Dubai: More than 6,350 schoolchildren will benefit from Dubai Cares’ educational programmes in four island states in the Caribbean as well as the Pacific Ocean, the charity announced on Saturday.
Part of Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, Dubai Cares has announced four new programmes that will directly address key educational issues, tackle obstacles to education, and bring new opportunities within the reach of thousands of children in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean Islands.
The programmes, worth Dh12,778,857, are set to benefit more than 6,350 schoolchildren and will be implemented in Antigua and Barbuda, St Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean, as well as Vanuatu and Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean.
These four programmes aim to support countries and islands severely affected by climate change.
In the Caribbean, Dubai Cares has launched two new programmes, with the first being in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, in partnership with ‘The Zero Hunger Trust Fund.’
The programme aims to improve the schools’ internal facilities to foster health and safety by supporting children’s learning opportunities and ensuring they have at least one nutritious meal per day.
The charity’s programme in Antigua and Barbuda, titled ‘Renovation of Villa Primary School in Antigua and Barbuda’, is being implemented in partnership with the Extended Arms Foundation and aims to renovate the Villa Primary School Antigua, and improve the physical environment and infrastructure at the school.
Tariq Al Gurg, chief executive officer at Dubai Cares, said, “The four new programmes in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean Islands are designed to drive lasting institutional and structural changes, aimed at enhancing the quality of education through awareness-raising activities, strategic planning and intervention, policy involvement and technical training.”
He added that the programmes reflect Dubai Cares’ commitment to continuously identify new interventions, particularly where countries are in need of resources and improved infrastructure, and provide quality education to support the development of children.
“Our recent intervention in Antigua and Barbuda comes at a time when support to the education sector in the Caribbean is much needed due to the recent devastation brought on by Hurricane Irma,” he said.
In the Pacific Ocean, Dubai Cares is rolling out a two-year programme in Vanuatu in partnership with Unicef titled ‘Access to Early Childhood Development and Increasing Primary school readiness in Vanuatu’.
The programme aims to adopt a holistic and integrated approach to improve early childhood education through several components such as quality of instruction, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities, nutrition, and child protection. In Kiribati, Dubai Cares’ programme aims to support the government in developing policy and quality standards to improve the existing national curriculum and services.
The programme, which is also being implemented in partnership with Unicef, explores the introduction and operationalisation of a one-year school readiness programme for all five-year-olds in Kiribati.
