The Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC) yesterday unveiled the Al Baraka corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative in co-operation with Eid Charity.
Through the initiative, the ministry aims to promote CSR in Qatar by encouraging businesses to donate a percentage of their profits to charity projects, which will be used to provide aid to families in need, fund community training programmes, provide meals to low-income workers and families and finance the medical treatment of low-income patients, according to a statement from the MEC.
The Al Baraka endowment fund will be established under the supervision of Eid Charity, which aims to collect QR36mn in donations.
“The initiative aims to increase the contribution made by institutions towards community development projects and aligns with the objectives of Qatar National Vision 2030 to promote social justice based on high moral standards and the Islamic values of peace, justice, social solidarity and charity work,” the statement noted.
The Ramadan outreach programme is the fourth in a series of initiatives launched by the ministry to mark the holy month of Ramadan under the theme “#Aqal_Min_Al_Wajeb”, meaning “#the_least_we_can _do” in Arabic.
Tariq Abdul Aziz al-Sada, director of public relations and communications at the MEC, said: “Through this initiative, the MEC aims to encourage companies to contribute to community development and actively support sustainable programmes, which benefit the society and Qatar.
“The success of companies is no longer measured by their profitability alone, but also by their contribution to community development as part of their corporate social responsibility efforts.”
Nawaf Abdullah al-Hammadi, Eid Charity executive manager for resources development and media, said the launch of the Al Baraka CSR initiative, marks a major leap for institutionalised sustainable charity work through the Al Baraka endowment fund.
The Al Baraka initiative, al-Hammadi explained, highlights the active participation of companies and institutions in one of the largest CSR initiatives in Qatar by offering a percentage of their corporate profits as donations to fund humanitarian and charitable projects in support of society.
The ministry, along with Eid Charity, has urged all companies to participate in Al Baraka by filling in the online application form available on Eid Charity’s website, or by visiting the headquarters of the foundation where they can make their donations with the human resources department and then obtain a certificate of registration for the Al Baraka corporate social responsibility initiative.
The Ramadan 2016 initiatives forms part of the MEC’s efforts to provide community-oriented services designed to cover all aspects of its activities in terms of organisation, partnership and support.
These initiatives include sheep subsidies and price caps on consumer products in addition to the organisation of a number of awareness forums and campaigns on trade in Islam and the “Halal livelihood” programme on the ministry’s YouTube channel.
The MEC will also launch the “Iktisadi” bank card campaign and another initiative to bolster the productivity of bakeries and regulate gold and jewellery businesses.
Further, the ministry has stressed that it will intensify its inspection campaigns to monitor markets and business activities, among other initiatives.
It has invited the public to follow its various accounts on social media platforms, including Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube under the name MEC_QATAR and to subscribe to its WhatsApp account on the number – 66111400.