DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, April 16 /PRNewswire/ — After raising an
unprecedented AED3.4 billion last fall in an 8-week fundraising drive, Dubai
Cares announced today twelve countries that will be the recipients of its
Phase One funding. Dubai Cares has become the world’s largest charitable
establishment solely devoted to improving primary education for children in
developing countries.
Dubai Cares was launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al
Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Save
the Children has a 75 year history of helping children recover from wars and
natural disasters.
Dubai Cares has prioritized its phase one grants in countries which have
the highest level of need and can deliver the maximum benefit for the
children. The twelve countries chosen by Dubai Cares for Phase One include
Bangladesh, Bosnia, Chad, Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Maldives, Mauritania,
Niger, Pakistan, Palestinian refugees (in Lebanon and Jordan), Sudan and
Yemen.
In these countries, Dubai Cares will implement needs-specific, primary
education programmes based on its value chain of education which will include
the building of new school facilities; rehabilitating existing damaged school
premises; ensuring safe water and proper sanitation facilities; distributing
school supply materials; improving nutritional intake and conducting medical
check-up for students and teachers; and providing training and workshops to
adequately empower teachers and principals.
In today’s announcement Dubai Cares provided specific details on the
overall design for primary education programs in Sudan. Program details for
the aforementioned countries will be announced in the near future.
Dubai Cares’ partners were selected based on their track record in
providing for underprivileged children around the world, as well as their
access to adequate resources and infrastructure that can make an immediate
impact on the ground.
Save the Children is one of these international partners which will
execute specific projects covering the entire value chain of education. The
first outcome of this partnership is to provide quality primary education in
Sudan country-wide focusing on the following regions: Abyei, Blue Nile,
Darfur, Khartoum, North Kordofan, Red Sea, South Kordofan, and Upper Nile.
Speaking about the partnership, Her Excellency Reem Al-Hashimy,
Chairperson of Dubai Cares Board of Directors, said: “Save the Children is
one of our major partners in Sudan, which we selected based on their 20-plus
years of experience in the country. Our partnership with Save the Children is
an example of how Dubai Cares ensures the maximum impact of its philanthropic
efforts. Partnership agreements are negotiated to ensure minimal expenditure
on over-head which increases the direct impact, thus maximizing the number of
children who can access quality primary education.”
She added: “Save the Children will receive an AED60.9 million grant from
Dubai Cares for programmes in Sudan. Save the Children has one of the largest
humanitarian programmes currently operating in Sudan, uniquely positioning
them to execute the programmes.”
The 5-year programmes will initially provide direct support for 115,000
children in 200 schools and 50 early childhood development centres, while also
ensuring all students are treated equally regardless of gender or ethnic make-
up. Dubai Cares and Save the Children will also train 500 teachers to assist
in introducing reading and writing skills to children as early as possible in
their development.
“The commitment Dubai Cares is making today for basic education in Sudan
is truly ground-breaking,” said Dr. Charles F. MacCormack, president and CEO
of Save the Children US. “The commitment is more than 3 times the total direct
aid for basic education from all donor governments worldwide to Sudan in
2005,” said MacCormack, citing the latest education funding report from
UNESCO.
He added: “Direct aid for basic education in Sudan has been severely
underfunded. Dubai Cares is to be highly commended to making this new
commitment to help educate a generation of children in Sudan.”
MacCormack noted that Save the Children Sweden and Save the Children UK
will work with Save the Children US in implementing the initiative in
communities across Sudan.
Dubai Cares also announced an AED24.5 million, 2-year programmes that will
be executed by UNICEF to help more than 700,000 children in Sudan. Benefits
delivered by Dubai Cares programmes include construction of 200 single room
schools in rural areas of Sudan and training workshops for 200 teachers. In
addition, children throughout Sudan will receive textbooks and school supplies
and the teachers will receive educational materials.
To date, Dubai Cares has initiated primary education programmes in
Djibouti, Sudan and the Naher Al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.
As a result, 2,400 teachers are currently being trained, more than 400 schools
are being built/rehabilitated and 50 early child development centres are being
established. These as well as other initiatives will help 924,000 children
gain access to quality primary education in these countries.
Dubai Cares today unveiled its geographic footprint for Phase One, naming
12 countries that will receive funding for needs-specific primary education
programmes to ensure universal access to education in developing nations. The
announcement builds on Dubai Cares’ current portfolio of education programmes,
bringing it closer to achieving its goal of educating one million children as
declared by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President
and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Dubai Cares was launched as a fundraising campaign on 19 September, 2007
by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed, raising more than AED1.7 billion (approx. US$
500 million) in eight weeks from individuals and businesses in Dubai. At the
close of the fundraising drive H.H. Sheikh Mohammed matched the donations from
the residents of Dubai, bring the total to AED3.4 billion (almost US$1
billion), making Dubai Cares the largest foundation in the world focusing on
primary education globally.
Since its launch, Dubai Cares has established itself as a fully
transparent, multilateral, non-profit organization, making sure that every
dirham raised is spent strategically for maximum impact. Dubai Cares will
operate based on international best practices for foundations worldwide to
ensure financial transparency. The charitable establishment has positioned
itself as a strategic coordinator actively engaged with international aid
agencies to develop primary education programmes and to ensure immediate
impact on the ground.
Save the Children is the leading independent organization creating lasting
change for children in need around the world. For more than 75 years, Save the
Children has been helping children survive and thrive by improving their
health, education and economic opportunities and, in times of acute crisis,
mobilizing rapid lifesaving assistance to help children recover from the
effects of war, conflict and natural disasters.
Dubai Cares is founded on the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed who
believes that education is the best long-term solution to combat poverty and
that educating children, especially girls, is a key component to fighting the
global ‘cycle of poverty’. It represents Dubai’s contribution to the U.N.
Millennium Development Goals for providing primary education to every child by
2015. The initiative validates the emirate’s commitment to play an effective
role in securing a better tomorrow for future generations.
SOURCE Dubai Cares