  • Support out of school children into formal education or alternative learning
  • Supporting construction or rehabilitation of government schools
Education support for children out of education in Zanzibar

Many children are out of education, even at a primary school level in Zanzibar. Recently the government of Zanzibar made a commitment to the zero out of school initiative. 

  • This project works to identify and enrol children into education
  • Whilst also working on improving school infrastructure and supporting teaching staff
Education for vulnerable children in Yemen

After eight years of conflict, the already challenging task of accessing education in Yemen has been further worsened by economic decline, natural disasters, and a fragmented education system. The dire situation persists as more than 8.6 million school-aged boys and girls urgently require educational assistance, whether they are enrolled in formal schooling or not. Even among the 5.9 million children attending school, the quality of education remains inadequate. Moreover, the cognitive, emotional, and mental well-being of all 10.76 million school-age children in Yemen is a growing concern.

The project's main goal is to improve education access for vulnerable children in Tuban district by

  • Providing support to 2,000 students and families by providing school bags, materials, and kits for grades 1-4 across four schools
  • Upgrading 24 classrooms and gender-sensitive water & sanitation facilities
Providing Education for Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh

It has been six years since Bangladesh received the largest of successive waves of Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar in August 2017. These refugees have stayed in 33 camps in Cox’s Bazar, relying entirely on humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs. Many children in the camps are in need of formal spaces and services for their education.

This project aims to 

  • Establish 5 classrooms for Early Childhood Care, Development and Pre Schooling Practice for 155 children aged 3-5 years. As well as providing them with schooling resources
  • Establish 3 Child-Friendly Learning and Recreation Centers for the children aged 6-14 years, and provide 90 with age-appropriate and need based education materials
  • Establish 3 multi-purpose centers for children aged 15-18 years, and support 90 children with skills development and vocational training

Empowering Children

There are an estimated 153 million children worldwide that are orphans

Children are the most vulnerable, and affected greatly by circumstances which are out of their control. Globally there are an estimated 153 million children who are orphans, who may face ongoing challenges with nutrition, schooling, finances and psychosocial wellbeing.

There are 69 million children worldwide who suffer from malnutrition. Nearly half of all deaths in children under the age of 5 can be attributed to undernutrition, resulting in the unnecessary loss of about 3 million young lives a year. 

Alongside the other projects for CW2023 which focus on Orphans & Children, these support orphans directly or malnutrition for the most vulnerable children.

Orphan Sponsorship in Pakistan, Palestine and South Africa

Children can find themself in unfortunate circumstances where the primary breadwinner suddenly passes away, leaving them and any relatives in need, in the midst of their education and livelihood. 

  • This project aims to continue the ongoing support of orphans to provide either through regular sponsorship payments or funds to continue and complete their education and cover any needed livelihood costs.
Life saving treatment for acute malnutrition in Yemen

Yemeni people continue to bear the brunt of ongoing hostilities and severe economic problems. An estimated 22.2 million people in Yemen need some kind of humanitarian or protection assistance, including 11.3 million who are in acute need. 

At least one child dies every ten minutes in Yemen because of preventable diseases such as diarrhoea, malnutrition and respiratory infections. Malnourished children risk irreversible damage to their development and cognitive abilities. Families locked into cycles of recurring illness and faltering growth are most vulnerable.

This project aims to Improving the nutritional status of acutely malnourished children 6-59 months, pregnant and lactating women by:

  • Screening, identification and referral of acutely malnourished children and pregnant & lactating women (PLW) to the respective feeding/treatment programmes throughout the project. 
  • Treatment of children and PLW with malnutrition through a trgeted supplementary feeding programme throughout the project
  • Procurement and distribution of required medicines and medical supplies/equipment to the targeted health facilities.