Amir fetes scientific excellence
Kuwaiti and Arab scientists and researchers honored at KFAS awards ceremony
The Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) held a prestigious awards ceremony for the years 2022 and 2023 at Bayan Palace theater on Wednesday. The 40-year-old tradition honors scientists and researchers from Kuwait and the Arab world who have excelled in their fields.
The ceremony was held under the patronage and in the presence of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and was attended by key dignitaries, including His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, and senior government officials. Upon arrival, His Highness the Amir was warmly welcomed by Dr Ameenah Rajab Farhan, Director General of KFAS, and members of the foundation’s board of directors. The event commenced with the Kuwaiti national anthem, followed by a recitation from the Holy Quran.
In her speech, Dr Farhan highlighted the foundation’s longstanding commitment to honoring scientific excellence. She emphasized the pivotal role KFAS plays in advancing research, fostering innovation, and enhancing Kuwait’s global competitiveness. She likened the foundation’s mission to a thriving tree: its roots deep in knowledge, its branches expanding across borders, and its fruits benefiting society.
Dr Farhan said it was more important than ever to invest in Kuwait’s human capital and benefit from the minds and experiences of its people. The future demands a forward-thinking approach, she said, and KFAS is dedicated to developing knowledge, skills, and technologies that will shape a prosperous tomorrow, she said. The foundation works tirelessly to place Kuwait at the forefront of scientific advancement and ensuring that research directly contributes to societal progress, she added.
Dr Farhan also acknowledged the legacy of the late Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, whose vision laid the groundwork for the foundation’s success. “It is his legacy that has shaped the path of KFAS, and today we continue to build on his wisdom and foresight,” she said.
Following the speech, His Highness the Amir personally presented the awards to the winners in various categories, including the Jaber Al-Ahmad Prize for Young Researchers, Kuwait Prize, and Al-Sumait Prize for African Development. The ceremony concluded with a presentation of a commemorative gift to His Highness the Amir, symbolizing gratitude for his continued support of science and research in Kuwait. His Highness’ personal involvement in the award distribution highlighted the importance of science in shaping a brighter future for the nation. /Kuwait Times
Kuwait supports Syria unity, warns against demos
Kuwait’s ministry of foreign affairs is “monitoring, with great interest the current developments in the sisterly state of Syria, stressing the necessity of maintaining the country’s unity”. In a statement issued Sunday, the ministry affirmed the need of respecting Syria’s independence and sovereignty over its territories, ensuring protection of Syrians and stopping their bloodshed.
The ministry voiced on Monday Kuwait’s strong condemnation and denunciation of Zionist forces’ occupation of the buffer zone on the Syrian border. The ministry said the move is a flagrant violation of international laws and the UN Security Council resolutions that stress the necessity of respecting Syria’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.
Meanwhile, the ministry of interior cautioned on Sunday that it would take strict procedures against expats partaking in joyous marches that may include “administrative deportation from the country”, stressing “the need of abiding by laws”. The ministry affirmed taking decisive steps against any expat involved in such marches, as they may obstruct movement, lead to traffic congestion or violate public decency, it added. — KUNA
IICO’s Dr Al-Maatouq highlights Kuwait role in protecting human rights
Chief of the International Islamic Charity Organization (IICO) Dr Abdullah Al-Maatouq underscored Kuwait’s efforts in protecting human rights and supporting those affected by conflicts during a speech at the Russia-Islamic World Strategic Vision Group meeting, held on Dec 10-12 in Kuala Lumpur. The meeting, attended by Russian Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, focused on advancing engagement between Russia and the Islamic world in an era of emerging multipolarity.
Dr Al-Maatouq highlighted Kuwait’s longstanding commitment to dialogue and humanitarian diplomacy, aimed at mitigating the impacts of wars and conflicts while promoting global cooperation. He noted Kuwait’s pivotal role as the first Gulf state to establish diplomatic ties with the Soviet Union in 1963, emphasizing the importance of further strengthening relations with Russia.
