KUWAIT: (From left to right) Fawzi Al-Musallam, Vice Chairman and CEO of Kuwait Hotels Company (KHC), Abeer Al-Omar, Group CSR Manager at KIPCO, and Dr Salam Al-Ablani, Director of Scientific Culture of KFAS during the press conference yesterday.

KUWAIT: KIPCO-The Kuwait Projects Company (KIPCO Holding) held a joint press conference at KIPCO Tower 56th Floor - Chairman's Club yesterday to announce a partnership with Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS)to promote social responsibility in the State of Kuwait, with an emphasis on cross-sector collaborations for social impact.

The partnership will focus on the implementation of this year's Sharakah Forum & Workshops, which will be held from 19th to 23rd March, 2017under the patronage of the Minister for Social Affairs and Labor, Hind Subaih Barrak Al-Subaih. The Sharakah Forum is a yearly platform developed by KIPCO to bring together key stakeholders involved in the field of social responsibility in Kuwait, with an aim to foster the creation of shared value through collaboration and capacity building. This year's forum, which will be held on March 19th, will include two main discussion panels with leading executives from the public, private and non-profit sectors such as Faisal Hamad Al-Ayyar, Vice-Chairman (Executive) of KIPCO, Dr Adnan Shihab-Eldin, Director General of KFAS,Sheikha Al-Zain Al Sabah, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of State for Youth Affairs, Khaled Al-Hassan GIG CEO and Dr Samira A S Omar Asem, Director General and "Principal Research Scientist" (G.20) at KISR.

The forum will also include presentations by international experts, think tank group discussions and networking opportunities. Fawzi Al-Musallam, Kuwait Hotels Company(KHC)Chief Executive Officer explained, " Since KHC has been an important and active member of the community, and as a member of KIPCO group, we believe that hosting such event is the least we can offer to help Kuwait's leading NGOs with their efforts and initiatives for the benefit of the society."

"Over 300 representatives of Kuwait's leading non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Private and public sectors have confirmed their attendance at the event so far," he added.

Abeer Al-Omar, Group CSR Manager at KIPCO, states: "This event builds on the efforts already undertaken by the KIPCO group, as for example in last year's CSR Forum, to bring together key players involved in social responsibility in Kuwait in order to take our work in this field to the next level and increase our impact and efficiency through greater coordination and collaboration. We are very proud to be leading the way in this arena, and hope to be able to contribute effectively to The Emir's New Kuwait Vision for 2035, which emphasizes the role of partnerships in the road to development".

"We are delighted that such significant private and public sectors representatives have agreed to join this initiative. Their participation shows that the biggest companies in Kuwait are aware and responsive to the needs of local NGOs. KIPCO group and its operating companies look forward to a successful and productive forum", she adds.

The one-day forum will be followed by four days of workshops offered by KIPCO and KFAS to non-profit organizations and social entrepreneurs interested in increasing their financial sustainability. The workshops will be delivered by local, regional and international trainers, and will cover the following topics: Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship; Crowdfunding for Non-Profits; Proposal-Writing; Creating Shared Value Partnerships; Communicating with Zero Budget for Non-Profits, and Profits for Non-Profits. The aim of these workshops is to contribute to strengthening the role of local non-profits and increasing their ability to acquire resources to promote their causes.  The Sharakah Forum & Workshops are free of charge to all participating organizations, attendance is by invitation only.