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Dubai Cares drive this year to focus on volunteerism

Addressing the media, Dubai Cares Chairperson Reem Al Hashimi also announced that this year's campaign, that is to be launched during Ramadan, would focus on volunteerism.

His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, had launched the Dubai Cares campaign last year with the aim of providing one million children access to primary education. Programmes have since been implemented through multilateral organisations such as Unicef and Oxfam, in 12 countries, including Sudan, Djibouti, Mauritania, Bangladesh, Palestine, Niger, Comoros, Chad, Yemen, Maldives, Pakistan and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Al Hashimi said that figures were not available for the total number of children reached, but three million children in Sudan and Yemen alone had been able to access primary education since the campaign's programmes were implemented.

Plans for expanding the programmes were being studied and Al Hashimi travelled last night to Niger to assess the programme's success there. “We got to one million, now we want to do more," Al Hashimi said. "We're seriously looking at countries all over the world."

The next campaign that would be launched officially during Ramadan and implemented after the holy month, will encourage people from all walks of life to donate their time to a cause.

Al Hashimi said a range of causes, each focused around Dubai Cares' aim of providing primary education for all, would be presented and volunteers could sign up to an initiative of their choice.

"It will be volunteering in the UAE with a cause of the programme," Al Hashimi said.

Donations would still be accepted for Dubai Cares.

• UAE