BoP and Taawon signs agreement to care Orphans of the Gaza war
Bank of Palestine Group and Taawon launched a strategic partnership to provide immediate care and support to thousands of orphans in the Gaza Strip as a result of the war on Gaza. The program will provide needed humanitarian, educational, and health care to the orphaned children left without caretakers in Gaza.
The new program targets approximately 20,000 children who have lost one or both parents and have no family or shelter as a result of the ongoing war. Management of the program will be entrusted to Taawon, who is conducting a field survey and needs assessment of the highest number of orphans Gaza has witnessed to date. Bank of Palestine Group, as a founding partner of the program alongside Taawon, will contribute USD$ 2 million annually throughout the life span of the program. Taawon will provide USD$ 500,000 annually from its institutional and members funds towards the program. This seed funding is designed to encourage other donors and benefactors to follow suit and commit financially to the sustainability of the estimated USD$ 400 million funds needed to cater to the 20,000 orphans in Gaza, from infancy to their adulthood at 18 years.
Hashim Shawa, Chairman of the Bank of Palestine Group, said: “This initiative is of paramount importance and is timely as it is designed to send a message of hope to the thousands of young children orphaned in Gaza as a result of this unprecedented war. The program is expansive in nature due to the growing needs of these children for both physical and psychological care. It aims to provide basic food, shelter, education, health care and sports activities. The program will invest in the training and upskilling of these youth to provide them with best-in-class knowledge and entrepreneurial coaching to help them transition into the real life with solid professional and interpersonal skills.â€
Dr. Nabil Al-Qaddumi, Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Taawon said: “We are elated that through our strategic partnership with Bank of Palestine Group we managed to declare the establishment of this immediate and needed orphans’ program for Gaza. This initiative, although founded by our two institutions, is open for all those interested to support salvage the innocent lives of children victims of this tragic war. The program builds upon the wealth of experience Taawon has in managing relief operations and programs for orphans in the aftermath of previous wars on Gaza. We have worked in the past with Bank of Palestine in implementing many projects in the human development realm and this partnership culminates our history of working together.
Today we join forces again to support these young children in having a better future, rebuilding their lives, providing them and the society at large in Gaza with dignity and hope.†Preliminary estimates from international and local institutions indicate that the number of orphaned children who have lost one or both parents since the beginning of the war on Gaza exceeds 20,000, thus requiring joint and concerted efforts from all bearing their responsibilities.
