British Muslims give generously to Afghanistan. Every Ramadan, every Qurbani season, millions of pounds flow from the UK towards a country that has held a place in the conscience and prayers of this community for generations. The question that donors increasingly — and rightly — ask is: where does it actually go?

At ORCD UK, we believe that question deserves a complete and specific answer. Not reassuring generalities. Not photographs without context. A clear account of how donations are classified, how they are transferred, how they are spent, and what accountability mechanisms exist to verify that they reached the people they were intended for.

How Your Giving Is Classified and Held

Islamic giving carries obligations that go beyond the act of giving itself. Zakat is not simply a charitable donation — it is an obligation with specific rules about eligible recipients. Sadaqah Jariyah is intended to generate ongoing reward through lasting benefit. Qurbani is a specific act of worship with its own conditions on how the sacrifice must be distributed.

ORCD UK treats each category of giving according to its correct Islamic classification. Zakat funds are held in a designated Zakat account and disbursed only to the eight categories of recipients identified in the Qur’an (2:177, 9:60). Sadaqah Jariyah is directed to projects with lasting impact — water infrastructure, community facilities, educational resources — where the benefit continues after the initial investment. Qurbani sacrifices are performed, distributed, and reported on individually.

Restricted funds of any kind are never pooled with unrestricted funds. They are tracked separately, disbursed separately, and reported on separately.

Where Funds Go in Practice

All funds raised by ORCD UK are deployed to ORCD Global under signed grant agreements. These are not informal transfers — they are formal documents that specify the purpose of the funds, the reporting obligations, and the conditions under which funds may be disbursed. ORCD UK retains the right to demand a refund of any funds not used for their designated purpose.

On the ground, those funds support six programme areas:

  • Health and Nutrition — Mobile health units, maternal and child health, community nutrition programmes, and emergency health response across 27–34 provinces.
  • Food Security — Emergency food packages, cash and voucher assistance, supplementary feeding for malnourished children and pregnant women, and agricultural support for small-scale farmers. Delivered in partnership with the World Food Programme.
  • Women’s Empowerment and Protection — Women’s protection centres, GBV survivor support, home-based learning for girls, livelihoods training, and cash assistance for women-headed households.
  • Orphan and Child Welfare — Food and nutrition, education access (school fees, books, uniforms), psychosocial support, winter warmth packages, and monthly care packages for children in home-based guardianship.
  • WASH — Community well construction and rehabilitation, solar-powered water supply schemes, sanitation facilities in schools and health centres, and hygiene promotion.
  • Emergency Response — Non-food item packages, emergency shelter, winterisation, and emergency food distributions for families displaced by conflict, earthquake, flood, and drought.

The Accountability Framework

ORCD UK conducts annual due diligence on ORCD Global. This includes a financial review examining fund flows and expenditure against programme deliverables, a governance assessment reviewing ORCD Global’s internal controls and safeguarding policies, and a sanctions screening against the OFSI (UK), UN consolidated, and OFAC (US) lists.

ORCD Global’s credibility has been independently assessed and verified by some of the world’s most rigorous institutional actors. UNICEF, the World Food Programme, WHO, UNFPA, UNHCR, UN Women, and UNOCHA all work with ORCD Global as an implementing partner — and each of these organisations conducts its own thorough due diligence before entering an implementing relationship. ORCD has passed each of these assessments, repeatedly.

In 2015, the United Nations awarded ORCD Special Consultative Status through ECOSOC — a formal recognition of the organisation’s credibility and its contribution to international development. ORCD was the first Afghan NGO to receive this recognition.

What Transparency Looks Like in Practice

Transparency is not a statement of intent. It is a set of practices. At ORCD UK, it means publishing annual accounts on the Charity Commission register. It means making the grant agreement structure available to donors who request it. It means answering questions about how funds are classified and used — in detail, not in generalities.

Afghanistan continues to face one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises — one that has largely disappeared from British media coverage but has not disappeared from the lives of the 40 million people who remain there. British Muslim giving has the power to make a genuine difference. ORCD UK exists to ensure that giving is as impactful, as accountable, and as worthy of trust as the people who give it deserve.