NEWS ALERTS
Working Together for Humanity
Marafie Foundation PakistanThe foundation is registered with the government and is managed by a Board of Trustees.The board is comprised of locals from Baltistan who are professionals employed in various organizations, and successful businessmen.
As a conscious policy, Marafie Foundation has focused its attention on health and education.It has also invested generously in other community projects and has concentrated on the welfare of children and the empowerment of women. Development in these sectors can help in overall improvement and sustainable progress in the area. In order to ensure that there is no overlapping and duplication of effort, it holds extensive consultations with the government departments and other NGOs. It strives to complement and supplement the efforts of these agencies so that the investments are directed to the common goal of development and reduction of poverty. All policy decisions are taken by the Board of Trustees, which also approves the annual budget. The accounts are maintained according to the standard accounting system and are subject to annual audit by a reputed firm of Chartered Accountants.
The Foundation functions on the principle of delegation of power to the fild staff but with a tight check through a system of periodical inspections of the projects by its staff, and also by the interaction of the trustees with the local population.
The Marafies donated funds for health care and education and various other uplift projects in the region. As a matter of policy, Marafie Foundation has focused its attention on health and education as it understands development in these sectors would bring about overall improvement and sustainable progress in the area. In order to ensure that there is no overlapping and duplication of effort, the Foundation holds extensive consultations with the government departments and other NGOs. The fundamental principle of development is not to more of the same but to complement and supplement the efforts of the Government so that the investments are directed to the common goal of development and poverty reduction. It was the pioneer in introducing the concept of public private partnership by helping the health and education departments through the provision of infrastructure and has successfully sustained this form of partnership over the course of time in the development of the area. This model of public/private partnership is now being projected as only viable solution for development and poverty alleviation and other stake holders are adopting it. This model helps in avoid duplication resulting in boost to quick results in short span of time. Marafie has done exactly done that and demonstrated it on ground.
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Mr. Mohammad Rafie Husain Marafie
A distinguished Kuwaiti entrepreneur and philanthropist, the late Mohammad Rafie Husain Marafie, was an enlightened man who believed in the value of education. He sponsored the first charity school, which was established by his cousin in Kuwait. As patriarch of a prominent family, he also contributed generously to relief efforts and community welfare all over the world. He founded the Marafie Foundation as a channel through which to organize this charitable work. He believed that the poor should share in the prosperity of the rich. Thus, in addition to setting up the Foundation, he also willed one third of his fortune to charitable causes. In 1976, the family lost its benevolent patriarch, but they committed a new to continuing the philanthropic work he had started. After his demise, the family formalized the management of the Marafie Foundation restructuring it to continue the charitable work started by the founder. It has continued to grow in size and scope, making a difference in the lives of countless deserving people across the globe.
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Abd-ul-Husain Mohammed Rafie Marafie
Abdul Husain Mohammed Rafie Marafie (b. 1935) is the eldest son of the Founder. Like his father, he is a successful businessman and a highly respected figure in Kuwait. After many years of study in India from a young age, Abdul Husain traveled extensively in Europe and America. He gained valuable experience working in different industries. Ater his return to Kuwait, he joined his father in the family business. Following the death of the Founder, Abdul Husain continued his father’s work expanding the Foundation. He remains a driving force behind this organisation. He has a great love of Kuwaiti heritage and has built several dhows including Al Hashemi II, the world’s largest wooden ship.
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Mr. Abdul Illah Marafie
Mr. Abdul Illah Marafie belonging to one of Kuwait’s leading business families is an individual whose dedication had helped transform a particularly vulnerable community in the farthest reached of Pakistan’s northern areas. He is already familiar with the traditions of philanthropy by virtue of his family’s longstanding involvement in charitable works in Kuwait as well as elsewhere around the globe. The establishment of the Marafie Foundation in 1986 started with Mr. Abdul Illah Marafie’s visit to Skardu, Baltistan. He witnessed a community lacking access to the most basic of healthcare and educational facilities, frequently ailing from preventable diseases and suffering from economic deprivation due to a lack of education. Concerned by the situation, Mr. Abdul Illah Marafie took on the mantle of Deputy Chief Patron Trustee of Marafie Foundation. He was later appointed as its Chief Patron Trustee in 1993
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Abd-ul-Fatah Marafie
His successive visit to Baltistan in 1986 deeply moved, by the pathetic infrastructure of health and education of the region. With his long established family tradition of philanthropic work all around the world motivated him to turn his compassion of generosity in establishment of Marafie foundation along with notables within Balti community in Karachi. Mr. Abdul Fatah’s success in his philanthropic mission lay in his understanding that while giving away money might be an easy matter, but long lasting community development depended on how the money was allocated, for what purpose and in what manner. Consequently, Mr. Abdul Fatah Marafie collaborated with the Government in carrying out carefully planned welfare activities within the project areas as he believed that only by complementing and supplementing each other’s efforts the Marafie Foundation and the Government could bring about a meaningful change in the socio-economically deprived region of Baltistan. He was the pioneer in much talked about model of public private partnership in Pakistan.
