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Citizens own 86% of donor institutions in KSA, says study

February 18, 2017

Jeddah, Feb 18: Bureaucratic hurdles and a lack of qualified personnel are among the major challenges facing philanthropic works in the Kingdom, a study revealed.

ksaThe King Khalid Foundation (KKF), Riyadh, recently conducted a study, titled “Donor Institutions in the Kingdom: Facts and Figures” in cooperation with the Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement.

The study mentioned about regulations and laws, lack of competent actors capable of implementing programs, pursuing funding and uneven cash flows as other barriers in carrying voluntary services.

The report was released at a ceremony held at the KKF headquarters in which several speakers represented a number of nonprofit organizations from within and outside the Kingdom, including Princess Al-Bandari bint Abdul Rahman Al-Faysal, director-general of the KKF; Dr. Abdulaziz Almagushi, assistant director-general of the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud Foundation; Hassan Al-Damluji, head of Middle East Relations at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and Dr. Ali Aouni, head of the Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement, besides several leaders and activists representing a number of donor institutions’ and the nonprofit sector in the Kingdom.

Princess Al-Bandari said that the need for adequate information about the philanthropic institutions in the Kingdom was the key reason to conduct this study.

Stressing the study was still not over, the princess said it needed to explore ways to support dialogue on their role in the society, making them a catalyst for societal transformation for the better.

She asserted that the foundation is very interested in research studies and gives this aspect much attention within the aim of bringing about change and positive impact on society.

According to the study, 86 percent of donor institutions are “privately” owned by Saudis; royal institutions amounted to 12 percent; while 66.1 percent of them are autonomously implementing their programs. The study also showed that 7.4 percent of them grants loans to individuals or institutions, or offer in-kind donations.

The study showed that 7.62 percent of the grants and special programs of the donor institutions in the Kingdom are directly channeled to individuals, while 9.55 percent of them channel their funding to charity organizations.

As to the work of these institutions, the study revealed that the education sector ranked first, where the proportion of institutions that allocate part of their grants and programs for this sector is 71. 2 percent; then came the family sector, health, community development, and care of the disabled.

The KKF said it carried the comprehensive survey of the voluntary institutions to study the nature of these bodies, nature and amount of funding they receive and also how they distribute the funding.

This is besides the sectors they operate, their budgets, the extent of convergence among themselves in order to promote qualitative and quantitative knowledge about them and to make available documented data and evidence about the scope of their contribution to local development and compare them globally, it said.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

Kuwait, Aug 2: Kuwait has barred entry of foreign passengers from over 30 countries including India and China.

A circular from the Director General Civil Aviation, State of Kuwait directed all airlines operating at Kuwait International Airport to adhere to the instructions in this regard.

"Based on the decision of the Health Authority in State of Kuwait, no foreign passenger coming from the down listed countries will be allowed to enter the State of Kuwait," the circular read.

These include- India, Iran, China, Brazil, Colombia, Armenia, Bangladesh, Philippines, Syria, Spain, Singapore, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Iraq, Mexico, Indonesia, Chile, Pakistan, Egypt, Lebanon, Hong Kong, Italy, North Macedonia, Moldova, Panama, Beirut ,Serbia Montenegro, Dominican Republic and Kosovo.

The circular stated that such restriction will also include the passengers were present 14 days before the date of travel until further notice.

The ban was announced the same day Kuwait began a partial resumption of commercial flights according to Khaleej Times, which quoted authorities stating that Kuwait International Airport would run at about 30 per cent capacity from Saturday, gradually increasing in coming months.

According to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University, Kuwait has reported 67,448 cases of coronavirus while the fatalities related to the virus stand at 453.

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Agencies
July 31,2020

Makkah, Jul 31: Organising this year's scaled-down hajj required "double efforts" by Saudi authorities amid the coronavirus pandemic, King Salman said Friday after being discharged from hospital following gall bladder surgery.

Only up to 10,000 people already residing in the kingdom are participating in this year's pilgrimage, compared with 2019's gathering of some 2.5 million from around the world.

"Holding the ritual in the shadow of this pandemic... required reducing the numbers of pilgrims, but it obliged various official agencies to put in double efforts," 84-year-old King Salman said in a speech read out on state television by acting media minister Majid Al-Qasabi.

"The hajj this year was restricted to a very limited number of people from multiple nationalities, ensuring the ritual was completed despite the difficult circumstances," he said.

The speech came on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim festival of sacrifice, a day after the king left hospital following a 10-day stay for surgery to remove his gall bladder.

The hajj, which began on Wednesday, is one of the five pillars of Islam and a must for able-bodied Muslims at least once in their lifetime.

Authorities implemented the "highest health precautions" during the rituals, the king said.

Pilgrims, who were all tested for the virus, are required to wear masks and observe social distancing.

For Friday's "stoning of the devil", the last major ritual of the hajj, Saudi authorities offered the pilgrims pebbles that were sanitised to protect against the pandemic.

In a sign that its strict measures were working, the health ministry reported no coronavirus cases in the holy sites on Wednesday or Thursday.

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Agencies
June 18,2020

Riyadh, Jun 18: Minister of Tourism Ahmed Al-Khateeb said that Saudi Arabia will resume tourist activities at the end of Shawwal (June 21) after a hiatus of more than three months due to lockdown measures imposed following the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic.

The minister made the remarks during a television interview after chairing the emergency meeting of the Arab Ministerial Council for Tourism on Wednesday. He said that the current indications are positive and that the Kingdom is ready to launch the summer program, which will be a boost for domestic tourism.

“It was revealed in a research study carried out by the Tourism Authority that 80 percent of Saudi citizens want to take advantage of domestic tourism. We will launch the domestic tourism program for the public after having made necessary coordination with the Ministry of Health and the concerned higher authorities,” he said.

Several Arab tourism ministers and officials of the relevant organizations attended the meeting, which discussed the challenges that the region’s tourism sector is facing due to the pandemic. Al-Khateeb pointed out that the Arab Ministerial Council for Tourism, headed by Saudi Arabia, held the virtual session in exceptional circumstances to discuss ways to get out of this pandemic and revitalize the tourism sector.

“Saudi Arabia has initiated a package of financial stimulus activities with a total value of more than $61 billion to protect jobs and businesses and reduce the economic burden of the crisis. The domestic tourism sector has benefited from it as one of the important economic sectors, as it covered 60 percent of salaries of Saudi employees in the private sector for a period of three months,” he added.

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