Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: Dr. Abdullah Omar Nasseef, the President of the World Muslim Congress (WMC) attended the 8th General Annual Meeting of the International Islamic Relief Organization Saudi Arabia (IIROSA) held at Jeddah, on 9th of May, 2013. The meeting reviewed the organization's achievements of the previous year 1433 (2012).

Under the supervision of the Secretary General of The Muslim World League, the president of the Board of Directors, IIROSA Dr. Abdullah Al-Muhsin Al-Turki, has implemented 1342 projects and programmes that benefitted more than four and a half million needy people with a total amount of SR 120 million. These expenditures are not from the money given by the donors the majority of whom belong to the government and the people of Saudi Arabia.

Plight of Syrian people
Last year witnessed the worsening plight of the Syrian people. Their sufferings were alleviated when the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz, launched a popular campaign for their relief. IIROSA is one of the first organisations that responded to the campaign by distributing thousands of food baskets to the Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Moreover, IIROSA provided 1,052,00 blankets and thermal quilts, 145 thousand stoves and 135 thousand meals. The IIROSA also established centres for receiving Syrian refugees in Lebanon and provided them with diesel for heating during winter.

IIROSA is also performing simple and major surgeries for patients and wounded persons as well as distributing free medicines in addition to implanting artificial limbs to some Syrian refugees who suffered from amputation when leaving their country. Saudi Ambassador visited the centre that was established by IIROSA for receiving Syrian refugees in Bakaa region. He expressed his pleasure on the role played by IIROSA and its continuous and unremitting efforts to assist the refugees and alleviate their sufferings. In the inauguration ceremony three protocols of coordination were signed between the IIROSA and Lebanese service sectors. Furthermore, the IIROSA has sponsored more than 8000 male and female students of Syrian refugees.

IIROSA's activity during the fiscal year 2011-12
IIROSA's services during the fiscal year 2011-12 reached 57 countries in the world starting Jakarta in the east to the Sao Paulo in the West translating its slogan relief development and rehabilitation.

IIROSA manages its charitable works through seven main programmes. Through the Social Welfare Programmes in terms of expenditure during the fiscal year 2011-2012, the total spending on its programmes reached SR 32.5 million. The programmes benefitted 37,195 orphans in 26 countries.

Second: This programme is followed by the Emergency Relief Programme with a total amount of SR. 29 million. That benefitted 3 million affected people in 13 countries.

Third: The Community Development and Seasonal Projects Programme with a total amount of SR. 27.4 million.

Fourth: the Engineering Department with a budget of more than SR. 11 million for building mosques and drilling wells. The programme benefitted 43 thousand people by establishing 98 mosques and 115 wells.

Fifth: The Education Welfare Department with a total amount of SR 8 million that benefitted 54 educational institutions that accommodated 56, 125 male and female students in addition to sponsoring 29 teachers and providing 349 scholarships.

The Health Care Programme with a total amount of SR 7 million that benefitted 334 thousand patients through 35 health projects in 20 countries.

Sixth: The Holy Qur'an Programme with an amount of SR. 4.8 million that was used in sponsoring 338 preachers and 304 Qur'an teachers in 29 countries.

As IIROSA's mission is pioneering the humanitarian and institutional work in a way that serves people and achieves reconstruction and development, and as it is a widespread international organization IIROSA has chosen the partnerships and alliances as its strategic choice. Thus, IIROSA is currently a member in 16 councils, organizations, initiatives, in forums, unions, offices, networks and committees on the local and international levels.

IIROSA has also coordination and partnership relationship with more than 13 UN international and regional organizations. Furthermore, it has signed a number of partnership and cooperation agreements in Saudi Arabia and abroad to implement relief, developmental health and environmental projects.

It has formed a team of outstanding Saudi persons to supervise the implementation of the programme. In a step that is considered a quantum leap and excellent way in providing services to the beneficiaries, IIROSA has concluded an agreement with Deloitte and Touche Co. to implement the Restructing Project; project that may take to new horizons of quantitative and qualitative development in the world of management of money. This restructuring is related to the developmental aspects of IIROSA's activities in the aim of keeping pace with modern requirements of relief and development work based on quality and transparency.

As IIROSA is keen to sustain its projects and protect them from the effects of the economic fluctuations, it has started investing in many endowments in Makkah to use their income for its several programmes. This organisation is currently working on four giant endowment projects, that include tower hotels, as follows Beyout Allah Relief endowment project No (7) the 3rd Ring Road, Orphans Relief Endowment, Project No (8), Ajyad Al-Sad, Community Development Relief Endowment, Project No. (11) Ibrahim al-Khaleels Street, Misfalah, Health Care Relief Endowment, Project No. (12), Aziziah Main Street.

IIROSA has implemented some programmes in Saudi Arabia to prove its local presence and to contribute to the community development. These programmes include Employment and Training programme that aims at providing job opportunities to the Saudi citizens, males and females, and qualifying young people by training them. This programme has benefitted a number of prisoners' families in order to protect them from deviation as well as a number of university graduates and high school certificate holders.

Moreover, IIROSA has implemented Local Programmes for the Productive Families that aims at empowering women and supporting their role in the family. This programme has benefitted groups of widows, divorcees and orphans living in charity houses.

New Executive Leadership
Last year, IIROSA witnessed the transition of its executive leadership from its former Secretary General Dr. Adnan Ben Khalil Basha to Mr. Ehssan Ben Saleh Taieb. The inauguration of the Acting Secretary General has concurred with many important activities which reflect IIROSA's regional and international status. Thus the Secretary General has participated in many local and international activities, including the Consultative Meeting called for by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and hosted by Qatar Charity to provide relief assistance to the Rohingya people in Myanmar; The Consultative Humanitarian Meeting for Syria that was held in Istanbul; The International Conference in Fatwa held in Indonesia by the Fiqh Council of the Muslim World League (MWL).

Its Objectives
The objective of the IIROSA is to be among the first three organizations that provide relief for the disaster-stricken areas around the world; to be a reference in the field of charity work; to bring performance levels of staff at par with global professional ones; to implement the international quality standards; to achieve strategic partnerships with countries, organizations and individuals in the same field; to be one of the best 10 internationally accredited organisations in developing and implementing the reconstructions and development programmes; to achieve self-financing for all projects; to make the media one of the main foundations of its work and to contribute to preserving the environment and natural resources by rationalization of the consumption of electric power and power as well as reducing paper clutter.

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