 In this module, we shall look at a very interesting structure which has recently been proposed in a research paper published in the International Journal of Management and Applied Research. This paper was published in 2019 and I must cite this reference before going into the structure which is very interesting and it has implications for Islamic social finance. I must say that Islamic social finance is becoming more and more popular and it is getting a lot more interest and attention from different stakeholders in the wake of COVID-19. So a structure like this can be very useful for development purposes. What happens in this structure? Before I go into the steps of this structure, it is important to call it a name. I would like to call it a reverse selam parallel selam structure because the flow of funds in this case is opposite to what happens in a normal selam parallel selam structure. In this case, it is proposed that United Nations or one of its entities, for example, United Nations Development Program, UNDP and businesses enter into a selam contract. We might call it the first selam contract. In this contract, UN acts as a seller, seller of commodities and businesses. Businesses in different parts of the world or in one country, for example, in United States of America, the businesses, they buy certain commodities on a selam basis from UNDP. This is step one. What happens then? This is selam one. In this case, the businesses are giving money to UNDP. So in a way, they are financing the activities. The money from businesses, for example, the money from Costa Coffee, money from Starbucks and other such coffee companies goes to the United Nations Development Program and we are referring to, for example, coffee beans. Now businesses will pay the agreed price in full at the time of the first sale contract and of course, this would be financing as I said. Now UN enters into a parallel selam contract with the farmers cooperatives and the UN then pays the full amount in advance to the cooperative. So UN or UNDP in this case in Kenya or somewhere else, they are buying coffee beans from the farmers and they are paying in advance. So remember, the money started from the businesses, Costa, Starbucks, etc., in America, came to UNDP and UNDP is then paying it to the farmers through a farmers cooperative. At the time of maturity of the second selam sale, the farmers would of course be delivering the commodity to UNDP and then UNDP would be delivering it on to the businesses pursuant to selam sale one because an organization like United Nations is involved, it could be ensured that the prices are fair. The farmers, they receive prices which are fair prices for their agriculture produce. Already there are a number of initiatives in the West which promote the idea of fair prices. In this case, with the help of a selam structure, fair trading can be promoted if the organizations like United Nations Development Program and in fact other organizations like ITFC, International Trade Finance Corporation, which is a subsidiary of Islamic Development Bank, they can adopt this kind of model, this kind of structure to promote fair trading amongst the OIC countries. So everyone is happy in this case. The farmers, they are happy because they are receiving a fair price and businesses, they are happy because they are receiving the commodities on a continuous basis i.e. their supply chain is maintained. Now, this is the structure. The structure involves an organization like United Nations Development Program and as I said, it could be ITFC as well. There are businesses, businesses they enter into selam one and pay the price. The money goes from here to UNDP and of course then UNDP pays the money to the farmers cooperatives. So advance money is paid from the businesses to the farmers cooperatives. UNDP is playing the role of a catalyst here and the commodities, they go from here to UNDP and of course they are delivered to the businesses in United States of America or elsewhere. I believe that this is an innovative structure which could be used for the promotion of Islamic social finance in the wake of COVID-19.