"Beyond Giving" Explores the Transition from the Volume of Giving to the Quality of Impact
The activities of the “Beyond Giving” conference, launched by the Al-Isalah Social Association under the patronage of Minister of Social Affairs, Family, and Childhood Dr. Amthal Al-Huwail, concluded with the participation of a select group of leaders, experts, and specialists in charitable and humanitarian work. The conference discussed several issues related to developing the Kuwaiti charitable system and enhancing its capacity to create sustainable impact based on knowledge, governance, evaluation, and data.
The conference was opened by Saad Al-Oteibi, President of the Federation of Charitable Associations and Foundations, who delivered a speech on the theme “Beyond Giving” and its essence, emphasizing the importance of developing charitable work and upgrading its tools, and transitioning it from institutional work within each entity to greater integration among sector components, thereby enhancing the efficiency of efforts and raising the quality of impact.
In his lecture titled “Developing Charitable Work in Kuwait: From Institutional Work to Sectoral Integration,” Al-Oteibi highlighted the importance of moving to a more integrated stage in charitable work, based on coordination, exchange of expertise, and complementary roles, in line with developments witnessed by the sector and enhancing its ability to respond to needs more effectively.
For his part, Abdulaziz Al-Kandari, Deputy Chief Executive Officer at Namaa Charitable, addressed the pillar of “Localization of Charitable Work: Local Partnerships, Capacity Building, and Impact Sustainability,” outlining the importance of strengthening local partnerships and building the capacities of institutions and communities, contributing to transforming charitable work from responding to needs to more sustainable solutions, and enhancing communities’ ability to participate in development and impact creation.
In a session related to the importance of imagery in humanitarian work, Sami Al-Rumayyan, Head of the Humanitarian Photography Grant, delivered a lecture titled “Humanitarian Photography Grant,” discussing the concept and objectives of the grant, and the role of photography in documenting humanitarian issues and conveying the reality of communities and humanitarian causes to the public, thereby raising awareness and giving humanitarian work a significant documentary and human dimension.
Jaber Al-Filakaawi, Compliance Officer at Namaa Charitable, discussed the pillar of “Governance of Charitable Institutions: From Regulatory Compliance to Institutional Decision-Making Effectiveness,” shedding light on the importance of viewing governance as a system that goes beyond compliance with procedures and controls to contribute to improving the quality of institutional decisions, enhancing performance efficiency, accountability, and transparency.
In the area of knowledge building and decision support, Dr. Samer Aburuman, Visiting Professor at George Mason University, delivered a lecture titled “Situational Assessment in Humanitarian Work: Building Evidence-Based Knowledge to Support Decision-Making,” discussing the importance of building evidence-based knowledge and understanding the humanitarian reality more accurately, helping institutions make decisions more closely aligned with actual needs and closer to field realities.
The conference also addressed data-driven evaluation in development projects through a lecture delivered by Abeer Al-Obeid, Head of Analysis and Data Department at Spherically, titled “Data-Driven Evaluation in Development Projects.”
The conference concluded with a set of recommendations aimed at supporting charitable institutions in developing their practices and decisions and maximizing their impact. Key recommendations include: institutionalizing knowledge- and analysis-based decision-making; activating governance and linking it to purpose, risk, and accountability; enhancing localization and local participation; developing sectoral integration and data and knowledge sharing; building a funding approach aligned with mission and capacities; and establishing an evidence-based measurement, evaluation, and learning system.
