Dubai: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on Tuesday chaired the first meeting of the board of trustees for the Mohammad Bin Rashid Global Initiatives Foundation.
Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and Deputy Chairman of the board, Shaikh Maktoum Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Princess Haya Bint Al Hussain, wife of Shaikh Mohammad, and other board members were present during the meeting.
Shaikh Mohammad ordered the immediate preparation of a plan to achieve the goals of the initiatives to reach 130 million people over the next 10 years. Shaikh Mohammad issued instructions to focus efforts on building a larger humanitarian development programme that includes the Arab world in order to meet basic healthcare needs, combat illiteracy, spread knowledge and culture, as well as to support youth, community initiatives and innovators.
Shaikh Mohammad also ordered setting up a team to coordinate between bodies who are members of the Mohammad Bin Rashid Initiative. The team will be responsible for looking into available opportunities to forge partnerships and benefit from expertise and resources that are available to these bodies, which will help the initiatives achieve new goals.
“In the current day and age, humanitarian work requires a vision, strategic planning, specific goals, and effective management of financial and human resources in order to achieve a real change in people’s lives,” said Shaikh Mohammad.
“We have massive humanitarian ambitions, and we need massive humanitarian organisations to meet those ambitions. We have succeeded previously in reaching 56 million beneficiaries, unifying all bodies under one umbrella. Today, we are able to reach even more people. We made a promise to instill new hope in the region; this is not merely a slogan. It is a mission that requires extensive planning, execution and follow-ups,” said Shaikh Mohammad.
During the meeting, the board approved a number of strategic initiatives to carry out the vision of the development foundation.
