2015 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

Almost a billion people worldwide are suffering from malnutrition. This problem is particularly acute in the case of halal food. Around 70% of refugees worldwide are Muslim, while four out of five countries most at risk from natural disasters have Muslim majority populations. Yet if Muslims suffering malnutrition do not trust the food they receive, they would rather risk starvation than consume food that went against their beliefs. Salma is a 100% Halal food relief programme aimed at addressing above challenges.

The Brief

Salma initiative is part of His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s vision to establish Dubai and a hub of humanitarian aid and in line his decree to position Dubai as the capital of the Islamic economy. A Sharia-compliant endowment (waqf), Salma was created to enable people to send food donations to deprived areas in a transparent, sustainable and cost-effective way. The food is sourced from the world’s most trusted partners to ensure it is 100% halal. The food is packaged in robust pouches originally developed for NASA for use in extreme conditions before being delivered by the UN and other NGO Partners.

How the final design was conceived

The final outcome of the packaging helps people to easily identify the product, surpass cultural boundaries, respect human dignity and at the same time uplift their spirit a little, despite the unbearable conditions that they find themselves in. Saving lives is one thing but also saving human dignity in desperate times has to be a must. Factors we also had to consider were how the food being distributed, literacy levels of the recipients, their survival priorities and their emotional conditions. These are clearly different objectives to those of most other packaging and brand projects where winning presence on supermarket shelves if often the highest priority.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

The first aid plane flown to Gaza with 100,000 meals during August 2014 and the second 100,000 meals sent followed few weeks after. As for the sustainability and accordance to ‘waqf’ principles, as partnership with Dubai Humanitarian City has begun as well as collaboration with the UN Food Programme in delivering swift food aid relief to those facing war or natural disasters across the world.

Salma Halal Food Relief programme is a partnership between the Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre (DIEDC) and the Awqaf, Minors Affairs Foundation in Dubai and Noor Awqaf – in collaboration with the UN Food Programme and Dubai’s International Humanitarian City as a strategic partners. Salma takes its name from Salma Al Sharhaan (1934 - 2014) a pioneering Emirati nurse who started her career in the rural and mountainous areas of the Emirates and paved the way for other Emirati women to join the profession. As inspiring as Florence Nightingale, Salma shares her honouring values: caring but firm, determined but humble.