(FAQs)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Among them are widows, orphans, the homeless and disabled, and refugees.
We also champion poor people’s rights through campaigns on food rights, and education.
Working through our offices and partners, Islamic Aid’s fight against poverty has reached millions of people in Africa and Asia.
Since our inception in 2000, we have supported projects in over 12 countries worldwide, making a real, long-term difference. In many country we support long-term projects.
Wherever we work, we always make sure that our programs are created in collaboration with local people, often working very closely with partner organisations, to ensure that we are addressing the real root causes of poverty, rather than just alleviating the symptoms.
We see poverty as an injustice and poor people as partners in tackling the causes of poverty.
We never try to impose solutions, but work with communities over many years to strengthen their own efforts to throw off poverty. We constantly ask ourselves how we can make the greatest impact with our resources.
Other things that make us different from other development agencies are:
our long-term grassroots development approach our innovative ways of working on basic education, healthcare and livelihoods our rights-based approach to emergencies our close partnerships with local organisations in developing countries our committed, long-term supporter base our lack of affiliations with any religious or political groups.
Campaigning works – it’s as effective as giving a financial gift.
Governments are responsible for building the frameworks needed to give people their basic rights, so we also encourage poor people to hold their national and local governments to account.
We also work with governments, locally and nationally, to help them build their knowledge and skills so that they can fight poverty effectively in their own countries and international arenas.
We do, however, occasionally have opportunities for volunteers in the UK, usually in London. Volunteers can help us maximise our efficiency, achieve our aims and bring new skills, experience and perspectives to our work. At the same time we believe that volunteering can offer valuable training and work experience, as well as a chance to directly contribute to our work.
Accountability – to poor people is central to our work, as is accountability to our donors. How we spend their money is something we take very seriously.
In 2020, for every £1 donated for our donors we were able to spend £1.18 directly on our work for the poor. This is because all our us work as unpaid volunteer and our very admin and fundraising costs are covered from the tax we reclaim from the HMRC.
When appealing for funds we make every effort to be very clear about the purpose for which they are being raised. Through rigorous monitoring and auditing systems we ensure that money is being spent effectively and efficiently and for the purpose intended.
When you sponsor a child with Islamic Aid, your contributions go straight to projects in that childs’s community. It’s a fantastic way to gain an insight into the difference that your donation can make, and build up a personal relationship with a child on the other side of the world.
Some of our sponsors are also involved in a prorammes which allows us to use sponsors’ money wherever the need is greatest in each country, helping us support difficult-to-reach groups such as migrant workers and orphans.
