Artificial Intelligence is transforming the landscape of charitable and humanitarian work in Qatar, enhancing operational efficiency and crisis response.
Doha, Qatar Aug 15, 2026 ALN: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is emerging as a strategic tool that could reshape charitable and humanitarian work, enabling organisations to move beyond traditional responses towards crisis prediction, data-driven planning, more accurate identification of vulnerable groups, and better measurement of the impact of projects and interventions, experts in the field have said.
Officials and experts in Qatar’s charitable and humanitarian sector stated that AI offers significant opportunities to improve operational efficiency, accelerate responses to disasters and crises, better target financial and logistical resources, and enhance services for beneficiaries.
They noted that AI can process vast amounts of data rapidly and combine satellite imagery, digital maps, and other information to assess damage and identify areas of greatest need. Predictive models can also help organisations anticipate crises, prepare resources, and develop response plans before disasters occur, improving the speed and effectiveness of humanitarian interventions.
Dr. Ayed Dabsan al-Qahtani, chief executive officer of Thani Bin Abdullah Humanitarian Foundation, said AI has become an urgent necessity for charitable and humanitarian work because of its ability to accelerate operations and improve responses to disasters and crises.
He emphasized that AI could play a central role in developing charitable work, particularly as conflicts, disasters, and other emergencies continue to increase the number of people requiring assistance.
Intelligent systems can collect and analyze large volumes of information to forecast potential needs in specific areas, allowing organisations to prepare appropriate plans and resources, al-Qahtani said. AI can analyze thousands of data points within seconds to identify safe routes in affected areas or determine the type of assistance required in a particular location, including food suited to local needs. AI can analyze weather and geological data to predict potential floods and earthquakes, generate real-time damage maps, and examine satellite imagery to identify collapsed buildings and blocked roads.
Such capabilities can help rescue teams set intervention priorities, facilitate aid distribution, support health and social care, and strengthen efforts to combat epidemics, he added.
Talib Afifa, acting executive director of the Qatar Society for the Rehabilitation of Special Needs, stated that AI could become an important tool for advancing charitable and humanitarian work.
He stressed that the technology should not replace people but should help institutions and charities reach beneficiaries more efficiently, improve decision-making, and increase the impact of donations and programs. In donations and financial management, AI could help direct contributions towards projects with the greatest impact, accelerate financial and administrative reporting, and identify errors or unusual patterns requiring review, Afifa said.
AI could also support crisis forecasting by analyzing data that may signal rising humanitarian needs and help organisations prepare emergency assistance plans before disasters occur. For beneficiaries, AI-powered assistants could respond to inquiries around the clock, facilitate applications and follow-up, and provide information in multiple languages.
Afifa also highlighted AI’s potential to support people with disabilities through communication and translation tools, speech-to-text and text-to-speech technologies, improved access to electronic services, and analysis of their needs to help design more appropriate programs.
AI could further strengthen fundraising and outreach by analyzing donor behavior and interests, helping organisations develop more effective campaigns and producing awareness content more rapidly. However, Afifa stressed that human review would remain essential to ensure accuracy and appropriateness.
Mohamed Ali al-Ghamdi, assistant CEO for governance and shared services at Qatar Charity, described AI as a major strategic driver for developing charitable and humanitarian work, citing its potential to improve operational efficiency, service quality, and the humanitarian impact of programs targeting beneficiaries worldwide.
He noted that AI has moved beyond being a supporting technical tool to become a factor influencing working methods, decision-making, and resource management. By automating administrative and routine tasks, it can give humanitarian workers more time to focus on direct engagement with beneficiaries.
Al-Ghamdi mentioned that Qatar Charity has invested significantly in AI as part of its digital transformation and institutional development, introducing the technology gradually within a governance framework designed to balance innovation, data protection, and ethical standards.
He pointed to Qatar Charity’s use of AI to support families in need in Qatar. Intelligent technologies are increasingly performing tasks previously handled by specialist employees who received assistance applications and conducted case studies. These applications include automated document reading without manual data entry, verification of the validity and integrity of required documents, automated reading and analysis of bank statements, and detection of inconsistencies in submitted information.
Amir al-Mulla, executive director of the Qatar Society for the Rehabilitation of Special Needs, stated that AI is increasingly becoming a defining feature of modern life and could contribute to the development of charitable and humanitarian activities while enhancing transparency among donors, charities, and beneficiaries.
He stressed the importance of keeping pace with global developments in AI and making use of its capabilities, noting that intelligent technologies were already part of everyday tools such as smartphones and computers and were expected to expand further.
Jassim Salem al-Ansari, chairman of the Quality and Sustainable Development Foundation, said AI could help shift charitable and humanitarian work from traditional responses to needs towards knowledge-based decision-making and systematic impact measurement.
He pointed to the Humanitarian Action Monitoring and Development (HAMAD) platform as a model for monitoring and improving humanitarian and development interventions. The platform evaluates initiatives according to a framework based on five necessities — preservation of religion, life, intellect, lineage, and wealth — helping determine their priority and expected impact.
Al-Ansari stated that high-scoring initiatives move into a development stage aimed at making them more mature and implementable, followed by the development of appropriate local implementation and financing partnerships. Work is underway to expand AI’s role within the framework, enabling it to support needs analysis, comparison of initiatives, priority-setting, outcome monitoring, and impact measurement.
The objective, Al-Ansari said, is to move humanitarian work beyond responding to available projects towards identifying the most important intervention in the location with the greatest need and building the partnership most capable of producing sustainable impact.
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