Islamic Relief Australia is a n ACFID member and is commited to full adherence to the principles and requirements outlined in the ACFID Code of Conduct. The Code provides assurance to all ACFID’s members’ stakeholders by enhancing the transparency, accountability and effectiveness of ACFID members. 

What do ACFID members have to ensure that funds are properly managed? 

ACFID members are required to have policies and procedures in place to ensure that funds and resources are properly controlled and managed. This includes having standards around who they will receive donations from and how they ensure that funds are being used for the purpose for which they are intended.  

ACFID members are required to: 

• Have policies and procedures which address the prevention of financial wrong-doing. This includes fraud, corruption, counter-terrorism, money-laundering and violation of sanctions imposed by the Australian government. 
• Conduct checks of individuals and organisations receiving funds against the Criminal Code list of terrorist organisations and the DFAT consolidated list of individuals and entities subject to targeted financial sanctions. 
• Conduct due diligence assessments of partners who manage funds on behalf of the organisation, including checking them against prohibited entities listings. 
• Have appropriate and effective internal controls. 
• Assess and manage risk in their humanitarian initiatives.  

How do ACFID members respond in emergency situations? 

ACFID members that support or undertake humanitarian assistance are committed to adhering to the humanitarian assistance principles of humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality. These principles are derived from international humanitarian law and are central to establishing and maintaining access to those in need of humanitarian assistance.  

ACFID members also commit to providing accurate information about the emergency to donors and how any funds donated will be used.  

How are ACFID members kept accountable?  

ACFID manages a suite of compliance mechanisms is designed to ensure that all Code signatories are compliant with its requirements. This includes annual reporting and reviewing ACFID members’ appeals websites for compliance with the Code. An independent, voluntary Code of Conduct Committee monitors adherence to the Code and investigates complaints regarding breaches of the Code.  

Find out more about ACFID Code of Conduct.  

Despite the extremely difficult and dangerous situation, Islamic Relief is helping thousands of people in Gaza with vital aid including food, medical supplies and water. Our team on the ground in Gaza is working closely with local partner organisations to deliver this. So far, we have distributed…

• More than 2.2 million items of medical supplies to support hospitals and health facilities across Gaza as they try to treat wounded civilians.
• Food to thousands of families in need – in the form of food vouchers for 1,697 households, food parcels for 1,050 households and ready to eat meals for over 6,800 people who are sheltering in schools and don’t have access to cooking facilities.
• Clean water for 5,000 people over the next week.
• Items such as blankets and mattresses to 2,960 displaced families, and hygiene kits to 50 households.
• We have also transferred money for orphaned children who we support through our existing programmes in Gaza, to help them buy supplies or find shelter at this critical time.

We are delivering aid every day but the scale and location depends on the security situation, as the extremely heavy and indiscriminate bombing across Gaza means there is a high danger to our staff, partners and the communities. Most of our distributions in recent days have been in the middle and southern parts of Gaza, for example in areas such as Khan Younis and Rafah.

Procuring supplies is also currently very difficult due to the tightened blockade on Gaza, and we continue to call for an end to the siege and for aid to be allowed in.

Islamic Relief has been working in Gaza since 1997. We been there during previous conflicts and have stayed to assist with the rebuilding. We are preparing for the next phase now, this includes rehabilitating and equipping health facilities, the rehabilitation of houses, and the rehabilitation of schools.

Israel has announced a “total siege” on Gaza, preventing any food, medicine, fuel or other vital supplies from entering.

Islamic Relief, working with local partner organisations, is distributing supplies that are available within Gaza – either from the limited stocks still available on markets or contingency stocks that we had put in place through our Disaster Preparedness Plan.

There are currently plans for some trucks of aid to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt and 20 trucks reportedly entered this morning – however this is a very limited amount and nowhere near enough to meet the huge needs.

We continue to call for an end to the siege to allow more aid to be delivered safely into Gaza.

The current situation in Gaza is extremely dangerous and many humanitarian workers, medical staff and ambulance drivers have been killed.

