UNHCR launches Zakat app to unlock giving for refugees

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has announced the launch of GiveZakat, an app to help users calculate and pay their Zakat. Money donated through the app will be used to support refugees and internally displaced people. Zakat is the obligatory giving away of 2.5% of an individual’s wealth each year which forms […]

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has announced the launch of GiveZakat, an app to help users calculate and pay their Zakat. Money donated through the app will be used to support refugees and internally displaced people.

Zakat is the obligatory giving away of 2.5% of an individual’s wealth each year which forms one of the five pillars of Islam.

The app allows users to choose which country their zakat will be spent in and produces bespoke reports, showing donors how and when their money has been used. The app also includes a blog section, sharing the stories of the families donors are helping.

Khaled Khalifa, Regional Representative at UNHCR, said in a statement that: “Zakat alone can be a game-changer for refugees and IDPs, many of whom are poor, needy, debtors and wayfarers, rendering them eligible to receive Zakat… We wanted to make sure that Zakat donors have access to a user-friendly digital platform to easily understand how their Zakat (and Sadaqah) donations can make a direct impact in the lives of the world’s most vulnerable refugees and internally displaced families.”

On 18th December, UNHCR launched a “supplementary appeal” for its 2021 COVID response. The UN agency is seeking $455 million to support interventions for refugees, including cash assistance, prevention and response to gender-based violence (GBV), and promotion of mental health and psychological well-being. (fundraising.co.uk)