Doha: Moving from its humanitarian and moral role, and in commitment to its responsibility as an active partner in the international community, the State of Qatar is always keen to play a leadership role in providing humanitarian and development assistance to those in need across the world. The State of Qatar has become one of the most prominent global leaders in these fields, and has enjoyed effective strategic, development and humanitarian partnerships, especially in war and conflict zones, in addition to its initiatives supporting efforts aimed at reducing humanitarian needs worldwide, including Asian countries and societies, thanks to the sound directives of the wise leadership, and in line with the country's National Vision 2030. The development and humanitarian aid and initiatives provided by the State of Qatar cover various fields, especially education, health, and economic empowerment, in targeted countries and communities around the world including the Asian continent and countries included in the tour of HH the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani. In this regard, the contributions of the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) and its positive impact are highlighted, as it was able to make change in fragile and marginalized communities around the world, by supporting basic resources, development programs and projects, this has had a significant and direct impact on people's lives in dozens of countries around the world, including the countries of the Asian continent. The QFFD's contributions to Bangladesh, Nepal, and the Philippines, which are the countries included in the tour of HH the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, amounted to 26 million and 852 thousand and 948 USD, during the period from 2019 until February 2024. In the Republic of Bangladesh, the QFFD made notable contributions, including in the education sector, where the fourth program for developing primary education there was supported for the benefit of 650,000 children who are not enrolled in school, during the period between 2021-202 3. In the health sector, the first phase of the "Qatar Creating Vision" initiative was launched in 2016 in partnership with the Orbis Charitable Trust in Bangladesh, which continued until 2019, as the program aims to prevent childhood blindness and refractive error and provide high-quality eye care for children. Through the Orbis programme, this project was launched and implemented in southeastern Bangladesh to improve eye care for Rohingya refugees in the region and for residents in Cox's Bazar. Also, among the QFFD's projects in Bangladesh is a Inclusive and Integrated sanitation and Hygiene Project in 10 priority Towns in Bangladesh through the "Live and Livelihood Fund" initiative, which was launched by the Islamic Development Bank and development cooperation partners in 2016, the project was supported by the QFFD in 2018. The project aims to ensure good lives and livelihoods for 1.4 million citizens in ten cities, by providing a good and healthy life and significantly reducing the incidence of water -borne diseases and protecting the environment, by providing sustainable sanitation and hygiene facilities and services, and to provide protection for soil and groundwater from microbiological contamination, through the construction of a standard containment designed on site targeting 77,000 families. The project, which began implementation in 2022, will also provide job opportunities and create businesses for more than 1,000 people. The QFFD and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) also signed a five-year agreement for the period 2021-2025 by providing a contribution of USD10 million to support the alliance's efforts for equitable and sustainable access of vaccines to low-income countries, ensuring the provision of vaccines and means of delivery to eligible countries and ensuring that unvaccinated children receive the first dose of the vaccine and immunization services. Accordingly, and within the agreement, the Education Above All (EAA) foundation signed a framework agreement with the GAVI in December 2023, an amount of USD2,500,000 has been allocated to support the immunization of out-of-school children in the Republic of Bangladesh. Regarding the contributions of the QFFD in Nepal, the Fund is implementing educational projects to support 159,211 out-of-school children through the initiative to register children out of school and break the cycle of poverty, this is in several countries, including Nepal. The project is being implemented during the period 2021-2027 with a contribution from the Fund. In the Republic of the Philippines, the QFFD, within the framework of the permanent support provided by the State of Qatar to the Republic of the Philippines, responded to the Hurricane Barbing disaster that struck the Republic of the Philippines in 2023, causing catastrophic floods to entire towns and villages in the southern region of the country, affecting more than 5.9 million people. In this regard, the QFFD supported a relief project in cooperation with the Qatar Red Crescent Society (Q RCS) and the Philippine Red Cross, to help thousands of people affected by the floods, and to aid them, by providing shelter, drinking water and food, as well as providing financial assistance to farmers and livestock owners whose farms were damaged. In turn, the QRCS works to improve the lives of the poor and needy around the world, including the Asian continent, by mobilizing humanitarian forces for their benefit, under the umbrella of the basic principles of international humanitarian work, which are humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality. During the past five years from 2019 to 2023, 23 Asian countries have benefited from the projects, initiatives, and programs of the QRCS, including the countries included in the tour of HH the Amir. The volume of aid provided by the QRCS to those countries combined during the period amounted to QR 666 million 200 thousand and 868 from which 25 million 739 thousand and 896 people benefited. During the past five yea rs, QRCS has activated its Emergency Information Management Center 40 times to respond to disasters and humanitarian crises on the Asian continent. The QRCS pointed out that it is targeting eight Asian countries during the current year: