Qatari Humanitarian Organizations Launch Campaign to Support Somali People

Doha, June 07 (QNA) - A joint campaign to support Somalia will be launched in Qatar on Sunday by four Qatari humanitarian organizations, namely Qatar Red Crescent Society, Qatar Charity, Silatech and Education Above All Foundation. The campaign is under the supervision of Regulatory Authority for Charitable Activities and supported by Qatar Fund for Development. Announced today at a press conference, the campaign aims to raise more than 60 QR million to meet the humanitarian and development needs of the Somali people and provide water, health, education and economic empowerment services, as well as humanitarian intervention in flood-affected areas to provide shelter, food and medical supplies. The projects' list will include the drilling and rehabilitation of wells, rehabilitation of water systems, livelihood projects, support for the agricultural sector, children's education, building and rehabilitation of schools and health centers, treatment of patients, distribution of food baskets, establishment of social centers, and rehabilitation of roads. Somalia is suffering from acute crises, perhaps the most serious of which is the famine that threatens 6.2 million people, nearly half of the population, because of water shortages, according to statistics from international organizations and United Nations institutions. There are up to 2.5 million displaced persons, and more than 400 thousand who need urgent medical assistance, these statistics indicated, adding that Somalia has low enrollment rates in education, where the rate of enrollment in primary education is 30 percent and 26 percent in secondary education. At the press conference, representatives of the Qatari humanitarian organizations stressed that this campaign is a reflection of the spirit of solidarity between the Qatari and Somali peoples and the official and popular stance of the State of Qatar in support of Somalia in all circumstances and in response to the humanitarian situation in this brotherly country, as a result of recurrent drought and unstable situations due to conflicts. Qatar Charity's Executive Director of International Development Department Mohamed Ali Al Ghamdi said that this joint campaign is a religious, humanitarian and moral duty towards brotherly Somalia, stressing his confidence in the people of Qatar to support the campaign to meet part of the humanitarian needs of the Somali people in the areas of water, health, education, food, shelter and other relief and development projects. He pointed to the deteriorating situation of various sectors of education and health services in Somalia and poor infrastructure and lack of food and medicine, as well as the problems of displacement as a result of disasters, floods and conflicts, adding that reports of international organizations reveal the difficulty of the humanitarian situation in this country, which is trying to recover. Executive Director of Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) Youssef Abdullah Al Sada said that recent floods have displaced nearly 700,000 people to double the suffering of this Somali people, stressing that this humanitarian campaign aims to alleviate their suffering. He explained that the QRCS will work through this campaign in various areas of Somalia in the sectors of health care, food security, water, sanitation, education and emergency relief intervention. The QRCS, which has been operating in Somalia since 2000, had managed to implement quality projects over the past years for nearly 900,000 people directly, and for about 4.5 million people indirectly, he said. CEO of Silatech Sabah Al Haidous said the humanitarian situation in Somalia requires the cooperation of institutions concerned with humanitarian work, and the support of all sectors as well as the donations from the people of Qatar to alleviate the suffering of Somalis through this campaign, which seeks to extend relief assistance to those affected by drought, famine and poverty in Somali regions. She added that Silatech's participation in the campaign is a continuation of its hard work in combating poverty and youth unemployment, which are one of the most urgent problems in Somalia. "We are trying to invest the energies of young people in the development of this country and to protect this enormous human wealth from falling prey to extremist groups," she said. Silatech, which has been operating in Somalia since 2012, had managed to secure 33,400 jobs for young men and women in Somalia by facilitating the access of young entrepreneurs to finance and labor markets and training them to contribute to the development of promising sectors in that country, she said. Mohammed Jassim Al Naama, from the department of resource development of the Education Above All Foundation, said that this campaign aims to support the local community, which faces great challenges that affected greatly the indicators of sustainable economic development, services and others. He pointed to the prominent role played by the Education Above All Foundation in Somalia through its work over the past years to realize its development mission, which seeks to achieve human, social and economic development by providing quality education and meeting the needs of children, youth and women suffering from poverty, conflict and disasters. "We seek to empower these groups to become active in this society, contribute to the process of development, and achieve stability," he said. The Education Above All Foundation, he said, believes that education is the cornerstone of progress and prosperity and is the catalyst for unleashing the potential of individuals and promoting peace, cooperation and sustainable development. Therefore, it works in this area through its four programs: "Educate a Child","Al Fakhoora", "Protecting Education In Insecurity And Conflict", and "Reach Out To Asia". The representative of the department of resource development of the Education Above All Foundation said that the foundation will use its capacity and network of international relations and partnerships to serve the cause of education in Somalia, which records the lowest enrollment rate of children in primary education in the world, noting that UNICEF statistics indicate that 4.4 million Somali children are not enrolled in education. He said that, through its "Educate A Child" program, the foundation will contribute to the provision of primary education to children not enrolled in education, classroom construction and rehabilitation, the provision of educational materials to schools, the training of teachers in child-centered curricula, and the development of the capacity and potential of community educational committees in the field of school administration. He added that in Somalia, the foundation is seeking through its work to address a number of obstacles to girls' education, such as social, economic and cultural barriers, through social mobilization campaigns to promote gender equality in the right to education. He noted that in 2014, the foundation and UNICEF started the "Formal Education for Out Of School Children in Somalia" project, providing primary education for approximately 64,000 children aged 6-4 years, building, qualifying and furnishing 800 classrooms, providing teaching materials for 308 schools to enhance the quality of education as well as organizing training programs, capacity development and others. Al Naama said that the foundation continues with Mercy Corps to achieve its current project, Fair Access to Sustainable Primary Education for Out-of-School Children in Somalia, which extends for three years and seeks to provide good and fair educational opportunities for 109,372 Somali children not enrolled in classroom in the southern, central, Puntland and Somaliland regions. Speakers at the press conference urged good people of Qatar, individuals, institutions and companies to support this campaign to help the affected people in Somalia and to stand by them to promote development and achieve security and stability. On 27th of Ramadan, Qatari humanitarian institutions will launch live radio and TV broadcasting to rally support for the campaign along with their campaigns across different media channels and social networking platforms. (QNA)