He called on the Strategic Vision Group to advocate for global stability, security and peace by urging the international community to pursue peaceful solutions, prioritize negotiation and dialogue and promote genuine peace in conflict areas.
The meeting explored the evolving relationship between Russia and the Islamic world, emphasizing cooperation in establishing a multipolar global system, ensuring sustainable development and enhancing political, commercial, cultural, humanitarian and religious ties. Among the 200 participants in the meeting was Kuwaiti Consul in Malaysia, Marzouq Al-Enezi. – KUNA
Society for Student Support pays school fees for 379 students
Chairman of the Kuwait Society for Student Support Abdullah Al-Sabej praised the significant efforts and contributions of the Awqaf Secretariat General, particularly Acting Secretary General Nasser Al-Hamad and Director of Waqf Funds Maareb Al-Yaaquob. He acknowledged that the Secretariat has consistently demonstrated outstanding efforts since its establishment as the official body responsible for managing the Waqf, ensuring it aligns with Shariah objectives, while also contributing to societal development and easing the financial burdens of the needy.
The society has received crucial support from Waqf funds to implement a project aimed at assisting needy students attending private schools in 2024. In response, the society has developed an operational plan that includes the formation of a committee to assess the cases of students in need and select the most deserving individuals. As part of this initiative, school fees have been covered for 379 financially struggling students.
Al-Sabej expressed his gratitude to the Secretariat General for believing in the charitable mission of society and their ongoing support for its activities to help students in need. /Kuwait Times
"Namaa Charitable Society" Ranks First in Kuwait and 54th Globally in Supporting Humanitarian Aid
In a world filled with escalating humanitarian crises, charitable work emerges as a noble message reflecting values of giving and humanity. In this context, Namaa Charitable Society, part of the Social Reform Society, achieved a new milestone that adds to its record of accomplishments, securing first place at the national level in Kuwait, and 54th at the global level in the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) ranking of organizations supporting humanitarian aid.
In a statement, Abdulaziz Ahmed Al-Kandari, Vice President of Namaa Charitable Society, said that this achievement comes at a time when the world needs more continuous charitable efforts to support vulnerable groups affected by conflicts and natural disasters. He emphasized that this success was not a mere coincidence but the result of diligent work and sustainable humanitarian partnerships that Namaa has pursued since its inception, aiming to fulfill its vision of enhancing humanitarian values and supporting afflicted communities worldwide.
Al-Kandari noted that Namaa excelled by achieving the first position, highlighting the society's capability to serve as a model for institutional charitable work. This achievement reflects the distinguished status that Namaa has now occupies in the local arena as one of the entities recognized for its efficiency and speed in delivering humanitarian aid to those in need, adhering to the highest standards of transparency and justice.
He continued by stating that on the international stage, the UNOCHA included Namaa Charitable Society in the list of the top 100 charitable organizations worldwide, ranking it 54th globally. He pointed out that this global classification is a testament to the relentless efforts exerted by Namaa in the neediest areas, which includes emergency relief projects, educational programs, healthcare, and refugee assistance.
This global ranking comes in light of Namaa's success in building a network of humanitarian relations with international organizations, achieving high efficiency in emergency response and meeting urgent humanitarian needs.
Al-Kandari emphasized that the excellence achieved by Namaa was not a coincidence but the result of key factors. He mentioned that Namaa plans its projects carefully, ensuring sustainability and rapid response to crises and disasters while adhering to standards of integrity and transparency in distributing aid, ensuring that every donation reaches its rightful recipient in the best possible manner. Furthermore, its projects have expanded beyond just distributing relief materials to include education, healthcare, water, and economic empowerment, making its impact broader and deeper. Additionally, Namaa is known for its quick response in disaster times, such as earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, the crises in Gaza, as well as conflict areas in Yemen and Syria. The support from the people of Kuwait for Namaa and their continuous backing has been the real fuel for this success. Donors have been central to this achievement; they are partners in the reward and contribute to alleviating the suffering of those affected around the world.
