Dubai: The UAE Marriage Fund not only provides marriage grants, but offers educational courses to people who want to get married.
“We did not want to just offer money to the applicants; we wanted to give them useful information that will help them in their new phase of life.” Habiba Al Hosani, Acting General Director of the Marriage Fund said.
Habiba explained that these courses were made compulsory in 2011 for men who are benefiting from the fund, under the ‘Eddad’ (prepare) programme.
She said that they would ask the participant for their suggestions after the course of lectures, and they suggested that women would also benefit from these lectures, so the programme was opened for women in 2013.
Those who are intending to get married and are benefiting for the fund have to attend at least two of the six lectures of the course to be given the funds. Habiba said that 6,477 people benefited from ‘Eddad’ in the first quarter of 2013, of which 1,200 attended all six lectures.
“The programme is very popular. I have personally met many men and women who attend those lectures and are not benefiting from the fund, or are not getting married soon and some that have been married for years but want to learn about how to have a healthy and stable marriage.” Habiba added.
The lectures cover topics such as financial planning, how to have a successful marriage, how to deal with marital problems among others. These lectures are given by qualified social consultants. “We currently have 20 volunteer lecturers.”
Habiba said the their marital help hotline has received 147 calls during the first half of 2013. “We have received calls from Emiratis, GCC nationals and Arab nationals over the years.”
She added that they also have e-mail services for people who would rather mail their problems. “The new generation prefer e-mail and so we are making sure we cater to everyone.”
The problems are all dealt with discreetly and their privacy is protected, Habiba said.
The Marriage Fund grants help to Emiratis who have limited financial capability and resources, who are not able to bear marriage expenses, or who receives social subsidies.
Last year, 1,893 people benefited from the grant, with a total outlay of over Dh132 million.
