Dr. Ahmad Mohammad Ali said he wanted to develop "a very real action plan, to make a better citizenship in your country."

The IDB president was speaking at the 11th Community Development Workshop (CDW), which began at the bank's headquarters in Jeddah on Saturday and attended by more than 50 delegates, both men and women, representing about 50 NGOs in at least 16 countries.

Ali briefly described the vision of the IDB, which according to him is the only development bank contributing to non-member countries.

He also spoke about the Haj slaughterhouse project, which he said has come a long way from being conducted in unhygienic surroundings some years back to a better managed voluntary body, transforming the slaughtering of animals during the holy season into a great beneficiary project for the poor of Saudi Arabia as well as in the 18 countries where meat is distributed.

Organized by the bank’s department for communities in non-member countries, the three-day workshop, an annual feature, is meant to hone the leadership skills of delegates to make them better citizens as well as turning their efforts into something more productive and meaningful.

"The purpose behind the workshop is threefold. Improving the management capability of the NGOs; to facilitate networking between Muslim NGOs; and to learn from the experience and expertise of the vast voluntary sector run by Muslims in both Muslim majority countries and non-Muslim countries,” said Mamoon Al-Azami, who is supervising the international workshop.

He agreed that it was part of the IDB Vision 1440 that envisages helping restore the dignity of the Muslim world.

The daylong workshop on the first day was divided into several sessions, during which high level IDB officials, experts in their areas, had fruitful interactions with participants.

Those who presented papers included Sameer Al-Halwani, who discussed the history of social service in Islam, while Al-Azami explored how to identify and assess community needs and Hafidh Al-Samurrai discussed the work breakdown structure.

The highlight of the workshop was reserved for Sunday, when NGO representatives from various countries shared their experiences of working in different areas in their respective regions.