ZAIN IRAQ

Zain Iraq is AMAR's leading corporate sponsor and has been supporting AMAR in the delivery of all its projects in Iraq for over six years. Zain and AMAR are working together to address the desperate need for health care and education after several decades of neglect and deterioration of the health and education infrustructure.

The generous financial support enables AMAR to continue providing assistance to hundreds of thousands of men, women and children, as well as being able to develop and start new projects, such as AMAR's latest project to fight tuberculosis in Iraq in partnership with UNDP and the Ministry of Health.

ZAIN - A LEADER IN CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Al-Rasheed Hotel Conference Centre, May 2009. Twenty elegantly-dressed young girls and boys dance excitedly across the stage, beaming broadly and waving colourful ribbons and banners. They sing, shout and jump with delight, watched by a rapt audience.

It is the final, joyous culmination of an all-day celebration of the healthcare and education work carried out by the AMAR International Charitable Foundation across Iraq.

Everyone present can see that this charity is doing more than delivering projects; it is bringing hope, energy and fulfilment to communities and individuals throughout the country.

On that happy day in 2009, one banner stood out amidst the throng – that of Zain, the mobile telecommunications company which had generously agreed to sponsor the event. 

And while it was the AMAR Foundation’s work which was being celebrated, the occasion was also an opportune moment for those present to reflect on the remarkable contribution of Zain to supporting that work – a contribution which was transforming and multiplying AMAR’s capacity to assist people in need. 

Crucially, the company argues that sound business decisions are only a part of the reason for its huge commercial success, and that the substantial social investments which it has made in its client base are also a major factor.

As part of Zain’s Corporate Social Responsibility, they are involved in sustainability and philanthropic activities: including sponsoring tennis tournaments, distributing stationery to schoolchildren, supporting orphans in partnership with the Red Crescent Society, and investing in empowering people for a better society. Zain also provided much-needed funding for emergency relief efforts following disastrous floods in 2006.   

Four years on from the 2009 celebration, June 2014 will mark the seventh anniversary of the AMAR-Zain partnership. It is by any standards an exceptional collaboration, and one which through regular, planned injections of financial support, is doing more than any other to maintain AMAR’s essential work in Iraq.

More than 28,000 families received monthly visits from AMAR Women Health Volunteers, and 2,700 health education sessions were held in schools during the year.

Many thousands of children, university students and adults received weekly or daily classes in subjects ranging from literacy and numeracy to IT, English Language, civic participation, human rights and the rule of law.

1,000 widows receiving targeted skills training to enable them to set up businesses or otherwise find the means to provide for themselves and their families.

In 2012 AMAR delivered almost 700,000 health consultations, including approximately 80,000 specialist child care consultations and around 100,000 vaccinations to children and pregnant women.

Without Zain’s support, none of this work would be happening, as individual project funding from institutional donors is incapable of sustaining even a small part of such a programme beyond those donors’ own tightly-restricted budgets and short-term timelines; nor can it adequately provide for the essential support structures necessary to managing and evaluating the work.

The support provided by Zain is absolutely central to every health consultation or literacy class which AMAR delivers on the ground – and to preparing for future interventions.

AMAR’s Executive Chairman, Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, is in no doubt about the exceptional nature of Zain’s commitment: “Our partnership with Zain is a remarkable demonstration of a major corporation going far above and beyond its commercial obligations to help a population rebuild their lives and their country.

“Through its support for AMAR’s work, not to mention its many other philanthropic activities, Zain is setting an outstanding Corporate Social Responsibility example, which in my experience is unique in the extent to which it is having a direct and sustainable impact on people’s lives.”

- Baroness Nicholson, founder and Chairman of AMAR ICF

Dominic Gould, AMAR’s former Head of Governance and Development, vividly remembers the first meeting with senior Zain officials in June 2007, at which agreement was reached to support the charity’s work.

“It was an immediate meeting of minds. From the first moment it was clear that this was a company which genuinely cared about the welfare of the Iraqi people, just as AMAR did.

"What was particularly inspiring was that while the Zain representatives with whom we met were clearly personally enthused by the social responsibility agenda, the ethos of the entire company was geared wholeheartedly towards this objective alongside its commercial priorities. This has been key to sustaining such a strong relationship,” said Mr Gould.

Zain’s support has laid the foundations for what is now the fastest-growing funding source sector among AMAR’s donors, and included major international companies such as Shell and Weir Group.

A spokesman for Zain explained why they are so fully committed to their sponsorship and support of AMAR.

“Our vision includes a commitment to positively participate in creating a wonderful world stand out in our core values, building capacity in the region, supporting economic developments and empowering youth through education as well as supporting access to health care are the main pillars of our sustainability and CSR strategy,” he said.

AMAR, for its part, does everything possible to showcase Zain’s support, and Zain was warmly welcomed by AMAR’s Patron, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, at the Foundation’s 21st Anniversary Celebration at the House of Lords in February 2013.

AMAR’s Chief Operating Officer, Richard Crow, said: “Beyond the headline statistics demonstrating Zain’s impact on the ground through AMAR’s work – such as the huge numbers of child health consultations and women health volunteer family visits which Zain’s support has enabled – the scale and structure of Zain’s commitment to AMAR have proved absolutely priceless in terms of strategic planning.

"The consistency and regularity of the funding flow helps AMAR to make individual project management decisions based on the best interests of beneficiaries, local staff and the project itself, whereas previously such decisions were often overly vulnerable to the bureaucratic and political pressures on donor agencies," he added.

“As an organisation which – as yet – does not have an endowment fund, Zain’s support is critical to enabling AMAR to manage change and ensure stable and coherent transitions,”

- Richard Crow, Chief Operating Officer, AMAR ICF

What is so refreshing about Zain is that while publicity for good work is always welcome, the overriding preoccupation for the company is clearly the work itself. This approach speaks volumes about Zain’s professionalism but also underlines the sincerity of its altruism. 

It makes Zain a perfect bedfellow for AMAR, which has always ensured that the charity’s work on the ground is at the centre of everything it does. It is indeed a remarkable partnership.

DONATE NOW

For visitors from the United States click here to go to AMAR U.S.

DONATE NOW