Dubai: Dubai Cares, part of Mohammed Bin Rashed Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, represented by its Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Tariq Al Gurg, attended UNRWA’s Extraordinary Virtual Annual Pledging Conference in support of Palestinian refugees.
Dubai Cares’ participation in this high-level event marks the first time ever a non-governmental global philanthropic organisation attends this conference since the inception of UNRWA.
This year’s UNRWA’s conference aims at bridging its financial gap for 2020 and receiving sufficient, predictable and sustainable resources to continue delivering on its mandate in the coming years.
Speaking about the longstanding relationship between UNRWA and Dubai Cares, Dr. Tariq Al Gurg, Chief Executive Officer at Dubai Cares and Member of its Board of Director said: “Dubai Cares was honoured this year to attend UNRWA’s extraordinary annual pledging conference and being invited as the first global philanthropic organisation to attend this conference ever. This is really heartwarming and encourages us to remain committed to providing quality education to refugee children and youth in Palestine and in other parts of the world. I hope that our 13 year-long partnership can be seen as a great example of how Non-Government and philanthropic sectors can play an instrumental role at the global level in finding new ways of assistance and support to reach more Palestinian refugee children and youth.”
Dubai Cares and UNRWA have worked together for the past 13 years in implementing innovative approaches by delivering quality and inclusive education to Palestinian refugee children and youth. The two organisations have successfully launched a large spectrum of cross-cutting programs addressing education, food assistance, psychosocial support, health and school infrastructure. These programmes have benefited more than 212,000 Palestinian refugee children and youth in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, Jordan and Lebanon with an estimated funding of more than Dh47,755,500 (USD 13 Million).
UNRWA’s gathering was co-chaired by Jordan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi and Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation H.E Peter Eriksson and UNRWA Commissioner - General Philippe Lazzarini, with the special participation of His Excellency António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations.