At the beginning of 1981 (1402/03 AH), the Kingdom and the sister Arab Gulf nations established the Arab Gulf Program for the purpose of supporting the UN humanitarian and development organizations. To this program, the Kingdom has contributed about 78% of the program's resources. The program provides assistance to the poorest countries of the world, in particular African countries, through the UN humanitarian and development programs, and has allocated about 40% of its resources to UNICEF. The World
Health Organization, the World Food and
Agriculture Organization, the World Labor Organization, the
World Food Program, the Environment Program, UNESCO, the Program for Handicapped, the UN Development Program, the High Commission for Refugee Affairs, the World Fund for Agricultural Development, and the Fund for
Population Affairs have also benefited from the program.
