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The World Social Forum (WSF) will hold its next global gathering in March 2015 in Tunis. Since 2001, the forums took place annually around the same dates as the World Economic Forum in Davos. Organized every two years since 2007, the event has now become somewhat less visible. Some of the reasons for the frustration with the WSF are related to dilemmas of representation. For the activists that reject representation as a political principle, the forums have been too embedded in traditional politics. For those who want to build global political parties, the WSF’s open space has lacked the capacity for action. These are some of the questions that need to be debated on the road to the next WSF in Tunis.

The sixth World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), which recently concluded in Qatar’s capital city of Doha, tackled a number of education issues on a global level. In recent years, WISE has launched a series of on-going initiatives, including the Learners’ Voice Program. It is designed to equip young people aged 18 to 25 with the relevant soft skills, tools, and know-how to address global education issues. This year, 34 young men and women were chosen from hundreds of promising applicants to take part in the 2014-2015 Learners’ Voice Program , launched at WISE 2014 with a series of workshops.

The Chinese government has donated 500,000 U.S. dollars to the Maldives government to speed up repairs in a desalination plant and restore water to the capital. The donation was done after the Maldives government announced an estimated 20 million U.S. dollars would be needed to repair the plant that was damaged in a fire on Thursday resulting in the capital's population of 130,000 being without water for four days. The country hopes to also get monetary aid from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and other Arab governments. Private donors have also chipped in with an anonymous 1 million U. S. dollars coming in from a Saudi businessman.

Last week, an immunisation programme secured a $500 million (£319.4 million) issuance of sukuk, in the largest debut issue ever by a global non-profit organisation. The sukuk from the International Finance Facility for Immunisation Co (IFFIm), for which the World Bank acts as treasury manager, is part of a broader trend to use bond markets to fund development and humanitarian projects. IFFIm, backed by nine sovereign donors including Britain and France, will use the proceeds of its sukuk to finance projects for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI). The sukuk could encourage other non-profits to consider this funding tool.

The Islamic Development Bank has presented Kyrgyzstan 5 mobile clinics, the Department of Information Policy of the President reported. Last Wednesday, President Almazbek Atambayev and IDB President Akkhmad Mohamed Ali Al Madani discussed the implementation of new projects in Kyrgyzstan. The IDB Director said that he will send a special mission to explore new joint strategic projects in the near future. Moreover, an agreement on donating Kyrgyzstan five mobile clinics designed to improve access to health services in remote areas of the country was signed during the meeting. Equipment cost is estimated at $10 million.

Minister of Economic and Finance Ali Tayebnia called for cooperation of the Islamic Solidarity Fund to remove poverty and unemployment in OIC member states. He made the remarks in the 30th session of the OIC Standing Committee on Economic and Commercial Cooperation General Assembly held in Istanbul, Turkey on November 27. Tayebnia said that OIC member states are facing structural labor market challenges such as low rate of women economic participation, high rate of unemployment among young adults, low rate of efficiency and ability to compete and in this concern an initiative job creation could be as a solution.

Reselling, giving, swapping, short-term renting and lending are all models that can help to increase the usage duration of resource-consuming goods. They are part of a real sharing economy that is undergoing regeneration due to the development of digital technologies. Public authorities should build an economic and regulatory framework that is favourable to virtuous models. Sharing economy entrepreneurs should analyse and improve their environmental performance. Users have a particularly important role in the case of peer-to-peer models. Environmental impact depends heavily on user behaviour and on the values that drive their actions.

The Arabia CSR Network brings the GRI G4 training in the Arabic Language for the first time to the Arab world. The training will be held on the 17th -18th December in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The move is a significant step for Sustainability reporting in the region and will support the regional and national strategies that call for organisations to report on their sustainability performance. The training course will be attended by multi-sectoral participants who will benefit from cross fertilization of ideas and experience. G4, GRI's latest sustainability reporting framework was released last year.

Emirates Islamic has announced a philanthropic community initiative to collect donations on behalfof Dubai Health Authority (DHA) for their MOSA'ADAH charity programme. MOSA'ADAH aims to help patients and familieswho cannot afford medical treatment,as well as contribute to projects in support of hospital equipment and medical facilities. As part of this initiative, Emirates Islamic customers can donate funds to MOSA'ADAH under a specially created charity account: Emirates Islamic 0384 540010 001 under 'MOSA'ADAH'. Donations can be made through any Emirates Islamic branch, ATM or CDM across the UAE or via online banking and by SMS. Previously the Bank made contributions to DHA to support Dubai Hospital and Rashid Hospital in purchasing new medical equipment.

In line with BBK’s strategic initiatives for a brighter community, Dr. Jamal Hijris- General Manager- Support Group welcomed at the Bank’s Headquarters, representatives from various societies dedicated to the philanthropic and development work to receive BBK’s contributions for their requests. The entities that have benefited from the BBK support totaling BD12,500 are: Al Noor Charity Welfare, Drug recovery association and Bahrain Philanthropic and Social Work Society. Troughout the years, BBK has supported entities including major clubs, charity funds and social initiatives. These initiatives are aimed at achieving the sole goal and vision of a brighter future and community in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Reach Out to Asia (ROTA), a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, held its fifth Gala Dinner and charity event on Sunday night in Doha. This year’s Gala Dinner theme was “Plant a Book, Harvest a Future.” The event aimed to raise funds for ROTA’s educational activities and projects in Asia and to support the educational needs of children who have been affected by wars and political conflicts in Asia. Collected funds are used for building and renovating schools, encouraging their reentry into education as well as providing employment opportunities for workers in the field of education. The charity auction was also held for the first time to support, through pledges, ROTA’s education projects in Syria, Palestine, Tunisia, Nepal and Pakistan.

Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University (HBMSU) and Paris Dauphine University (UPD) have entered into a landmark agreement to extend cooperation in Islamic Finance education and training. Both parties will work closely to design programs and initiatives in Islamic Finance tailored for the GCC and MENA regions. They will also jointly develop curricula that will give full credit for courses taken in either of the institutions.

Alizz islamic bank has begun its local community engagement in Dakhliyah governorate with generous support towards Al Noor Association in Burkat al Mooz. Salaam bin Said al Shaksy, chief executive officer of alizz islamic bank and other senior executives from the bank planned a surprise visit to the association after the successful launch of alizz islamic bank’s official launch of Nizwa Branch in Firq. The association serves the interest of blind and visually impaired in social, economic, welfare, education, health, training, placement and teaching of brail. The centre in Burkat al Mooz represents interests of the blind covering the Dakhliyah region.

Last week, the Chairman of the IDB Group, Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, signed a US$ 50 million agreement with Dr. Mohammed Saeed Al-Sa’adi, Yemeni Minister of Planning and International Cooperation and IDB Governor for Yemen. The agreement aims to provide economic empowerment to the needy Yemeni youth and families by contributing to capacity building and providing them with production inputs for job creation in various fields such as construction of rural roads, coffee cultivation etc. The financing arrangement is expected to pay great attention to employment of less-privileged females as well as the youth who will be employed in these projects. The agreement comes within the framework of the US$ 250 million Youth Employment Support (YES) Program launched by the IDB in 2011.

The Arabia CSR Network has honored Huawei—a leading global ICT solutions provider—for its strong contribution and support of the organization’s annual Arabia CSR Forum & Awards Ceremony 2014 held in Dubai for the 7th consecutive year. During this year’s forum, Huawei connected with government and business leaders to discuss regional priorities such as stimulating public-private partnerships in the CSR field, embedding CSR into organizational practices, and creating regulatory frameworks that support sustainable growth of businesses in the Middle East. The company’s current Sustainability strategy focuses on pillars such as bridging the digital divide, ensuring stable & secure network operations, promoting environmental sustainability, and seeking win-win development with its industry partners.

The financing gap continues to be one of the major obstacles to global development efforts. For the global education agenda, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) estimates the current need at $42 billion annually through 2015. Even with donors’ contributions, the yearly gap remains $38 billion. To help tackle this challenge, the United Nations General Assembly established the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing to support countries in mobilizing more resources and to advise them on how to spend these resources more effectively. The Arab world could also play an important role as a partner in finding more sustainable solutions to addressing the global education financing gap.

Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) has introduced a child education plan, Walady. It is a long-term savings and investment plan coupled with Takaful protection for the parent, and offers a return on contributions depending on the fund’s performance. Upon maturity of the contract, the outstanding value of the participant’s investment account is paid in a lump sum to take care of the education needs of the child; in the case of the early death of the parent, the amount of life cover is paid upfront to the nominee as per the terms and conditions of the contract; and in the event of the parent’s total disability, regular contributions will be paid until maturity of the plan subject to satisfying the claim conditions. Walady was underwritten by Medgulf Takaful.

Leaders of global and regional institutions pledge political support and major new financial assistance for countries in the region, totaling more than $8 billion over the coming years. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the World Bank Group (WBG) President, Jim Yong Kim, as well as the President of the Islamic Development Bank Group and high level representatives of the African Union Commission, the European Union, the African Development Bank, and Intergovernmental Agency for Development (IGAD) are combining forces to promote stability and development in the Horn of Africa. The initiative covers the eight countries in the Horn of Africa -- Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda.

Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Sustainability Network members, in cooperation with the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP), took part in a 'Rice Bowl Challenge' to raise awareness amongst employees on the issue of hunger and mobilise funds for WFP in the fight against world hunger on World Food Day. The Rice Bowl Challenge was a call to corporates to replace their regular lunch with a bowl of plain rice for the day. It was carried out under the umbrella of 'Eat and Feed' a fundraising initiative by the Al Aroud Group a member of the Dubai Chamber Sustainability Network. The funds collected will go to the WFP to provide food assistance to families most in need across the Middle East.

Baraka Khan, a 23-year-old Cambridge University student, has launched a project to build Europe’s first ecologically friendly mosque in the British city of Cambridge. The Cambridge Mosque, which will hold 1,000 worshipers, will be almost entirely reliant on green energy, with an almost-zero carbon footprint. The mosque building will be naturally lit all year round using large skylights integrated into the building’s design, and it will boast a green roof as well as an air-source heat pump for regulating temperature. The man who will design the building is award-winning architect Marks Barfield, who is also responsible for the iconic London Eye. He says he is aiming to merge traditional Islamic architectural motifs with those of the European Gothic style in order to bring the two cultures together.