Kandari pointed out that there are many projects that have contributed to enhancing its position locally and globally. Among the most prominent of these projects are relief campaigns, education campaigns, and the care of orphans, which provide children in conflict areas with education, clothing, and school supplies, as well as health relief projects that focus on providing emergency health care in war and disaster areas, and sustainable initiatives that emphasize providing sustainable income sources for poor families, such as sponsorship and agricultural production projects.
Kandari added that every donor who contributed to the support of Nama Charity has a share in this great achievement. Contributing to Nama projects, whether through a simple donation or sponsoring an orphan, means that you are a partner in this success; therefore, we say: Thank you, our esteemed donors, for you are partners in success. This message is not just a thank you but a call to continue giving because the humanitarian impact of every donation, no matter how small, contributes to raising Nama Charity’s international ranking and ensures that aid reaches those who deserve it, positioning Kuwait at the forefront of countries that uphold the banner of humanity. He emphasized that this achievement is not only for Nama but for all of Kuwait; the government and the people, expressing gratitude to all donors and contributors to this blessed journey.
Kandari concluded his statement by saying: This ranking is not the end of the road, but the beginning of a new journey of achievements. We at Nama Charity affirm that this achievement compels us to commit even more to diligent work, improve operational processes, and enhance transparency in performance. The message that Nama carries will not stop at the limits of success but will continue to realize Kuwait’s humanitarian vision and reaffirm its position as a beacon of humanitarian work in the region and the world.
ICCO concludes the Learning Difficulties Treatment Project for Syrian refugees
- Al-Ma'touq: The project responded to the substantial gaps left by the Syrian crisis in the educational system
- Al-Amin: The project has produced comprehensive scientific guidelines for addressing learning difficulties and developed specialized training programs
- Al-Qazah stated: "Education is one of the effective means of building human capital to alleviate poverty."
- Al-Sumaït stated: "The project aims to address the educational losses resulting from the conditions of displacement and refuge or emergency crises."
- Al-Subeihi: The project needs to continue providing more services to Syrian refugees.
The Islamic Charity Organization held a ceremony on Monday, December 9, to mark the conclusion of the project "Addressing Learning Difficulties for Syrian Refugees and Displaced Persons in Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey," in a successful and fruitful strategic partnership with the Islamic Development Bank, the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development, the Human Excellence Association, numerous Arab universities, academic institutions, and a group of experts and researchers.
The ceremony reviewed the educational outputs of the project and the stages of its preparation over four years, including monitoring, building, training, application, evaluation, and dissemination, and announced its outcome as the first unique educational project focusing on a clear methodological detailed map for diagnosing and addressing learning difficulties at the elementary level in emergency situations.
For his part, the chairman of the board of the Islamic Charity Organization, Dr. Abdullah Al-Ma'touq, expressed his highest gratitude and appreciation to the political leadership for its pioneering role in supporting charitable and humanitarian efforts and its commitment to enhancing Kuwait’s prestigious humanitarian standing on the global humanitarian map.
He stated: "The Syrian humanitarian crisis has continued for more than 13 years, dominating the agenda of the Islamic Charity Organization as one of the most prominent tragedies of the century and one of the most catastrophic disasters currently." He pointed out that more than 13 million Syrians have been displaced as refugees or internally displaced, praying to God for their safe return to their homeland amid the current developments in Syria.
Al-Ma'touq added that the charity organization has continued its qualitative humanitarian interventions in cooperation with its partners inside and outside the country, along with its volunteer teams, in an effort to alleviate the suffering of displaced individuals inside and outside Syria, noting that it has implemented thousands of shelter, relief, development, cultural, and social projects since the onset of the crisis in 2011, with a total cost of 110 million and 677 thousand dollars.
