Doha: Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah Al Thani has added another achievement to his long list of exceptional undertakings by receiving the 2014 Dentons Award for Social Impact.
It was presented to him in recognition of his accomplishments, contributions and well-known global projects to provide social, humanitarian and charitable services around the world.
Matthew Jones, Global Executive Director, Dentons Law Firm, presented the award to Sheikh Thani in a special ceremony at Ezdan Hotel.
The president and executive board of directors of Dentons Law Firm Middle East (their first office globally), senior executives, employees and administrators from Sheikh Thani’s social and business organisations, media professionals and supporters were present.
Sheikh Thani expressed happiness, especially that the award is from a globally-renowned organisation, and said, “I am glad and honoured to receive the award, knowing that our humanitarian and social efforts have been recognised by a world-renowned organisation.
“This means that we have succeeded by God’s grace to serve the poor, the destitute and the needy not only locally and regionally but also globally.”
He said the award and recognition reflects the humanitarian and social perspective people should follow regardless of their race or social status.
This also coincides with the wise directives of the Qatari leadership who is always advising local businessmen to contribute to the world community, he added.
Jones said Sheikh Thani is not like any other Qatari businessman but rather a generous human being recognised by his humanitarian and charitable contributions across the world that were evaluated by a special committee of Dentons which concluded that he fully deserves the award.
This is an unrecorded prize by Dentons to Sheikh Thani for his exceptional social and humanitarian achievements echoing across the globe.
The CEO of Dentons Middle East, Safwan Mubayyidin, said, “The international award demonstrates the impact of Sheikh Thani’s social and humanitarian projects for the welfare of the global community. Especially that his humanitarian organisations have no geographical boundaries in order to reach out and feed the hungry, give to the poor and generally extend a hand to those in need regardless of their affiliations and backgrounds.”
He said the 225-year-old Dentons is the world’s most prestigious law firm, with offices in more than 80 countries. It employs lawyers of various nationalities and its clients include governments, international and global corporations, decisionmakers and dignitaries.
Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah’s Foundation for Humanitarian Services (RAF)
Sheikh Thani’s generosity was extended to start non-profit organisations to help the needy and the destitute locally, regionally and globally and Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah’s Foundation for Humanitarian Services (RAF) is considered the largest non-profit charitable organisation in Qatar.
Sheikh Thani is a major supporter of humanitarian and charitable activities. He established RAF under the slogan, ‘Human mercy is a virtue’.
RAF provides charitable activities that go beyond Qatar and helps the needy all over the world. Its services include financial support for needy Qatari and non-Qatari families in addition to educational support and food contributions, financial support for projects related to education, health, orphanages and charitable organisations helping people with special needs.
Sheikh Thani’s charitable activities have been extended to many countries worldwide. These international charitable activities are numerous and diverse, such as establishing a university in Kenya, building homes for those afflicted by earthquakes and other natural disasters, funding medical surgeries for the poor worldwide and other activities.
Sheikh Thani has participated in the social rehabilitation of people affected by the prolonged civil war in Sri Lanka where RAF built orphanages for 2,000 and supported school projects and educational programmes.
In Syria, RAF executed donation programmes to support families affected by unfortunate incidents in the past few years and enabled Syrians to remain in their homeland.
RAF consistently sent relief convoys to the Syrian-Turkish border to provide food and medical care to needy Syrians.
Sheikh Thani issued orders to build bakeries, mills and villages. He intends to build a housing village for displaced people. Each village costs QR3m and includes a school, a central laundry, a water well and separate bathing facilities for men and women.
There is a plan to implement 40 projects in these villages in different fields, including agriculture, industry, livestock, bakeries, sewing workshops and charity centres. This will be done through community development by supplying all basic means of survival to the local population to help them become self-sufficient.
In Africa, Sheikh Thani recently launched a campaign to collect money for those affected by war and conflicts in Central Africa, with special aid to Chad.
In Asia, RAF is building orphanages in India at a cost of around QR2.79m.
The Qatari Association for Rehabilitation of Persons with Special Needs
Sheikh Thani is the Board Chairman of the Qatari Association for Rehabilitation of Persons with Special Needs, founded in 1992 as a non-profit charitable organisation.
It started work and activities in the same year. Its goal is to provide social, medical and psychological care for people with special needs through its specialised centres to prepare them professionally, educationally, psychologically and socially.
The association has several activities for men and women, provided through these centres run by professionals, experts and specialists in accordance with its policy to spread awareness among people with special needs.
The social and cultural centres publishes a periodic magazine Al Hayah which covers issues related to disability and other matters related to persons with special needs, including physical rehabilitation, social, medical, and psychological topics.
It is distributed for free to miniseries, government agencies, national organisations and foreign centres.
Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah Al Thani Foundation for Integrated Projects
Sheikh Thani is the Founder of Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah Al Thani Foundation to support integrated projects.
It is a private institution which serves those with limited income by improving their lifestyle regardless of their religion, race or gender. It also offers financial help, other forms of support and needed facilities to enable them to build a stable, promising future.
Recently Sheikh Thani donated QR100m through this organisation to support those who have valuable and creative ideas for trade projects in poor countries.
The Association of Friends of Mental Health (Wayyak)
Sheikh Thani sponsored a campaign under the motto, Wayyak (meaning ‘together’), to launch the Association of Friends of Mental Health, a charitable organisation that aims to educate society on the importance of mental health through programmes and activities directed first-hand to youth.
One of its goals is to provide better psychological care by spreading awareness.
The QR12bn Waqf
Sheikh Thani announced his endorsement of 605,066,037 shares in charitable contributions to needy people around the globe through his allocation from Ezdan Establishment.
He established this humanitarian initiative for Qatari society by providing a stable income and it runs under one of the biggest real estate establishments in the country and the region.
Sheikh Thani expressed happiness about this achievement, which will serve people globally, especially the poor and the needy.
The Peninsula
