Dubai: In partnership with Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives and Union Coop, Dubai Cares initiated efforts to support Syrian refugee children and help them get back to school.
The organisation signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Union Coop such that the latter will sponsor Dubai Cares’ ‘Back to School’ edition of Volunteer Emirates. This will be held at Al Boom Tourist Village between June 17 and 22 and is expected to attract over 3,000 volunteers. They will assemble 50,000 school kits that will include a backpack, pencil case, notebooks, calculator, pencils, erasers, sharpeners, pens and crayons, among other stationery supplies. Save the Children will then distribute these kits to Syrian Children before they begin the 2017-18 academic year.
The whole initiative follows the theme of ‘Year of Giving 2017’, which looks to engage the community in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) objectives.
In 2009, the UNHCR reported that 94 per cent of Syrian children attended primary and lower secondary education. However, attendance dropped to 60 per cent by June 2016, implying that nearly 900,000 children and adolescents were not in school. Dubai Cares CEO Tarek Al Gurg said the organisation is committed to helping these children rebuild their lives and “regain a sense of normalcy”.
Al Gurg said such an initiative would not have been possible without Union Coop’s generous sponsorship. Union Coop director of operations division Hareb Mohammad Bin Thani said the efforts reflect the company’s own vision to make CSR objectives a norm. Bin Thani said Union Coop hopes to contribute to the “dissemination of knowledge and welfare” among affected children.
“Something as small as a school bag given to a child at the beginning of a new school year can make a difference in that child’s life,” Al Gurg said.
