WB Delegation visits Al-Takaful headquartersHousing City Project tops agenda [Archives:2004/725/Reportage]
April 1 2004
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Yemen Times
Headed by Mr. Stephen Karam, Senior Urban Economist, Finance, Private Sector and Infrastructure of the Middle East and North Africa Region, the WB delegation has recently paid a visit to the Taiz-based Association for Solidarity and Social Care, Al-Takaful. During his visit, Mr. Karam has been accompanied by Mr. Shukri Al-Furais,
The Al-Takaful Secretary-General, Mrs. Rasnanna Nitti, Urban Specialist, Mr. John Bryant Collier, Operations Officer. During the meeting with the WB delegation, a number of vital issues have been discussed including, Housing City Project to accommodate victims of flood disasters. On his part, the Al-Takaful Secretary-General has given explanations to the delegation concerning accomplishment and progress achieved by the Al-Takaful, its supervision on the Housing City Project as well as rehabilitating the beneficiaries. The delegation has expressed its happiness with regard to the ever-increasing growth of the Al-Takaful in providing social services and raising awareness among the beneficiaries. It is worthwhile mentioning that the Al-Takaful has been founded on January 6, 1997 and considered to be one of the most active charitable associations in supporting humanitarian activities in Yemen. “Al-Takaful's main mission is to fight poverty, developing society through sustainable development and this can be achieved through mapping out plans and programs to train and rehabilitate most of poverty-stricken families for the benefit of the beneficiaries” the Al-Takaful Secretary General remarked. It is worthwhile mentioning that a WB delegation visited Taiz at the end of 2002 and headed by Mr. Ben-Achour, the WB representative. During the meeting with Mr. Ben-Achour at the Al-Takaful headquarters, an emphasis was placed with regard to mapping out an extensive work plan in order to keep pace with progress and implementation of the civil works in raising awareness among the beneficiaries and paying an attention to their health, environmental and social problems.
Housing City Project
The Housing City Project aims basically at protecting the victims of flood disasters of an area of 46.929 square meters. It includes 244 housing units and has been financed by the WB in cooperation of local philanthropists and some institutions. More that 244 families who fall prey to flood disasters in Taiz have been given a hand by the Al-Takaful. Such segment of the society has become the focus of the focus of the attention of Al-Takaful members in different angels such as, raising awareness among those people to know all there is to know about their civil rights, helping them to look for job opportunities. The Al-Takaful has been entrusted with supervising the implementation of the project according to a contract signed by the concerned authorities. The overall cost of the Housing City Project which is currently under construction has been totaling USD 3 million. It is due to be completed during the mid of 2004.
Al-Takaful's development programs
– Rehabilitation, training and holding periodical workshops
– Supporting the poor families' project.
– Housing people who were exposed to flood catastrophes including the Al-Takaful Housing City.
– Financing small project's programs.
– Raising environmental awareness programs.
Children as a hot issue
Since its establishment, the Al-Takaful has been engaged to so many problems including the street children phenomena. Its concern has come as a result of its strong belief in that children are the budding talents to rely on for a better tomorrow. This is a actually a tangled problem which is dire need of an immediate tackling in order to improve children's conditions in a country plagued with limited resources, economic crises, lack of public awareness on children issues, etc. Accordingly, the Al-Takaful has made strenuous efforts to promote the rehabilitation and protection of street children and guide them to the right way and tries to help them to depend on themselves and their own living.
Al-Takaful highly praised
A host of businessmen, social dignitaries and politicians have highly praised the Al- Takaful efforts in rendering philanthropic services in different fields. “The Al-Takaful is a pioneering model in our country that worthily deserves the trust of all,” a prominent figure commented. The WB has increasingly come to appreciate the great value that NGOs can bring to development work. In Yemen as in many other countries, the WB has tries to build trust and cooperation between NGOs. Yemen is one of the most active partners in the Middle East and North Africa in terms of ongoing projects, which are concentrated on education, training, water, sanitation, and public sector administration and policies.
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[archive-e:725-v:13-y:2004-d:2004-04-01-p:report]