He also noted that the educational sector has remained a significant focus within the organization's humanitarian interventions in Syria, indicating that it has spent more than 13 million dollars over the past seven years on sponsoring Syrian students, establishing educational institutions, and launching rehabilitation programs, benefiting around 80,000 students, teachers, and administrators.
He pointed out that the Learning Difficulties Treatment Project for Syrian refugees and displaced persons emerged as a response to the Syrian crisis, which left substantial gaps in the educational system, necessitating the provision of scientific and studied solutions to the problems faced by thousands of students and teachers in educational institutions accommodating displaced and refugee children.
Al-Maqtouq stated that the project is one of a series of educational pathways that the Islamic Development Bank has undertaken as part of its pioneering initiative to support the education program for Syrian refugees and displaced persons, under the slogan "So that no Syrian child remains deprived of education."
He added that the project was funded through a joint contribution exceeding two million dollars, as part of the strategic partnership between the charitable foundation, the Islamic Development Bank, and the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development, with implementation by the Human Excellence Association. He pointed out that the project is aligned with the strategic vision of the charitable foundation, which aims, within one of its focus areas, to culturally and educationally build individuals by providing high-quality educational and rehabilitation opportunities.
For his part, the representative of the Islamic Development Bank, Mohammed Al-Amin, said in his speech: "The project has produced comprehensive scientific evidence to address learning difficulties, encapsulating the experiences of 164 academics, as if it were a knowledge garden with various trees and different fruits. It has produced specialized training programs that are deeply rooted in practical experience and extend their branches to shade thousands of teachers and learners."
He added: "The project's outputs include a comprehensive electronic platform that serves as a primary reference for teachers and researchers in the field of learning difficulties, containing thousands of educational resources, dozens of standardized tests, and hundreds of innovative remedial activities."
In turn, the representative of the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development, Khamis Al-Qazah, stated: "The Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development is the financial endowment arm to combat poverty in the member countries of the Islamic Development Bank. It has been working for nearly twenty years on developing and funding initiatives and projects to combat poverty in its various forms across different sectors."
He continued: "Given the importance of education as one of the effective means for building human capital to alleviate poverty, this sector has constituted an important area in the Fund's portfolio, representing 20% of the Fund's total approvals, or nearly $260 million. This funding has been directed to support programs and projects aimed at addressing real issues faced by many Islamic countries, such as the phenomenon of out-of-school children, vocational illiteracy, the scarcity of scholarships for students from least developed countries, technical and vocational training, and language education."
Al-Qazah noted that the program for educating Syrian refugee children, to which the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development contributed a grant of $7 million, represents one of the distinguished and successful programs that has been implemented in several phases in collaboration with various partners in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey.
The Director-General of the Charity Authority and Chairman of the Supreme Committee supervising the project, Badr Al-Sumeit, stated that the project is the result of a unique strategic partnership, where sincere efforts have come together to implement a one-of-a-kind project aimed at serving the most affected groups. He attributed the significant success achieved through this partnership to the spirit of teamwork, the distribution of roles among partners in a way that serves the project’s goals, and the approach to problems and obstacles with a spirit of impartiality and openness.
Al-Sumeit mentioned that the project seeks to address educational loss resulting from conditions of asylum, displacement, or emergencies, by building compensatory programs and producing educational materials and curricula to address students' issues, reduce the phenomenon of school dropouts, train teachers, and support educational institutions in emergency situations. He added that 22 academic, technical, and administrative teams, comprising a total of 164 academics and experts from 12 Arab universities, worked diligently to prepare, build, and design the project, aiming to find sustainable solutions to the issues faced by approximately 15,000 students, as well as more than 2,000 teachers, in addition to numerous educational institutions and academic and research entities.
He continued that the teams have been working diligently and commendably to formulate this project, beginning with the "monitoring" phase, which saw the foundation and establishment of the project in mid-2021, and outlined a methodological plan to accomplish its six phases through 27 volumes, which contained 420 studies on learning difficulties and 402 scientific tools and measures.
