Islamic Relief Orphan Projects

Your donations at work!

Islamic Relief offers a chance for donors to provide relief to thousands of orphans around the world through two different funds: One-to-One Sponsorship and Orphan General Fund.

Islamic Relief donors are now sponsoring over 27,000 orphans in 22 countries worldwide. Our One-to-One Sponsorship program gives you the chance to support an orphaned child in Asia, Africa, the Middle East or Eastern Europe.
With your commitment we can support these children with the care they need, providing them with food, shelter, healthcare, education and emotional support.

Islamic Relief’s Orphan General Fund allocates assistance to orphans all over the world, irrespective of their participation in the One-to-One Sponsorship program. Islamic Relief’s orphan support projects aim to provide basic necessities to orphans, improve their health and nutrition, implement projects within the community and support the orphan educationally, socially, and morally.

Last year, in 2007, Islamic Relief offered many projects assisting orphans and their families. Below are just a few examples.

Bangladesh - Community Based Orphan Redevelopment

Location: Cox’s Bazar, Rajbari, Rangpur, Thakurgaon, Sunamganj, Bangladesh
Annual Beneficiary Target: Approximately 1,700
Project Purpose: To provide education and healthcare support for sponsored orphans and their families and ensuring their livelihood once sponsorship ends.
Project Summary: The program is geared to help orphans and widows and their communities pursue sustainable livelihood strategies through community based interventions such as health and nutritional support, water and sanitation facilities, awareness raising, home improvement, and educational support. The program offers orphans recreational activities with Children Rights Protection, which aim to improve the quality of life for sponsored orphans, their families and their communities.

Kosova - Vocational Training for Kosova orphans

Location: Drenica Region, Kosova
Annual Beneficiary Target: 300
Project Purpose: To reduce poverty and dependency for orphans over the age of 18 by organizing different professional trainings and easing the way for orphans to secure employment.
Project Summary: This project is in cooperation with the Ministry of Employment in Drenas, Skenderaj and Malisheva. The ministry organizes different trainings in different cities of Kosova, providing a great opportunity for sponsored orphans to have free training and to learn a trade. Candidates that complete training in these vocational training centers have a 90% chance of securing employment because the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) agreed with many private companies and governmental companies that if they employ any candidate that finished training in any of these centers, UNDP will pay 50% of the salary. All orphans who will attend training are from the Drenica Region, a region which is considered one of the poorest in the Balkans.

Ethiopia - Educational Material Support for Orphans

Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Annual Beneficiary Target: 510
Project Purpose: To improve educational performance of orphans by providing full educational materials, enabling children to attend school without hardship.
Project Summary: A study carried out by Islamic Relief showed that almost all school age orphans (ages 7-17 years old) have attended school at some point in the past. The qualitative results of this study show that both orphans and vulnerable children temporarily drop out of school when their parents are ill. Dropping out and re-enrolling when their socio-economic situation improves seems to be a characteristic shared among both orphans and vulnerable children. Therefore, this project aims to ease the burden on parents by providing full educational material to the orphans to reduce these dropout rates.

Pakistan - Orphans Computer Literacy Program

Location: Muzzafarabad, Pakistan
Annual Beneficiary Target: 200
Project Purpose: This project aims to contribute towards the long-term development of orphan families by providing computer training.
Project Summary: Those who receive the training will benefit in their future careers, since computer skills is increasingly becoming a basic requirement in Pakistan Administered Kashmir and Pakistan.

Palestine - Psycho-educational Activities for Orphans

Location: Rafah, Palestine
Annual Beneficiary Target: 370
Project Purpose: This project aims to improve the psychological well-being of orphans and to enhance their educational level.
Project Summary: The project aims to provide psycho-educational activities for the orphans in the Rafah area. The objectives of the project are to enhance the educational level and psychological well-being of the students, and raise awareness for the mothers regarding the psychosocial and educational difficulties. The target group of the project is 370 of the students between the ages 9 and12 and their mothers.

Kenya - School Reconstruction

Location: Mandera, Kenya
Annual Beneficiary Target: 820
Project Purpose: To improve the learning environment for over 800 students and 20 teachers in both secular and religious schooling by providing materials and rehabilitation of the facility.
Project Summary: The project entails rehabilitation and bathroom construction to cope with the demands of the existing population, providing material to the school so that the school is able to cope with the increasing needs of its beneficiaries and to improve the learning environment.

The main focus of the project will be:
1. Rehabilitation of 12 classrooms to fill cracks and providing furniture.
2. Construction of 13 sanitary bathrooms for the entire school and teachers.
3. Providing desks to 450 students who are currently sitting on the bare floor.
4. Providing 15 lockable tables and chairs for the teachers in the school.

Indonesia - Recreational and Residential
Center for Orphans

Location: Banda Aceh, Indonesia
Annual Beneficiary Target: 200
Project Purpose: This project aims to provide Islamic education, boarding and vocational training facilities for orphans in Aceh through the construction of a boarding school.
Project Summary: A main building has been constructed, consisting of complete boarding, electricity, water and sanitation facilities, furniture, playground, classrooms, sports area, dining room, kitchens, dormitories, security room, guardian room, and storage.

The center provides orphans and vulnerable children with informal education to support their formal education, skills training, kindergarten facilities for 3-6 year olds, sports, art and culture, recreation, and health awareness.

Islamic Relief implemented this project with the local non-government organization. This local partner has good experience with orphan programs and Islamic boarding/facility management.

Thank you for taking care of these children!