Qatar Development Fund, a Doha-based public development institution, signed a $50 million grant agreement to an initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Doha yesterday.
The new funding is aimed at helping The Lives and Livelihoods Fund (LLF), a $2.5 billion (AED 9.2 billion) sharia-compliant fund founded last year by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to implement five-year-long poverty-focused programmes in some of the IDB member countries.
The grant agreement was signed by Khalifa bin Jassim Al-Kuwari, general director of the Qatar Development Fund, Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali Al-Madani, the first president of the Islamic Development Bank, and Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
HE Sultan bin Saad Al Meraikhi, the assistant of the country’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, was also present.
“We aim to reach the 30 member least developed countries in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Asia and Africa , Al-Kuwari said, adding that the Lives and Livelihoods Fund is meant to develop primary healthcare, disease control, smallholder agriculture and basic rural infrastructure the IDB’s least-wealthy 30 members.
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