Kuwait’s KFAED as a beacon of hope, assistance to UN and global organizations
The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) has launched numerous initiatives throughout the past 50 years granting and loaning millions of dollars to the UN and international organizations, which contributed to sustainable development in many countries.
The first KFAED cooperation occurred in 1974 through a grant to the World Health Organization (WHO), contributing to the River Blindness Control Program in Africa, a campaign that highlight Kuwait’s role as a beacon of hope and assistance.
Over the past five decades, KFAED has provided numerous UN organizations with multiple grants totaling USD 400 million, with USD 290 million of it going to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to enhance health, food, and water security, and help refugees.
In a statement to KUNA, KFAED’s Acting Director General Waleed Al-Bahar, said that this reflected Kuwait’s foreign policy aimed at providing humanitarian support to people all over the world, especially in Arab countries.
He added that KFAED works in full coordination with Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry and is considered one of the most prominent official national entities supporting foreign policy.
KFAED has worked with a number of international organizations over the past five decades, among them the UN’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the UN’s Development Program, the Office of the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the UN’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and especially WHO.
Al-Bahar added that KFAED, through the granted it provided to those organizations, executed a great number of humanitarian projects and initiatives that directly contributed to combating diseases and epidemics.
KFAED continuously contributes to supporting the Palestinian cause through its humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people and the grants provided to UNRWA, which amounted to about USD 22.5 million, which focused on developmental and educational aspects and providing water, food, and health security.
The grants to UNICEF amounted to about USD 21 million, which aimed to support the organization’s efforts to combat famine and the cholera outbreak in Yemen, South Sudan, Nigeria, and Somalia.
In addition, the KFAED provided clean water to the Gaza Strip, measles vaccines to Syrian and Lebanese children in Lebanon, and supported mothers and newborns in areas affected by conflict in Yemen.
Al-Bahar also added that the grants to UNHCR amounted to about USD 22 million, the last of which was a grant to contribute to financing an infrastructure project for the internally displaced and host communities in Yemen.
KFAED was established on December 31, 1961, with the aim of helping Arab countries and other developing countries develop their economies, its operations focused on contributing to financing infrastructure projects in various sectors.
Source: KUNA
