Assalamu alaykum
Peace be upon you all.

In 2009, Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) celebrated our 25th year of working with vulnerable communities around the world. It was a period of considerable change, marking the culmination of our successful three-year strategy and the birth of our challenging new agenda over the next five years.

The recent financial and environmental insecurity around the world impacts most severely on the poorest people. Our 2010-2015 strategy - developed in Saleh Saeed’s first full year as our Chief Executive – builds on our aspirations and sets out our new approach to tackling poverty and suffering across the world.

Our strategy focuses on enabling communities to adapt to, and meet the challenge of, living in environments at risk from climate change, natural disasters, conflict and global market changes. It includes greater emphasis on promoting self-sufficiency and sustainability so that individuals and communities are empowered to support themselves and their families. Examples include access to skills-training, interest-free loans and advice on setting up small businesses.

We recognise that the time is right to move on from the sector-led approach of our last strategy. We must encourage integrated approaches that consider the needs of communities holistically. We are therefore moving towards a far more collaborative model, using joined-up approaches that incorporate work to make livelihoods sustainable – one of a variety of measures that support a profound and lasting impact on communities. This will enable us to coherently and effectively address the underlying causes of poverty and suffering with support from all our partners worldwide.

We have come a long way since 1984, when we opened our first office in the United Kingdom and received our first donation of 20p. In 2009, we raised £58 million a year and supported 360 development projects, working with our international partners with offices in 38 countries and over 300 employees. We are forever grateful to all our donors, volunteers, staff and supporters: their incredible generosity and commitment makes this vital work possible.

I would also like to thank Dr Essam El-Haddad and Ibrahim El-Zayat who shared the role of chair of the board until my appointment. As this report reflects, our organisation continues to go from strength to strength, but the challenge to tackle global poverty and alleviate suffering remains ever-present. We are determined to meet this important challenge of empowering vulnerable communities around the world. I look forward to the next 12 months in which we will work harder than ever with our partners to serve humanity, providing crucial help and support to the world’s poorest communities.