Among the pioneering contributions of Alrajhi Endowment in the social field is their recent endeavor in providing poor families with professional and vocational skills through offering a number of women part-time jobs in its big agricultural project in Albatin, east Buraidah, Alqasseem, in collaboration with charities in Al-qasseem, in an attempt to make these families productive, to finde sources of income that would suffice their needs as much as possible, to make them self-reliant, and to instill the love of work and productivity in the hearts of its members. This would lead to self-content when one wins his living on his own as exemplified in the prophetic guidance. The Prophet (peace be upon him) says: "No one has ever eaten any food that is better than eating what his hands have earned. And indeed the Prophet of Allah, Dawud, would eat from the earnings of his hands". Furthermore, our Islamic religion did not address the temporal need of the needy through material support, but it tried to help him in a more effective way by empowering and encouraging him to do any kind of work to avoid begging. The Prophet (peace be upon him) says: It is better to carry a bundle of wood on your back (and sell it), than beg the people who may or may not give."
The Alrajhi Endowment implemented this program to achieve the following objectives:
Creating job opportunities for poor women within their local environment.
Investing potential capabilities of the needy families .
Familiarizing the members of needy families to work and be productive.
Sustaining the great achievements made by charities in supporting the needy .
To be a good example for charities and private institutions
In this program we employ the working women of the needy families who are officially registered in one of the charities affiliated to the Ministry of Social Affairs in Buraydah or other neighboring cities in Alqasseem region where the center of the productive families is located. This center was established by the Alrajhi Endowment specifically to be a workplace for these women to let them work independently in line with the teachings of our religion and our traditions.
The Alrajhi Endowment assigned reasonable monthly payment to female workers in this program ranging from SAR 2500 - 4500 for workers or supervisors.
List of tasks carried out by the female workers:
Sorting, processing and packaging of dates in accordance with health regulations to be distributed among fasting people by Alrajhi Endowment in the Two Holy Mosques etc.
Undertaking simple professions like sewing, preparing brides for weddings and the like. The proceeds of production and sales go to these women or to the charity to which they belong, bearing in mind that the Alrajhi Endowment offers them all the requirements of work as well as special transportation in buses to pick them from their houses and drive them back home.
Project
|
No.
of workers
|
Cost
|
Program
of Alrajhi Endowments for Productive families 1429 AH
|
Equipment
of the center
|
578,062
|
40
women
|
Program
of Alrajhi Endowments for Productive families 1430 AH
|
72
women
|
182,218
|
Program
of Alrajhi Endowments for Productive families 1431 AH
|
75
women
|
278,802
|
Program
of Alrajhi Endowments for Productive families 1432 AH
|
75
women
|
277,627
|
Program
of Alrajhi Endowments for Productive families 1433 AH
|
100
women
|
552,000
|
Total
|
262
|
2,464,202
|
The total cost spent by the Alrajhi Endowment on these programs since 1429 to the present reached 2,464,303 (two million, four hundred and sixty-four thousand three hundred and three Saudi Riyals). This amount of money is expected to increase and grow in the coming years, God willing, as a result of the program expansion and great demand.
Table 19 below shows the most important programs undertaken by the Alrajhi Endowment in this domain: