Abu Dhabi: Thousands of young volunteers will soon work to support the development of special needs athletes in the UAE, and also enable them to represent the country on an international stage, senior social development officials announced in the capital today (November 8).
The volunteers, who are registered with the Takatof social volunteering programme, will work collaboratively with the UAE Disabled Sports Federation that organises sport competitions for people with special needs. The federation also facilitates the selection of athletes to participate in international contests.
“Following today’s agreement with the federation, we will look into ways in which up to 60,000 Takatof volunteers can enhance sports opportunities among those with special needs. We do not have a plan yet, but it will be developed soon,” said Maitha Al Habsi, deputy chief executive officer at the Emirates Foundation for Youth Development. Takatof is one of the Foundation’s flagship programmes.
She was speaking on the sidelines of the Foundation’s Youth Philanthropy Summit, which saw hundreds of experts and social development executives discuss ways to enhance philanthropic activities. This year’s meet focused on ways to harness digital content in order to support social enterprise.
“In today’s digital age, we need to use data to develop our programmes, and ensure that their impact is maximised. Based on today’s discussions, we will look at opportunities to further enhance our youth development initiatives,” said Clare Woodcraft-Scott, chief executive officer at the Foundation.
“For example, we have a financial literacy programme, Esref Sah, that aims to help youth manage their finances and debts. There is a possibility that we could harness the vast amount of data that is available online, and use it to find out the main sources of debt among our target audience of 15- to 35-year-olds. Then we could work with other entities like banks, corporation and schools to eradicate any concerns,” she added.
In addition to Esref Sah and Takatof, the Foundation also runs four other programmes. Sanid recruits and deploys emergency response volunteers while Think Science encourages scientific study and innovation among Emirati students. Kafa’at empowers Emiratis to pursue private sector job opportunities and Kayani provides job opportunities for Emirate school dropouts.
Next year, the Foundation hopes to further extend the reach of these initiatives in the northern emirates, following the launch of its office in Ras Al Khaimah.
“We want to activate our programmes in the less densely populated areas in the north, and reach out to people who find it harder to travel to urban centres,” Woodcraft-Scott said.
In addition, the Foundation will also select outstanding social enterprise projects, and offer both financial support and mentorship, as part of its 2017 social enterprise awards.
“The aim is to have young people develop business models to address social issues, and that is what the awards will support,” Woodcraft-Scott said.