Aqila Mumthaz

Islamic Relief received the Princess Royal Training Award 2018, on October 31, an honour for UK employers for their outstanding training and development programmes, and the achievement of a standard of excellence.
Abdulla Almamun, Islamic Relief’s National Volunteer Coordinator, received the award from Her Royal Highness Princess Anne at a ceremony in St James’s Palace

Islamic Relief, an international aid and development charity that aims to alleviate the suffering of the world’s poorest people in more than 30 countries, has helped more than 117 million people across the world since its inception in 1984. It is one of the 14 UK charities that form the Disasters Emergency Committee.

Islamic Relief UK partnered with Humanitarian Academy for Development (HAD) to create a volunteer engagement strategy with the input of volunteers. The strategy included investing and up-skilling volunteers to create a loyal team of coordinators and future leaders.

They found that the results have had a tremendous impact; the funds raised by their trained volunteers during Ramadan 2018 were three times greater than the direct costs of the leadership programme.

Almamun said, “We are delighted to have received this recognition as volunteers are the lifeblood of this organisation, helping us to raise significant amounts of money.

“We have invested heavily in their skills’ development in order to enhance our recruitment and retention of volunteers. We are already looking to build on this success and expand the work to other volunteer teams worldwide.”
Chief Executive of the City & Guilds Group, Chris Jones, iterated the importance of businesses investing in training to boost productivity and address skills gaps to further develop their teams.

He continued by saying, “We are delighted that Islamic Relief is among a diverse group of organisations achieving the Princess Royal Training Award standard in 2018.

I congratulate them, and all of the organisations who presented examples of their innovative, inspiring and impactful training. They are truly worthy recipients of this rigorously assessed royal award and it is fitting that their achievements have been rewarded.”

The Princess Royal Training Awards, now in their third year, have each of the applications assessed against three Hallmarks of Excellence by the Princess Royal Training Awards Commission, which comprises of Princess Royal and seven leading figures in the business and training community.