He pointed out that the outputs of the first phase came through the design of 14 questionnaires for teachers, which were applied to 1,085 teachers, as well as 33 diagnostic tests for students, applied to 11,500 students, in addition to 9 documents representing the fundamental reference for identifying learning difficulties in primary school subjects.
For his part, Khalid Al-Subeihi, president of the Human Excellence Association, stated that the project included six main stages: monitoring, construction and design, training, application, evaluation, and dissemination. The team concerned with the project included 164 educational experts and academic professors from 12 Arab universities. The project benefited 15,000 students among the Syrian refugee students in Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey, in addition to training 2,000 teachers working in schools for Syrian refugees and in institutions operating in the field of education in emergencies.
Alhyat Charity Society Launches a Cancer Patient Treatment Project in Kuwait
As part of its health initiatives to support needy patients in Kuwait, the Alhyat Charity Society has launched the "Cancer Patient Treatment" project, aimed at providing healthcare and medications for those in need.
Dr. Mohammed Al-Barak, the association's project and programs consultant, stated that the project aims to restore hope to cancer patients in Kuwait and provide psychological support along with all forms of assistance throughout the treatment journey, including examinations, medications, medical supplies, and support for hospitals and specialized medical centers treating this disease for those who cannot afford it.
He added that the "Cancer Patient Treatment" project is a means of charity and compassion for patients; because this disease, may God protect us all from it and grant healing to those afflicted, causes severe pain, and the costs of its treatment and medications are high, which many patients cannot afford due to financial constraints.
Al-Barak urged benevolent individuals to quickly contribute to and donate for the project, given the urgent need for patients who seek relief from their suffering. Charity is a great source of reward and the pleasure of God Almighty, so let us make it a donation for those burdened by illness and tormented by pain, as the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Whoever is in need of his brother, God will be in need of him."
Donations for the Cancer Patient Treatment project are available through the Al-Hayat Charity Society's website alhyat.org or by calling the hotline 1844455.
Namaa Charity delegation heads to Sri Lanka to provide urgent relief
As part of its ongoing humanitarian efforts to alleviate the suffering of those affected by natural disasters, Nama charity, under the Social Reform Association, announced the departure of a relief delegation to Sri Lanka to provide urgent relief assistance to families affected by the recent floods that have swept the country, causing severe losses in lives and property.
The delegation is led by Khaled Mubarak Al-Shammari, director of the relief department at Nama charity. The visit aims to carry out comprehensive field relief operations, including the distribution of food baskets to those affected, in addition to providing other essential needs for families suffering from a shortage of food and clean drinking water.
In this context, Al-Shammari stated that this visit comes as part of Nama charity's commitment to its humanitarian and relief duty towards the afflicted peoples around the world. He emphasized that the delegation will work on distributing hundreds of food baskets containing essential items needed by the affected families to alleviate their suffering in light of the harsh conditions they are experiencing.
Al-Shammari explained that Nama charity always upholds the principle of "rapid emergency response," coordinating with relevant authorities and local and international partners to ensure that aid reaches those in need as quickly and efficiently as possible. He pointed out that Sri Lanka is one of the areas that requires an urgent response due to the extensive damage caused by the floods and landslides in various regions.
Al-Shammari affirmed that the State of Kuwait has been and will continue to be present in all humanitarian fields, and that the efforts of Nama charity are not just financial support but also a message of solidarity and love that reflects the noble humanitarian values held by the Kuwaiti community.
He expressed his gratitude to the donors and supporters of Nama charity, who contributed to the implementation of these urgent relief campaigns, calling on philanthropists to continue their support to reach the largest possible number of affected individuals. He emphasized that every donation helps bring smiles to the faces of those in need and restores hope to their hearts.
In conclusion, Al-Shammari stressed that Nama charity will continue its humanitarian journey in pursuit of achieving Kuwait's vision as a leading nation in global humanitarian and relief work, expressing his eagerness for further cooperation with international organizations to meet the needs of the affected populations around the world.
