UNDP Launches a Solidarity Campaign in the Arab States

By May 27, 2020 May 27, 2020 News

The Solidarity Against COVID-19 campaign aims to engage communities in supporting local solutions to this global crisis.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has launched a solidarity campaign intended to engage communities in supporting local solutions in countries across the Arab States region which have been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The campaign is part of UNDP’s corporate individual giving program, which was recently launched to fully mobilize key assets and resources in COVID-19 preparedness, response and recovery initiatives, while continuing to support sustainable human development at the global and local levels. The program provides access to centralized tools to facilitate crowdfunding campaign creation, helping to mitigate the impacts of economic reversals and widespread loss of income across all five UNDP regions. Further detail about UNDP’s corporate initiative can be found here.

Entitled Solidarity Against COVID-19: Together we are one!, the campaign offers communities across the region and the world an opportunity to learn about the inspiring and selfless efforts people are making to prevent the spread of the virus, show solidarity and especially cope with the impacts of economic reversals and widespread loss of income. The campaign, which coincides with the holy month of Ramadan, also offers people the opportunity to sponsor select initiatives designed to reach the most vulnerable, with all proceeds going directly to the projects featured.

In its framework for the immediate socio-economic response to COVID-19, the United Nations details five key streams, which place communities at the center of recovery efforts, including helping people cope with adversity, through social protection and basic services; protecting jobs, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises and informal sector workers through economic recovery programmes; and investing in community-led resilience and response systems.

As the UN’s lead agency on socio-economic impact and recovery, UNDP will provide the technical lead in the UN’s socio-economic recovery efforts, supporting the overall coordination role of the Resident Coordinators, with UN teams working as one across all aspects of the response.

“Humanity needs leadership and solidarity to defeat the virus. With this campaign, UNDP offers communities across the Arab States a way to engage in supporting local efforts to address the crisis. I am glad to launch this initiative as part of our contribution to socio-economic recovery, particularly of vulnerable populations, in countries across the region,” said UNDP Administrator Mr. Achim Steiner.

As part of the UN System response to COVID-19, UNDP further advances its critical support to countries in responding to the socio-economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The campaign is launched as countries and communities across the Arab States region have been hit hard, not only by the health crisis but also its socio-economic impacts – especially among vulnerable communities in low-income countries and countries facing fragility.

“This solidarity campaign takes on special significance as it is launched during the Holy Month of Ramadan. We will be deeply grateful for the generous support of our partners and individual donors for #١٩معاًنواجهكوفيد – #TogetherAgainstCOVID19. These funds will be used to support the most vulnerable, as part of our overall COVID-19 response effort,” said UNDP Regional Director (OIC) for the Regional Bureau for Arab States, Ms. Sarah Poole.

The projects featured in the solidarity campaign are carried out by UNDP Offices in Djibouti, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Somalia, State of Palestine, and Syria, and their profiles underscore both the depth of needs across the region and the agility of UNDP’s response with local partners. Further detail on each initiative can be found here.

To learn more:

Follow #TogetherAgainstCOVID19 in social media, visit UNDP’s central donation pageread more about the first wave  of crowdfunding projects to be carried out by UNDP Offices, or take action to support one of them today.