Dubai: Dubai Cares has announced its 2013 Ramadan Campaign ‘End Poverty. Educate Now” which will focus on raising funds for education in developing countries and raising awareness about the importance of education in fighting poverty.
According to Unesco, out of 2.2 billion children around the world, one billion live in poverty and if all the children in these poor countries could read, global poverty would fall by 12 per cent.
For this reason Dubai Cares launched the campaign in the hope of raising awareness of the key role education plays in eradicating poverty and to raise funds for improving children’s access to quality primary education.
During the press conference where Dubai Cares announced the launch of the campaign, Tareq Al Gurg, Chief Executive Officer at Dubai Cares, said that the annual Ramadan campaign contributes a big chunk to the organisation’s funding: “Dubai Cares Ramadan Campaign plays a major role in supporting Dubai Cares activities because Ramadan has always been a month where people donate either for ‘zakat’ or ‘sadaka,” he said.
The campaign plans to raise funds with the help of the UAE community, individuals and corporates through donating via SMS, making online donations at www.dubaicares.ae, conducting personal fund-raising activities in support of Dubai Cares, making a direct financial donation through bank deposit to the organisation’s account or dropping their contribution at donation boxes.
Most popular donation box in Dubai
Yasemin Saib, Director of Fundraising at Dubai Cares, stated that the period needed to collect the money inside the donation boxes varies depending on location: “It depends on location. Some donation boxes need to be collected every two weeks while others need to be collected every six months. The donation box that gets filled the fastest is the one located in the Dubai airport departure section.”
Most popular donation method
“Donating via SMS is the most popular method because of its outreach and convenience,” Amal Al Redha, Fundraising Specialist, said. “The second most common method is the mall activation in The Dubai Mall and its participating retailers who account for 50 per cent of retail shops in the mall.
The Dubai Mall plays a big role in the campaign as mall shoppers can add five dirhams or more to their purchases at participating retailers in The Dubai Mall. They can also visit the interactive stand at the Star Atrium and donate through special Ramadan promotions at the mall.
Unesco found that education can reduce poverty in a number of ways as one extra year of schooling increases individuals’ earnings up to ten per cent and a child whose mother can read is 50 per cent more likely to live past the age of five.
Dubai Cares which was launched by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in 2006,currently reaches more than eight million children in 31 developing countries.
Some of the Dubai Cares philanthropic activities include training over 23,000 teachers, providing nutritious food every day to more than 500,000 children in schools, distributing over 2.1 million books and establishing 6,750 parent-teacher associations.
Swetha Ramesh is an intern at Gulf News
