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Former PwC Partner joins AMAR Management Team

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Chris Frost, the Chairman of the AMAR International Charitable Foundation’s Finance Committee, has retired from the position after five years at the helm.

Since he began his Chairmanship, Mr Frost has skilfully overseen AMAR’s already excellent financial arrangements.

A frequent visitor to Iraq and the wider Middle East region during his many years as a Partner at the multi-national professional services business, PwC, he has brought enormous experience and vast knowledge to the role.

Mr Frost, who was also a founder Board member of the Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBC) – AMAR’s sister organisation, recognised the vital importance of AMAR’s work to the Iraqi people.

However, he will not be leaving the AMAR family. Now that he has fully-retired from PwC, Mr Frost has been asked, and has accepted, a full-time position at the charity.  He will start as Treasurer on April 1st.

Mr Frost’s brief will be to oversee AMAR’s continued growth and development and strengthen the charity’s core principles; Good financial management, transparency, accountability and low administrative costs with high field output to defined, professional world class standards.

AMAR Chairman, Baroness Nicholson, said today that she was “absolutely delighted” to have persuaded Mr Frost to stay within the AMAR family:

“People of Chris’s standing in the financial world are not available very often, so we had to strike while the iron was hot. He has done a fantastic job with our Financial Committee over the last five years, so we are very much looking forward to him working here on a full-time basis.”

“Chris will also travel to Basra, Baghdad and the North of Iraq regularly to meet and work with the local financial teams to develop an understanding of their working practices and help them work more effectively and efficiently.”

Baroness Nicholson added:

“His particular background also allows us to implement our long-held plan to breakout with new fundraising approaches to funding institutions and city guilds.”

(Source: AMAR)

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AMAR Foundation Strenghtens Financial Cmte

The Board of the AMAR International Charitable Foundation is to expand and strengthen its Finance Committee.

It will now be chaired by leading financial businessman and AMAR supporter, Mr Michael Boardman. The present Chairman, Mr Chris Frost is standing down, but will continue to advise AMAR in a different capacity.

Jonathan Ayres, the Chief Financial Officer of United Trust Bank, who has been a member of the committee for the last five years, will also stand down.

Mr Boardman will be joined on the committee by Mr Hadi Damirji, Mr Gavin Wishart, and Mr Siddik Bakir.

AMAR Chairman, Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne; Board President, Professor Theodore Zeldin; and Board Vice-Chairman, Damon Parker, will continue in their roles on the committee.

Mr Boardman has more than 25 years’ experience of capital markets, financial management and reporting, valuation and business analysis. For 18 years he worked at Nomura Securities, the global investment banking and investment management company.

As a Managing Director responsible for Emerging Markets and a senior member of Nomura’s Global Finance team in Europe, he advised, structured and executed capital markets transactions and was personally responsible for raising over US$30 billion, in public and private markets.

For the last seven years, he has been Group CFO of Sindicatum Sustainable Resources, a high growth developer, owner and operator of renewable energy projects in the emerging markets of Asia.

Mr Boardman has been a regular speaker at industry events organised by the London Stock Exchange, Micex, Borsa Italiana and Euromoney and has published several articles about listings and public markets.

Mr Wishart, who is also a Board member of AMAR’s sister organisation, the Iraq Britain Business Council, worked at senior level in banking across Asia, the Middle East, Africa and UK during a career spanning 37 years.

Most recently he was Regional Head, Financial Institutions, Europe and Americas at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, and before that was Chief Executive Officer, leading Baghdad, for Standard Chartered Bank.

Mr Damirji founded Optitune Plc in 2001,and is an Executive Board Member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management. He was the Deputy Chairman of Trinity Group Ltd from 2007-2012 and CEO of Trinity Strategic Advisors from 2007 to 2008.

Mr Siddik Bakir is a Senior Oil Market Analyst at Saudi Aramco’s Strategy and Market Analysis Department in Saudi Arabia.

Previously, Siddik was based in London where he worked as a Senior Energy Analyst for the Middle East and South Asia and an Upstream Energy Consultant at IHS (IHS Markit).

Commenting on the Financial Committee changes, Baroness Nicholson said today:

“You can see from the bio data of the new members that the committee has been hugely strengthened. AMAR has always been rigorous in it financial dealings and we intend that always to be our trademark.”

“We believe we now have a fantastic committee to ensure the Board has the strongest possible financial leadership and support.”

(Source: AMAR)

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AMAR Completes work at Bazwaya Health Centre

The AMAR International Charitable Foundation has announced that work on its new Bazwaya Primary Health Care Centre near Mosul is now complete.

The clinic is now fully equipped and locally-hired medical staff have been assigned to support a range of units providing vaccinations, ultrasound, a gynaecology department, dental services, maternal and child care, a malnutrition unit, a GP service and a laboratory.

The project is the fifth AMAR clinic to open inside an IDP camp in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

(Source: AMAR)

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AMAR Completes work at Bazwaya Health Centre

The AMAR International Charitable Foundation has announced that work on its new Bazwaya Primary Health Care Centre near Mosul is now complete.

The clinic is now fully equipped and locally-hired medical staff have been assigned to support a range of units providing vaccinations, ultrasound, a gynaecology department, dental services, maternal and child care, a malnutrition unit, a GP service and a laboratory.

