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  •   almost 10 years ago

E-Zakat

Ramadan 2016 has come to an end (well...almost ). Every year, us Pakistanis donate huge amounts of zakat out of love for our religion blindly. I wish I could put some statistics here but sadly neither the government nor any private organization has ever given out any numbers in this regard. Furthermore, the ease loving nation also rarely bothers to make an effort and hands out cash to the needy rather than actual items to ensure that the zakat they have given out is utilized in the right place. High percentage of the receivers especially the street beggars are drug addicts, many out of habit lose money in gambling and the list could go on.
All this money could be given to people out there who are actually doing honest and productive projects like Wall of kindness, Master Ayub’s Street School, Thar relief camps, Animal shelter groups and many more.
Let’s digitize the entire process and provide a platform to both, Donators and the people who “actually” need help. Let’s build a forum that lets people know who really deserves their help and zakat. A platform that would allow project announcements by donators and request announcements by volunteers.
Unfortunately technology can’t help us with everything and for this idea virtual verification to ensure that people who require help are genuinely in need is not possible. So, here we will need people to volunteer for the verification team.
The project could be further extended into an online payment portal too that could work by collaboration with Easy Paisa or Mobi Cash.
Let’s all join hands to ensure that the right people get the help they deserve and by the end of each year we have statistics for the country to look back at and know how Awesome us Pakistanis are when it comes to helping our nation.

  • 3 comments

  •   •   almost 10 years ago

    I like the idea.

    Global giving is one such example.
    https://www.globalgiving.org/dy/v2/content/search.html?q=*&fq=country:Pakistan

    Otherwise, PCP maintains a list of certified CSOs. Click "Search CSO" to view the list. Although there is no mechanism to interact or donate.
    http://www.pcp.org.pk/

    On a side note:
    The World Giving Index (https://www.cafonline.org/about-us/publications/2015-publications/world-giving-index-2015) ranks us as follows:
    #94 overall in the world (down 28% from last year)
    #121 (down 36%) for helping a stranger
    #49 (up 36%) for donating money, and
    #107 (down 12%) for volunteering time.

  •   •   almost 10 years ago

    Like I mentioned Mr. Hamid we will need a volunteer team for the verification. The app or the website will provide the location of the person who needs help and then the team would go visit and verify. I was thinking of linking up their CNIC's with their work places and the app could check up with a Govt based Data Base for their monthly income but thats a far fetched idea so for the time being we will need physical varification

  •   •   almost 10 years ago

    Aim of the idea:
    - Bring donators and donation requirers on the same platform
    - Build a clean and transparent system to ensure a balanced distribution and prevent money from going in the same place
    - Provide a platform for people to announce projects so others could come join them for volunteering purpose. The app/website would show the location and other details of the project so people could easily know if a project of their interest is being executed and they can join

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