Best Global Zakat Distribution Platform 2019 award was given for UNHCRs pioneering Refugee Zakat Fund by the Global Islamic Finance Awards (GIFA), last evening at Cape Town, South Africa last night (Sep. 16).

In April this year the UNHCR, a refugee agency of the United Nations, developed its current Zakat program into a new form, the Refugee Zakat Fund, as Islamic finance becomes a major and advanced component of the global economy. The Fund enables Muslims to easily, effectively and with full peace of mind meet their Zakat commitments wherever they reside.

Commenting on the win, Houssam Chahin, UNHCRs Head of Private Sector Partnerships in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, said: We are pleased to be recognized by the GIFA Awards Committee, which reaffirms the Fund's status as an effective, trustworthy and pioneering framework which utilizes Zakat's authority to have a positive effect on the globe. The award constructs further on the reliability and transparency of the platform from the digital collection to the allocation of Zakat funds in the world of Islamic finance.

The awards, now in their ninth year, are currently one of the world's most prestigious prizes in Islamic Banking and Finance.

UNHCR is the first UN organization to provide Muslims, a pioneer in using technology, for both collections and allotment reasons, with a transparent path to fulfill their zakat commitments in support of refugees. Digital payment is used for the successful collection of Zakat bonds and for the distribution of Zakat in money, refugees and IDPs by means of ATMs, IRIS scans, mobile wallets as well as for other techniques.

So far in 2019, US$38.1 million was lift up through the Refugee Zakat Fund, with openhanded donations from donors around the world and over 111.209 (approximately 648.476) of the more vulnerable refugee and the IDP families in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Mauritania and Bangladesh have received contributions from the fund so far.