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UN Commends UAE Firms For Philanthropy

Friday, 23 October 2009

The United Nations (UN) has commended UAE businesses for going the extra mile in funding aid efforts. UN’s Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has stated that there has been a burst of corporate philanthropy in the Middle East, citing first-time offerings of USD150,000 from the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, or Taqa, and USD100,000 from HSBC Middle East. According to an official, these donations to the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) match global donors such as PricewaterhouseCoopers and Western Union, and will finance relief work after natural disasters. OCHA Head, Sir John Holmes, said, “Rarely a week goes by without us providing resources for emergency assistance and we need to make sure that the CERF never runs dry… That is why the UN calls upon countries, companies, foundations and private individuals to support CERF as generously as they can.” OCHA praised the fact that “private sector leaders in the Middle East are stepping up to help the United Nations”. According to reports, others in the UN system have noted growing interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) across the region. Executive director of the UN Global Compact, Georg Kell, was reported to have described a “small revolution” in which growing numbers of UAE and Middle East firms have joined his programme. Last year, a total of twenty UAE-based companies have enrolled under the UN Global Compact, a voluntary scheme. Participants under the initiative now number at thirty, and include Taqa, beverage-maker, Masafi, and developers such as Sama Dubai and Arabtec.