Welcome to the Grants and Social Services Department in Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC). We are an Islamic Organization with a national character and an international outlook.

The Social Affairs Secretariat is headed by Immam Shaffi Kagiiko, himself a seasoned social researcher who has also lectured at various academic institutions in Social Sciences and Management Studies. As Head of this Department work as a point of contact for issues relating to the wellbeing Muslim community members, with the aim of fostering positive experiences and relationships with society as a whole. As member of Management Committee at UMSC Headquarters, he disseminates regular information to Muslim District leaders about policy developments and other benefits or policy propositions and resources. He maintains contacts of Muslim founded NGOs and CBOs and those in need of welfare services, modifies, organizes their profile and manages the orientation of new ones in order to truck the proceedings of their activities and works. At the end of it all he does not only report to Management, Secretary General, but also the Social Services Committee of General Assembly and Executive arm for noting.

Mission:

Our Primary mission is to enhance human well-being and help meet basic and complex needs of Muslims (and other people), with particular focus on those who are vulnerable, oppressed and living in poverty.

Vision:

A faithful, well-to-do and healthy community with accessible, equitable and high-quality social services that support the socioeconomic well-being of all people, particularly the most vulnerable, enabling self-sufficiency and preserving the dignity and respect of individuals as well as the community.

Our Approach:

From the Islamic point of view, through our District Secretaries we mobilize and encourage people to work together to make positive changes in their society. This involves helping each other, being kind and making fair guidelines that Muslims follow, creating programs and services that provide support and guidance to those in need. We work closely with Media.

The Department of Grants and Social is enshrined in Article 15(8) of the Constitution of Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC). It centers on Development and Advocacy, to address several long-term sustainable solutions for socioeconomic development. Within the Muslim community and beyond we consider social issues that make it difficult for people to achieve their full potential. Such social challenges include Poverty, Unemployment, Unequal opportunity, Malnutrition, Refugees, Internally Displaced People, as some examples, and so are substandard shelter (housing), Child abuse and neglect. We generally seek to meet the aims and objectives of Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (as established in 1972) by addressing social injustices, as opposed to focusing on individualized issues.

We strive to address the following as major social objectives constituting our administrative mandate;

• The Department conducts social research to ascertain development of knowledge by systematically studying and understanding Muslim social phenomena, behaviors and attitude in Uganda and how it all affects social policies to determine courses of action and leadership.
• Closing the health gap so that underserved and impoverished communities have access to basic healthcare resources. This Department oversees and guides all Muslim Healthcare services including Uganda Muslim Medical Bureau (UMMB) that maintains a database of confidential medical and non-medical information and provides the exchange of underwriting information among various Muslim Health Centers and hospitals in the country.
• Ensuring that Children, youth, elderly and People with Disabilities have resources to prevent and receive treatment for physical, behavioral, emotional and mental health issues.
• Poverty reduction wherein we cooperate with various organizations including Government of Republic of Uganda to initiate critical income generating activities for Financial Literacy and Wealth Creation.
• Resource mobilization through Grants and Interest-free loans. Here we organize the processes of prioritizing, planning, selecting projects, monitoring, broadening the resource channels as well as coordinating with Government of Uganda and the global donor community for effective resource utilization. We join our Districts and other Muslim institutions to organize fundraising events where we invite guests and request donations for them.
• It is our practice to conduct collecting in-kind contributions such as food and new or used clothes for distribution to needy people most especially those from the Karamoja region who are suffering from hunger, malnutrition and related diseases.
• Religious Tourism, Nature Preservation and Addressing Challenges of Climate Change. This also involves our commitment to the respect of tourism and maintenance of vital Muslim historical sites in Uganda that include Muslim Martyrs sites at Namugongo, Nateete and Kijungute which Muslims join Government of Uganda and other religions to commemorate every year. As such apart from Medina in Saudi Arabia, ours is the only other country in the world have a two-face Mosque (Kiblata’in) for historical reasons. In this respect we recognize the fact that Islam was the first religion to place a foot on the soil of what came to be called Uganda in 1844.
• Fighting ignorance and diseases among our people is a core aim of the Department. We therefore in addition to Health Services, own and oversee hundreds of Primary and Post Primary institutions, skills training centers, colleges and Universities.
• Mobilization and Provision of Relief services and supplies for Refugee, Internally Displaced People and other in need of livelihood and basic needs of life. UMSC has established its own independent Relief Organization to carry forward its aims and objectives by devising collective means to help the needy and vulnerable people due to wars and other disasters.
• We consider population growth and its implications. Here we oversee the works of Muslim Population and census office to relate with the National Bureau of Statistics and ensure sufficient knowledge about the numbers and challenges facing various categories in our population and even plan better for the Muslim community, let alone relating better with other people.
• This Department oversees and guides all Muslim Healthcare services including Uganda Muslim Medical Bureau (UMMB) that maintains a database of confidential medical and non-medical information and provides the exchange of underwriting information among various Muslim Health Centers and hospitals in the country.
• Agriculture is administered under this Department, in which case UMSC owns land masses of which to grow various crops and rear animals for a variety of purposes. We have coordinated with stakeholders in Coffee and Cocoa farming to mobilize, educate, support rural communities to grow these crops and improve lives.
• Commerce, Trade, industry and Banking are conducted within the jurisdiction of Social Affairs. Here we have a national Cooperative society called Majlis SACCO that uses Islamic banking principals. We mobilize savers and lend them funds particularly for Agribusiness growth. This Majlis SACCO is set with an overriding objective to develop into a full-fledged national Islamic Commercial Banking.
• Coordination of Non-Governmental Organizations, both local and foreign, particularly those that are Muslim founded to ascertain their operations in Uganda and guide them where necessary and possible.

For Donations

Account details:

1. Bank Name: Diamond Trust Bank Uganda Limited, 17-19 Kampala Road, Diamond Trust BLD, Kampala.
2. Account Name: UMSC Social Services
3. Account Number: 0086377001
4. Swift Code: DTKEUGKAXXX

Departmental Contacts

Cell phone: +256 772 462 283 / +256 701 235 481

E-mail: socialserices@umsc.or.ug or immam.shaffi@umsc.or.ug