An Act of Faith : Humanitarian Financing and Zakat

The gap between humanitarian need and humanitarian funding is growing.The aim of this report is to shed some light on the purpose, scale and potential of Zakat for financing humanitarian response. It will provide a basis on which to open up discussions around how that potential might be maximised -- both by increasing the overall volume of Zakat collected and improving the mechanisms available to channel Zakat to the humanitarian response.It outlines some of the key barriers to increasing humanitarian funding available through Zakat and to improving the way in which it is channelled to support the humanitarian response. It also offers some recommendations for humanitarian donors and agencies, and those responsible for collecting and distributing Zakat