In order to strengthen collaboration and governance in the area of Islamic social finance, the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR and the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) have signed a three-year memorandum of understanding (MoU). This aims at developing Islamic finance tools for the benefit of the world’s most vulnerable refugees and internally displaced persons.
The AAOIFI is collaborating with the UNHCR to exchange areas of expertise, create zakat governance standards for international humanitarian organizations and develop other areas of Islamic philanthropy for the UN body.
“Collaboration and partnerships with financial institutions and Islamic finance infrastructure organizations such as the AAOIFI is at the core of the UNHCR’s Refugee Zakat Fund engagement strategy. No impact can be achieved otherwise in response to the global displacement crisis affecting over 70 million people today,” said Khaled Khalifa, the UNHCR’s senior adviser on Islamic finance and regional representative to the GCC countries.
“We very much welcome the signing of this landmark MoU with the AAOIFI, capitalizing on their extensive expertise in Islamic finance, especially in light of the COVID-19 outbreak ... this pandemic is an emergency on top of an emergency,” added Khalifa.
Omar Mustafa Ansari, AAOIFI’s secretary-general, said: “We are pleased to embark with the UNHCR on this purposeful journey, which can tailor Islamic social finance tools for the benefit of the refugees. We look forward to building a strategic partnership to engage Islamic financial institutions and other industry players in the global humanitarian response to support refugees.”
In 2019, the UNHCR launched its Refugee Zakat Fund. Last year alone, the fund assisted more than 1 million beneficiaries in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Mauritania, Yemen, Bangladesh and Malaysia. This year, the fund continues to capitalize on partnerships to double this impact, especially amid the COVID-19 emergency.
