Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) announced QFFD’s decision to join the SDGia platform as a new partner. The SDGia was launched by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey together with UNDP. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, World Food Programme, as well as Limak Group and Eczacibasi Group,Turkish conglomerates with global investments have also joined the platform as partners.
Director General of Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) Khalifa bin Jassim Al Kuwari announced QFFD’s decision to join the SDGia platform at a high-level side event co-organized by the Government of Turkey and UNDP on the occasion of the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly. The event was hosted by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Mevlut Cavusoglu and Mourad Wahba, UNDP Associate Administrator.
Thanks to the SDG Impact Accelerator (SDGia) programme, launched in July 2019 in Istanbul, entrepreneurs developed solutions for refugees to have access to livelihood opportunities through Digital ID systems and portable non-sewage sanitation through reinvented toilets.
Mevlut Cavusoglu stated at the side event that “Companies are now expected to align their business models with SDGs. They develop business models for the low-income groups. This is why we initiated the SDG Impact Accelerator. We hope that SDG Impact Accelerator will inspire all of us to put our words into action. To achieve SDGs, we need to accelerate our efforts.”
For his part, Mourad Wahba, stated that “Bringing together cohorts of corporations, regulators and other government bodies to explore, discover and work together towards addressing the development challenges could lead to market-creating innovations by systems entrepreneurs. The successful initiatives, as well as the collaborations between private and public bodies for acceleration will bring out unique innovative activities towards the SDGs.”
From his side Al Kuwari said, “We believe that such dedicated initiative towards the refugees within Turkey and LDCs, such as SDGia, will harness the collective intelligence that involves combining knowledge from citizens, big data from the private sector and governments, and human expertise to create effective solutions addressing the development challenges faced by the refugees.” “Such innovative way to address these challenges is much needed today. It combines wisdom, cleverness, and creativity from those actors to create better solutions,” he added.
