RIYADH — King Khaled Charitable Foundation (KKCF) and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) have on Sunday launched a Saudi charitable fellowship program to lure the young Saudi men and women to work in the non-profit sector. The program, named "Shaghaf," was launched during a special occasion at the headquarters of the KKCF in Riyadh. The launching ceremony was attended by Social Affairs Minister Majed Al-Qasabi, Princess Bandara bint Abdul Rahman Al-Faisal, chairperson of the KKCF, Bill Gates, founder of the BMGF, and a number of heads of the welfare organizations in the Kingdom in addition to journalists. The two foundations launched "Shaghaf" program to prepare Saudi leaders to work for the non-profit sector so as to enable this sector to interact positively with the needs and requirements of development which is currently being witnessed by the Kingdom. Princess Bandara said the program was within the partnership between the two foundations to further boost the non-government organizations in the Kingdom, to execute programs based on the real needs of the society and improve the services being offered by the non-profit sector. "Shaghaf is the first child of cooperation between the two foundations within the partnership between them to launch a number of programs for the capacity building of this sector in the Kingdom," she said. She said the program would reinforce the strategic objectives of the KKCF, prepare human cadres, boost the capabilities of the people working in this non-profit sector and prepare researchers and instructors in this field. The "Shaghaf" program is aimed at enabling the staff working in the non-profit sector to become leaders of the NGOs, boosting the quality of their inputs, finding Saudi ambassadors for the causes of the local development and making a quantitative change in the administrative and leadership aspect of the sector. The princess said the two foundations are looking forward to achieving three strategic goals. "These are improving the mental conception of the non-profit sector making it an attractive environment for the gifted Saudi men and women, increasing the credibility of work in the NGOs and bringing expertise from outside to implement in the Kingdom," she said. Princess Bandara said the program will be implemented in two years and will include working full time for 23 months in a charitable or non-government organization. She said the staff would be rigorously trained in an internationally-renowned university during the summer of 2017 in addition to a trip to the BMGF headquarters in the US and their partners to have a first
