Aug 14 2002 – Muslim Aid Australia is to play a leading role in a new alliance of Muslim charities who have agreed to work together on projects to assist the needy Muslims of South East Asia. At the close of a two-day NGO summit held last weekend in Malaysia and convened by Muslim Aid UK, delegates representing 21 NGOs signed a Memorandum of Understanding formally launching ‘Muslim Aid South East Asia NGO Alliance’.
A total of 50 delegates, representing the 21 NGOs from eight countries, attended the conference held in Kuala Lumpur. Guests representing local corporations and organisations such as the Islamic Development Bank also took part as observers. The countries represented were United Kingdom, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, Philippines and China (Hong Kong). A representative of a Sri Lanka NGO also took part as an observer. Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, the Chairman of Muslim Aid UK, chaired the conference.
NGOs representing 5 countries – Britain, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong will form the donor base and made pledges for 3 consecutive years to a pool to be administered by Muslim Aid U.K. A 7 member Technical Committee chaired by Muslim Aid Australia and comprised of donors and specialist NGOs was formed. It will receive and scrutinise applications for local poverty relief, capacity building and development projects from the region and forward the approved application to Muslim Aid U.K. for the release of funds.
The Alliance will implement long and medium term developmental projects in the deserving South East Asian countries to help the underprivileged and eradicate poverty. The Alliance hopes to hold similar NGO conferences in the area annually. The continuation of the Alliance will be reviewed at the end of its 3-year term. The Alliance will work towards capacity building of NGOs in the region and help them share best practices amongst each other.