Dubai Cares and Unicef create new partnership

Dubai: Dubai Cares and Unicef on Wednesday announced a new partnership to boost access for children to education.

The move is part of a campaign by Dubai Cares to bring education to one million children in need and help contribute towards Millennium Development Phase 2 Goal, which is achieving universal primary education by 2015.

Dubai Cares will work closely with Unicef to support education programmes in countries in Africa, Eastern Europe, South Asia and Middle East.

Mohammad Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Chairman of The Dubai Executive Office, said: "For Dubai Cares, Unicef is a natural partner, as the UN organisation has an incredible track record of more than 60 years in implementing projects to ensure children's rights. It also has effective access to resources and expertise for coordinating large scale initiative."

Through its partnership with Unicef, Dubai Cares will help build and finance a variety of programmes related to the value chain of primary education in developing countries. Unicef will support actions to build new schools and rehabilitate existing ones.

"With the assistance of Dubai Cares, Unicef can expand its support for education programmes that contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals," Ann M. Veneman, Unicef Executive Director, said.