Honoring the Fund on the sidelines of marking World Children’s Day

Khodr: KFAED-UNICEF partnership is strategic to support children

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has honored Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) in appreciation for its various humanitarian and benevolent contributions and initiatives provided to children and the society, and in celebration of the Fund diamond jubilee.

The honoring ceremony was held on the sidelines of the Fund’s celebration of World Children’s Day at Abdullah Al-Salem Cultural Center.

During the event, UNICEF Regional Director the Middle East and North Africa Adele Khodr affirmed UNICEF-KFAED solid relationship and strategic partnership in serving children in many countries, and meeting their needs to secure a better future for them.

To find out more about this honoring and its significance, the Fund magazine met with Ms. Khodr, and this is what she had to say:

• To begin with, tell us about this honoring, and what does it mean for the march of development between Kuwait Fund and UNICEF??

Khodr: This year, Kuwait Fund has completed the 60th anniversary of its establishment and celebrated its diamond jubilee. Therefore, we saw that it was important to honor it for this joyful occasion in appreciation for the volume of great efforts it had exerted in serving and improving the living conditions of children in many countries around the world. Thus, marking World Children’s Day presented us with a good timing opportunity to hold this honoring.

It is also so certain that the partnership between Kuwait Fund and UNICEF is a strategic one to support children in countries in desperate need for aid and support.

As it was noted in Kuwait Fund’s former Director-General Mr. Marwan Al-Ghanim’s speech, that this partnership started in 2017, and it has continued successfully on annual basis.

As it was shown in the photo gallery, held in part of the World Children’s Day celebration, there are so many children who are very dependent on the aid provided by Kuwait Fund to meet their necessities such as schools, clean water, essential vaccinations, and treatment of diseases such as cancer.

Therefore, on this occasion, we are pleased to extend utmost gratitude to Kuwait Fund, wishing this partnership to perpetuate and become stronger in the years to come.

• What about the horizon future of cooperation with Kuwait Fund?

Khodr: We have a project aimed to support schools in Lebanon, and another to secure water in Gaza, and another to assist many children in Syria, in addition to development projects for children in Yemen.

The UNICEF specifically focuses on projects in the Middle East region because children in the region’s countries endure so much problems, especially since there are many issues in those countries that have not been solved due to the ongoing political struggles and problems that left countless negative impacts on the people and children, who are mostly affected by such tensions. We hope, through Kuwait Fund aid, to improve the situations for those children.

• Any final word?

Khodr: On behalf of UNICEF and in the name of all children of the world, particularly in the aforementioned countries, we thank Kuwait Fund once again for its efforts to improve the living conditions of children around the world.

Our objective, and in cooperation with Kuwait Fund, is to provide an opportunity for every child to live a decent life similar to his/her fellow children of the world, even if it takes place in countries with most difficult security and economic situations. Thus, we hope to deliver the voice of suffering children via all media channels to the whole world.

It’s good to note that the State of Kuwait is one of the prominent and biggest donors to UNICEF, with contributions amounting to some KD 77 million (around USD 250 million) since 2010.

Kuwait has a clear mark on supporting children directly through providing financial aid to childhood and motherhood-specialized organizations such as the UNICEF, which became one of the significant recipients of Kuwait’s donations due to its pioneering role in the field of direct aid and child-protection activities that aim to build a child welfare.