Palestine, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Bangladesh, to implement 100 projects in the sectors of health, food, shelter, water, sanitation, livelihood and education at a total cost of QR114 million, benefiting 855 thousand people. Qatar Charity too has had extensive and significant efforts in the field of humanitarian interventions, development projects and social care in the countries of Southeast Asia. Qatar Charity has been working in this region since the 1990s, in the fields of development, relief and social care through its field offices or partner agencies, whether international or local organizations, as millions of people there from Nepal, Bangladesh, the Philippines and others have benefited from its interventions. In the field of developme nt projects, Qatar Charity implemented 33,759 projects in the fields of health, economic empowerment, food security, water and sanitation, social housing, education and culture, in the period from 2020-2024, more than 8.7 million people have benefited from it in Bangladesh, Afghanistan, India, Nepal, the Philippines, Kyrgyzstan, Hong Kong, Pakistan, in addition to Afghanistan and Indonesia. In the relief field, the number of beneficiaries during the period (2019-2024) reached more than 6.3 million people affected by crises and disasters in 8 countries: Afghanistan, the Philippines, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. Areas of relief intervention included food supply, comprehensive relief, social cohesion and livelihoods, education, shelter, health, and non-food items. In the field of social care, the number of sponsored persons in Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philippines has now reached 18,704 sponsored persons, including orphans, families, students, and people with disabilities, as they are provided with comprehensive care within the "Rufaqa" initiative in the educational, cultural and health fields. In addition, Qatar Charity implements seasonal projects for the benefit of the sponsored, including projects for Iftar, Zakat al-Fitr, Eid clothing, sacrificial animals, bags, and school uniforms, over the past five years, more than 79,000 people in Nepal, 604,841 people in Bangladesh, and more than 79,000 people in the Philippines have benefited from these seasonal projects. Since the exodus of Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh until now, Qatar Charity continues to aid them in the areas of food, health, and shelter, as the total beneficiaries of these projects and assistance for 5 years (2019 - 2023) reached about 1.5 million refugees on the islands of Cox's Bazar and Bhasan Char Island in Bangladesh. These projects and assistance implemented by Qatar Charity were praised by the competent authorities in Bangladesh and international organizations working in the country. Qatar Charity's ai d in Bangladesh is not limited to Rohingya refugees only. It has provided relief aid to needy families in Bangladesh, benefiting more than 23,000 people, while it has implemented more than 10,000 development projects, benefiting more than 4 million people. As part of its concern for its sponsored orphans, Qatar Charity has been able to build more than 49 orphanages and centers until the year 2022, which include schools, boarding departments, and other facilities, benefiting about 13,000 students, it currently provides care for approximately 10,614 orphan children and seeks to secure a bright future for them. Among these projects are the Social Welfare Center for Girls, the Khubaib Bin Adi, the Kubaisi Center, and the Sakha Center, in addition to the Godagari Center and the Pollachi Center, benefiting hundreds of thousands of orphan students. In Nepal, Qatar Charity's presence dates to 2016, to meet the urgent needs of local communities. It has dedicated its efforts to humanitarian and development initiativ es that raise the standard of life and promote positive change. Qatar Charity's office in Nepal is the cornerstone of humanitarian and development efforts in the region, and was ranked among the top 5 international NGOs in Nepal in 2021. Since 2020 until now, Qatar Charity has been able to implement 3,371 projects that contributed to meeting the needs of more than 1.1 million people in the sectors of education, livelihoods, economic empowerment, water and sanitation, social housing, care, and health. More than one million people also benefited from relief aid, which included the distribution of winter materials, food baskets, comprehensive relief, and health and medical supplies to confront the winter and the Corona epidemic. In the Philippines, Qatar Charity implemented 947 development projects that benefited 56,520 people. It sponsors 1,423 orphans, needy families, and students. Since its establishment in 2012, the Education Above All Foundation, as one of the leading global institutions in the field of education and development, has also played a remarkable and very vital role in providing quality education, ensuring access to it in needy and poor communities and countries, including Asian countries, as well as in areas of dispute and strife, through a wide range of programs and initiatives. Its educational and development initiatives and projects, which it has continuously launched for hundreds of millions of children and youth around the world through its various programs and organizations, and its effective strategic partnerships, have received wide international welcome and praise, because it responds to the needs and aspirations of the needy, the poorest, most vulnerable and fragile peoples, and in terms of strengthening development work efforts internationally and regionally, including the Asian continent, in order to achieve the sustainable development goals set by the United Nations. It is clear the extent of the significant positive impact of the remarkable Qatari humanitarian and development eff ort and work in Asian countries, on the basis of established human values, and within a strategic context for sustainable human development, and full conviction in Qatar's vital role and what the relevant Qatari institutions are doing in building strategic partnerships to achieve the goals of charitable and development work, and building bridges of communication for all targeted countries and communities in Asia and the entire world so that they can live with pride and dignity. Source: Qatar News Agency