A new report highlights Saudi aid’s contribution to the wellbeing of developing countries

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Humanitarian relief packages have helped displaced communities survive the winter along the Pakistan border. Arab News.

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Since the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in 1970 calling on economically advanced countries to contribute at least 0.7 percent of their gross national income to developing countries in aid, the worldwide need for humanitarian and development assistance has moved in only one direction: Upward.

The latest Global Humanitarian Overview notes that 235 million people are in need and face an uncertain future, and that the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered “the deepest global recession since the 1930s.”

Looking on the bright side, however, the past two decades have seen many aid conferences and fund-raising events being organized and a steady increase in the number of aid providers. The humanitarian and development assistance provided by Saudi Arabia alone is a testament to the significant impact that foreign aid, in combination with clear policies, efficiency and accountability, has been making on the lives of people in the recipient countries.

In 2020, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs financial tracking service showed that Saudi Arabia ranked sixth among the world’s most generous donors, providing 3 percent of global humanitarian aid. In October 2021, the Kingdom ranked third among the world’s top donors, its share of humanitarian assistance having risen to 5 percent.

For quite some time, the assistance provided by Saudi Arabia neither received the media recognition it merited nor found prominence in international aid platforms. The Kingdom itself did not publicize data or reports related to foreign aid, opting to keep a low profile in keeping with Saudi culture and the Islamic practice of preserving the dignity of the recipient during charitable giving.

But now, a research paper titled “Why the World Needs Partnership with Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia’s Global Humanitarian and Development Aid,” has shed light on how assistance provided by Saudi Arabia to developing countries worldwide has contributed significantly to their well-being.

Published by the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, the paper unpacks the Kingdom’s humanitarian and development agenda, outlining the various categories of aid, where it is disbursed (by country and region), the targeted sectors and how it has evolved over time. It also highlights Saudi assistance to developing countries in their efforts to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and support provided to in-country refugees.

The author of the paper, Makki Hamid, who is the director of research and information at King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, said the Saudi Fund for Development, the Kingdom’s primary development aid provider, has generously financed projects in different fields — notably health, agriculture, irrigation, electricity and transportation — over the years in a large number of countries.

“Saudi development aid has been provided in forms of grants and concessional loans and has provided significant funding as budget and deposits in central banks of many low- and middle-income countries,” he told Arab News. “Such budget support and deposits contribute to strengthen and enhance the economy of these countries.”

As the paper notes, Saudi Arabia has an extensive history of providing aid to developing countries affected by natural disasters and countries in need of immediate assistance. It was reporting its aid data to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development–Development Assistance Committee for many years as an aggregated data set, until in 2018, when it became a participant member of the OECD–DAC, represented by KSRelief.

KSRelief began collating data from the Kingdom’s different aid providers to proceed with overseas aid via the UNOCHA Financial Tracking Services, the OECD-DAC and the International Aid Transparency Initiative.

Currently, Saudi Arabia provides several categories of Official Development Assistance — namely, humanitarian aid (given during emergencies), development aid (for improving the economic and social well-being of developing countries), and charitable aid (which is provided for cultural or religious purposes, such as building mosques or supporting Hajj pilgrims).

Saudi ODA is provided as financial assistance or in-kind assistance in the form of goods or services to a recipient’s organization or country. It can include food aid, vehicles, logistic support, medical supplies, medicines and equipment. The assistance is delivered through the Saudi Fund for Development, KSRelief and other donor entities registered under a unified database, the Saudi Aid Platform, established by a royal decree in 2018.

Additionally, Saudi Arabia provides aid bilaterally through governments, national non-governmental organizations, international NGOs, and multilaterally through institutions such as the UN agencies concerned and the Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations.

Through strategic partnerships, Saudi Arabia, a founding member of the UN, has provided financial aid totaling $5.2 billion to different UN agencies, with the World Food Program receiving the most ($1.9 billion), followed by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East ($955.5 million).

“Saudi Arabia provides bilateral aid based on a vigorous needs assessment to the countries and institutions eligible to receive such aid. Humanitarian and development projects are carefully identified and risk assessment is done before funding is dispatched,” Hamid told Arab News.


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