Challenges

Kuwait plans to develop its Halal industry and adopt additional controls for Halal certification, which should be in line with the country’s regulations and the Gulf Cooperation Council Standardization Organization guiding principles.

Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), being the national applied research institution in the country, is keen to provide the required support for Halal authentication. There are no Halal testing methods established at KISR to carry out Halal authenticity tests. Therefore, reliable Halal authentication methods for the detection of lard, alcohol, porcine DNA and proteins must be established at KISR to verify the Halal status of these products for Kuwait.

Toward a Solution

Pakistan’s International Center of Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS)has a Halal testing laboratory in its Industrial Analytical Centre(an ISO certified facility) for the testing of food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical products for non-Halal ingredients. The laboratory offers services to both public and private institutions for testing and analysing their products for non-Halal ingredients. It also supports Pakistan in developing human capital to cater to the needs of the Halal industry in key areas of research, development, innovation, and commercialization.

The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) is in continuous dialogue with Kuwait and its development institutions, including KISR which won the IsDB Prize for Science and Technology in 2016. The Bank is, therefore, familiar with KISR’s challenges and capacity gaps in Halal product authentication.

For a long period, the IsDB has been collaborating with ICCBS, which was also granted its Prize for Science and Technology in 2010. The Bank’s Member Country Partnership Strategy for Pakistan identifies the country as a potential provider of knowledge and expertise in the field of science and technology. Thus, the IsDB was able to match the needs of KISR with the expertise of ICCBS and put the skills share into action.

The Bank connected the two laureates of its Prize for Science and Technology and coordinated and funded a peer-to-peer consultation process to undertake a detailed diagnosis of the current capacities of KISR and design customized solutions. This resulted in formulating a Reverse Linkage project for transferring the relevant expertise.

To achieve the overall goal of the Reverse Linkage development project, the current intervention consisted of:

• Establishing a dedicated Halal authentication laboratory at KISR with state-of-the-art equipment and methods.
• Developing a critical mass of skilled professionals and researchers at KISR for carrying out Halal authentication tests on food and non-food products.
• Initiating two joint research projects between ICCBS and KISR in Halal research, involving key personnel from both institutions in the field of chemical and biological testing methods.
•  Developing a quality management system for the Halal testing laboratory.
• Assisting KISR in obtaining ISO 17025 accreditation for the Halal testing laboratory.

In term of replicability, the model is being implemented in Kuwait. The model would be implemented in other member countries in the sub-region and beyond based on the market and local context of each country.

In term of approach, as per the design of the Reverse Linkage intervention, the project was developed based on a peer-to-peer approach consisting of a consultation process between stakeholders from Kuwait and Pakistan facilitated by the IsDB.

The institutional design of the project under Reverse Linkage modality contributed to increasing the sustainability of the project since the team of KISR from Kuwait are being continuously supported by their counterpart from Pakistan.

Regular tripartite coordination committee meetings involving representatives from the Bank, the recipient and provider institutions are being held to closely follow up on the implementation of the project and decide about corrective actions, if any.

The intervention has achieved multiple wins including directly contributing to SDG 17. It also harnesses the numerous benefits of South-South and Triangular Cooperation to concurrently address beneficiaries’ development needs, promotes knowledge transfer, and fosters cross-country partnership and collaboration.

Key Development Results of the Program:

• Establishing a dedicated Halal testing and authentication laboratory at KISR.
• Developing a critical mass of skilled professionals and researchers at KISR for carrying out Halal authentication tests on food and non-food products.
• Developing a quality management system for the Halal testing laboratory.