The project is the fifth AMAR clinic to open inside an IDP camp in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

(Source: AMAR)

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Prince Charles: AMAR gives us Reason to have Faith in Humanity

By Padraig O’Hannelly.

HRH The Prince of Wales has paid tribute to the work of the AMAR International Charitable Foundation on the occasion of its 25th anniversary.

Addressing the celebration in London’s Lancaster House on Wednesday, Prince Charles said:

“Today is an opportunity to honour the work of the remarkable AMAR teams … whose professionalism has delivered extraordinary outcomes in health and education for so many people over these twenty-five years.

“Each and every one of them, whether they work in Iraq or in another part of the Middle East, or in London or Washington, should feel deeply proud of all that AMAR has achieved. So too, should the many businesses and commercial entities – and in particular the Iraq Britain Business Council [IBBC] – whose magnificent support over the years has made all of this work possible.

“If I may, I would also like to pay a special tribute to Baroness Nicholson whose indefatigable leadership and extraordinary professionalism has been so crucially important to this endeavour for so many years.“

He continued:

“AMAR has given us all reason to have faith in humanity. It has saved countless lives, created hope from despair and achieved nothing short of miracles.”

AMAR thanked the Prince for his wonderful support of the organisation since its founding, and in particular as its Patron for the past thirteen years.

Please help ensure Iraq’s children have the childhoods they deserve — support AMAR’s work today: https://appeal.amarfoundation.org/

(Sources: AMAR International Charitable Foundation, Clarence House)

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Crescent Petroleum, Dana Gas support Healthcare Centre for IDPs

By Robert Cole, AMAR Foundation.

Crescent Petroleum, one of the Middle East’s oldest and largest upstream oil companies, and Dana Gas, one of the largest private sector natural gas companies in the region, have joined forces to fund the running costs of a healthcare centre and vocational training centre for displaced people in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq for the next three years, the two companies today announced.

The three-year commitment will fund the entire running costs of AMAR International Charitable Foundation’s Primary Healthcare Centre and vocational training centre in Khanke Camp, which serve the whole community, including 16,000 Yazidi residents.

The healthcare centre plays a vital role in providing healthcare to those who would otherwise be unable to access medical support. In the second quarter of 2017, the clinic saw 26,404 cases, conducting 5,411 maternal health consultations and 2,034 child consultations.

Commenting on the donation, Crescent Petroleum’s CEO Majid Jafar said:

“At Crescent Petroleum, we aim to empower local communities by not only providing energy solutions to fuel their development, but also by responding to their social and economic needs. Internally displaced people (IDPs) are among the world’s most vulnerable populations but they are often overlooked by international relief efforts, and we are committed and honoured to assist their healthcare needs in partnership with AMAR Foundation.”

The natural gas produced by the companies from the Khor Mor field supplies more than 1,750 MW of affordable electricity to the Kurdistan Region, giving schools, hospitals and other vital entities a non-disruptive water and electricity supply for millions of people.

The Duhok Health Directorate has seen the population of the region more than double over the last two and a half years due to the massive influx of IDPs from the Sinjar and Mosul regions, putting increasing pressure on healthcare access.

Patrick Allman-Ward, Dana Gas’ CEO, said:

“Our corporate social responsibility programme has been at the heart of Dana Gas’ operations since its inception in 2005. Providing financial support to those in need is not only a moral obligation, it also has a positive impact on the communities where we operate.”

AMAR’s Chairman and Founder, the British Conservative Peer, Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, said she was “overwhelmed” by the generosity of Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum:

“AMAR builds, staffs and runs five state-of-the-art heath centres on an extremely low budget. The generous donation from Crescent Petroleum and Dana Gas means we can continue with the marvellous work being done in Khanke by our locally trained doctors and nurses for the next three years.”

PLEASE CLICK HERE IF YOU CAN HELP – ANY AMOUNT LARGE OR SMALL.

(Source: AMAR Foundation)

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AMAR to open Health Clinic in Mosul

By Robert Cole, AMAR Foundation.

We’re excited to announce that work is about to begin on a new AMAR International Charitable Foundation Public Health Care Centre (PHCC) on the outskirts of Mosul.

Thanks to a huge fundraising effort by our supporters, we have sufficient to rehabilitate, resource and re-open the badly damaged existing government clinic in the village of Bazwaya, just East of the city.

Thousands fled the area when Daesh invaded three years ago. Historically, Bazwaya was a multi-faith town, and united by their common need to return to normality and peace as quickly as possible, many families are going home to salvage what they can and begin again.

AMAR Teams have been working on the ground to identify areas where the AMAR Model of PHCC Services can best be deployed to serve the returnees. Whilst huge humanitarian efforts are underway throughout the region, many of the smaller and less known communities remain isolated and without critical facilities.

Our health teams believe the grim conditions mean there is a huge threat to the population from communicable diseases, illness and infection from injuries. The harsh winter is also on the horizon and will add additional strain to an already dire situation.

But at least for these communities Daesh are gone.

Once opened with AMARs local doctors and nurses the centre is expected to serve approximately 15,000 from within the immediate catchment area. More are expected to travel even further from rural areas to access urgently needed health care.

AMAR continues to seek funding and support to rehabilitate and open more centres throughout the region to offer primary health and psycho-social support for the victims of Daesh.

PLEASE CLICK HERE IF YOU CAN HELP – ANY AMOUNT LARGE OR SMALL.

(Source: AMAR Foundation)