Islamic
Relief Worldwide (IRW) today signed a landmark agreement with the
United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) which will help the delivery
of food and aid to the world’s hungry and poor.
The Memorandum of Understanding is a result of years of co-operation between the two organisations.
The partnership will cover everything ranging from emergency food
distributions in the aftermath of man-made or natural disasters to long
term rehabilitation programmes for countries recovering from
emergencies.
Dr Hany El Banna, President of IRW, believes the biggest winners from
the agreement will be the millions living in poverty and starvation
around the world.
“In the past decade and without this MoU, IRW and WFP have jointly
implemented a wide range of programmes. Those programmes have been
successful because they combine Islamic Relief's community-based
approach and rapid response capacity at the grass roots level with the
WFP's ability to mobilise resources and expertise,” he said.
He further added: “I am very happy with this formalisation of our
relationship, as the signing of this MoU brings this successful
cooperation to the fore.
“As such, this MoU offers new opportunities to further improve the way
in which we serve the world's poorest communities, and our ability to
empower them to lift themselves out of poverty.”
Islamic Relief’s operations currently span more than 20 countries, including some of the world’s poorest nations.