UAE | Government
Dubai Cares campaign shifts focus to volunteerism in second phase
The second phase of the Dubai Cares charity campaign starting next October will focus on volunteerism among UAE residents, said the chairperson of the campaign, Reem Al Hashimi, Minister of State.
- By Abbas Al Lawati, Staff Reporter
- Published: 16:05 July 8, 2008
Dubai: The second phase of the Dubai Cares charity campaign starting next October will focus on volunteerism among UAE residents, said the chairperson of the campaign, Reem Al Hashimi, Minister of State.
"This time we are asking people to donate their time, not their money," she said, adding that although monetary donations will be accepted, they will not be actively pursued. The campaign raised Dh3.4 billion with the launch of the campaign in Ramadan in 2007.
Half of the funds were raised by UAE nationals, residents and companies and the other half was donated by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Reem held a press meeting on Monday night to announce the new phase of the charity campaign and a milestone it has reached.
Having initially aimed to provide primary education to one million children in developing countries, the campaign has achieved more than triple its target in less than a year since its launch, which the minister described as a "major success". The one million target, she said, had been reached in just a "few months" since the launch of the campaign.
At least three million children have been targeted to receive a primary education in Arab countries alone so far, two million of them in Yemen. Reem, however, stressed that that the campaign was not targeted at Muslims and Arabs alone, but all children in developing countries. "It's a global objective," she said.
The campaign chose twelve countries to work in for its first year, including Sudan, Djibouti, Bangladesh, Palestine, Niger, Comoros Islands, Chad, Yemen, Maldives, Bosnia and Niger.
Reem said the money raised was being "very carefully spent", explaining that the campaign had devised a system to disburse the money to the destination countries through its partner organisations over a number of years based on performance. The minister left for Niger on Monday night to follow up on progress of the Dubai Cares programme there.
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