The agreement, signed on Thursday at KSrelief’s headquarters in Riyadh, provides monthly support of $80 for each participating orphan, intended to reduce the financial pressure on families caring for them. It also includes a clothing initiative and vouchers to be distributed through a contracted commercial partner.
The programme is expected to benefit 400 people directly and another 1,600 indirectly, according to details released on Friday. The announcement did not specify the duration of the monthly payments, the total value of the agreement or the geographical distribution of beneficiaries within Djibouti.
The partnership places direct household assistance at the centre of the programme, combining regular cash support with designated help for clothing and other basic needs. Such assistance is designed to give caregivers predictable resources while ensuring that children receive essential items without placing the full cost on host families.
Refaq Association, based in Saudi Arabia’s Hail Region, specialises in programmes for orphans and has already established links with institutions in Djibouti. Representatives of the association met Djibouti’s Diwan Az-Zakat in September 2025 to discuss cooperation in orphan care and the exchange of expertise.
During those discussions, Refaq outlined activities covering housing, education and basic support for orphans, including assistance for high-performing students. The 2026 agreement with KSrelief marks a more defined support arrangement focused on direct financial and material assistance.
The accord comes as humanitarian agencies are reporting mounting pressures on children and vulnerable households in Djibouti, a country affected by regional instability, migration and climate-related shocks. UNICEF said this month that 1,400 people, including many women and children, reached Djibouti’s coast within a 24-hour period after fleeing worsening insecurity in Yemen.
Children arriving by sea face risks including extreme heat, dehydration and limited access to safe drinking water, while Djibouti also continues to host refugees, asylum seekers and migrants from neighbouring countries and across the Red Sea corridor.
UNICEF data show that child-protection services remain unevenly distributed, with many specialised services concentrated in the capital. The agency has also identified poverty, violence, early marriage and unequal access to birth registration among continuing challenges affecting children, particularly in rural and border areas.
Those pressures have increased the importance of household-level social protection for families caring for vulnerable children. Cash assistance can help meet immediate expenses while reducing the need for households to divert resources from food, schooling, transport or health care, though outcomes depend on the regularity of payments and effective identification of beneficiaries.
Separate child-focused programmes in Djibouti are also being expanded to strengthen resilience against sudden emergencies. UNICEF, the International Organization for Migration, the World Food Programme, the Italian Red Cross and the Djibouti Red Crescent this month launched a 24-month disaster-preparedness initiative with European Union humanitarian support. The project is expected to reach more than 41,000 people across the country’s five regions and urban areas, underscoring the wider demand for protection and basic services among vulnerable communities during emergencies.
Saudi Arabia has made humanitarian assistance a major part of its overseas engagement through KSrelief, which works with local organisations, governments and international agencies on food security, health, shelter, education, protection and emergency response programmes.
The Djibouti agreement is structured around cooperation with a Saudi charitable organisation rather than direct implementation by KSrelief alone. Such partnerships allow the centre to use specialist organisations with established experience in specific beneficiary groups while retaining an institutional framework for funding and oversight.
No implementation timetable was disclosed with Friday’s announcement, and neither KSrelief nor Refaq publicly detailed the criteria that will be used to select the 400 direct beneficiaries. Information was also not provided on whether the support will be delivered nationally or concentrated in particular communities.
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