So far no Islamic Relief staff have been injured or killed, and we are doing all we can to support them at this time. Our main office in Gaza City was badly damaged by bombing – but fortunately no staff were there at the time and no staff were harmed.

However, in the current situation of heavy and indiscriminate bombing in populated neighbourhoods, it is impossible to guarantee anyone’s safety.

Like many people in Gaza, most of our staff have themselves had to flee their homes and are trying to keep themselves and their families safe at the same time as delivering lifesaving aid.

Islamic Relief is calling for an immediate ceasefire and for international law to be upheld.

All parties have a duty to protect civilians from harm, avoid targeting civilian infrastructure, and ensure that civilians have access to basic necessities such as water, food and power. At the moment that duty is clearly not being met. 

Under normal circumstances, Islamic Relief staff and local partners carry out needs assessments and focus on communities that have the most need of emergency aid.

In the current context almost all civilians in Gaza are vulnerable due to the lack of food, water and medical care. Around 1 million people have had to flee their homes and need support.

Islamic Relief is helping as many people as we can, and our response is targeting the most vulnerable such as people who are displaced, children, the elderly, people with disabilities and civilian casualties as much as possible.

Islamic Relief has strict policies and processes in place to ensure that aid is used for its intended humanitarian purpose. We fully screen all partner organisations before working with them, to make sure they are reputable. We also carry out in depth checks to ensure the quality of their work, what policies and processes they have in place to manage funds appropriately and safeguard people in the communities, and to ensure that partners subscribe to our humanitarian values. This oversight, monitoring and quality control is done by an Islamic Relief team that is on the ground in Gaza. Our work in Gaza – as elsewhere around the world – has also been regularly audited by leading global auditors, to ensure that funds are going to people in need. Islamic Relief follows the recognised international sanction regimes such as UN Security Council. 

No, Islamic Relief only provides aid to civilians. We do this in line with the humanitarian principles of impartiality, humanity and neutrality.

We have worked in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 1997. Last year our work in Gaza helped almost 1 million people.

We have an office of 17 staff – all of them Palestinians living in Gaza. A lot of our work and aid delivery is done in coordination with local humanitarian partner organisations.

Yes, you can.

Yes, our team in Gaza works with a range of local humanitarian partner organisations who have extensive experience of delivering emergency aid and long-term development in the region.

We also coordinate closely with other international humanitarian organisations and UN agencies who are working in Gaza, in order to make the overall humanitarian response as effective and coordinated as possible.

We undertake the most comprehensive screening of partner groups and their key officials against proscribed lists available to us by using screening software. We also undertake localised due diligence based on company information, press and peer intelligence. 

Any organisation with which we partner must also adhere to an agreement covering areas such as risk management, publicity issues, child protection and terrorism.

We have committed ourselves to meeting various practice related compliance standards. The standards include those set by the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) in Australia and the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) globally. We are also signatories to various commitments, including the Leave No One Behind UN Agenda and the Red Cross Code of Conduct. By committing to these standards, we are able to measure ourselves against best practice in the sector. We are also able to assure our supporters that we maintain the highest standards of accountability, transparency, and professionalism.

People’s needs change as the context changes, so we make sure that any aid we deliver is based on regular and thorough needs assessments and consultations with communities.

We have worked in Gaza since 1997 so have a long history of providing development programmes as well as emergency aid. For example:

In the face of soaring youth unemployment, our youth-centred community work is helping young people enter the world of work, earn a reliable living, and raise their living standards. Our Islamic microfinance grants enable young entrepreneurs to start up microbusinesses, supported by training, coaching and mentoring. Focused on enabling young people to achieve their potential, we develop apprenticeship and internship opportunities and boost access to high-quality technical and vocational education and training.

Seeing education as essential to building a brighter future, we improve the learning environments in kindergartens and primary schools; train teachers; run child counselling services; help children with disabilities to access schools; and improve water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in schools. We also run educational clubs that use practical and entertaining teaching methods to help children find solutions to community issues.

The team will assess what is possible at the time – this will depend on the security situation and whether it is safe for staff to collect content. The safety of our staff and partners is the priority.