Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 3 August 2021 - A launching ceremony was held for the strategic partnership with NAMA Foundation on 3rd of August 2021.

The event was officially opened by Dr. Mansur Muhtar, Vice President, Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and H.E. Sheikh Abdelelah Salim A. Bin Mahfouz, Chairman of the Executive Committee, Board of Trustees, NAMA Foundation (NAMA) while Mr. Amer Bukvic, IsDB’s Acting Chief Product and Partnership Officer delivered the closing remarks of the ceremony.

The launching of the strategic partnership comes in the wake of an earlier joint agreement between IsDB President, Dr. Bandar Hajjar and Chairman of NAMA’s Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees, Sheikh Abdelelah Salim A. Bin Mahfouz. The agreement was signed in mid-June 2021 to support the IsDB – ISFD NGOs Empowerment for Poverty Reduction Program (Tadamon). The Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD) is IsDB’s poverty reduction arm.

Through this new and innovative partnership with civil society as a developer, NAMA, a non-profit foundation, will direct US$ 2 million to support Tadamon through the institutional capacity of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in selected Member Countries. This is considered as an important target of the resource mobilization efforts of the civil society practice of the Resilience and Social Development Department - increasing the financial base of the program - to support the hard-to-reach communities in the member countries.

The IsDB - ISFD NGOs Empowerment for Poverty Reduction program was officially launched in September 2019 on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. It is an innovative and transformative partnership initiative derived from the existing IsDB NGOs Program, ISFD mandate and the new strategy 2030 to reduce poverty in OIC member countries and IsDB policy-level and strategic engagement with the Civil Society.

The program's goal is to contribute to reducing poverty in IsDB member countries through development and humanitarian initiatives. More specifically, it empowers CSOs to improve the socio-economic well-being of hard-to-reach communities by better identifying impactful CSOs. It also supports them in increasing the education of refugees and remote communities, creating jobs, building resilience, and contributing to a more robust community livelihood.