Taking them into the world of education

Dubai Cares CEO shares the challenges faced in making the world a better place by educating children.

Education is a fundamental human right according to the United Nations. Yet, even today, 57 million children are out of schools. For one organisation in Dubai, its goal is to help these children return to school.

In 2013, Dubai Cares helped 1.27 million children get access to primary education. From kids in Ethiopia to children in Palestine and South Sudan, the organisation launched new programmes and partnered with world agencies to get more children into classrooms.In an interview with Khaleej Times, Tariq Al Gurg, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Cares, shared the challenges and opportunities in making the world a better place by educating children.

“Providing access to education is being solved (on a global level). If we go back six years, in 2007, there were 120 million children not attending schools. Today, six years later, the number has dropped to 57 million. We have provided the access with the efforts of other international bodies who are also working similar goals,” said Tariq.

In a little over five years, the philanthropic organisation has reached 31 countries and helped more than eight million children. More countries are added every year as new initiatives are planned to make education even more easily accessible.

“We study countries before making a commitment. It is planned a year in advance and a lot of work goes into making these new programmes work with partners.”

The organisation has actively championed new ways to reach out to affected communities. In Ethiopia, Dubai Cares has partnered to start a home-grown school feeding programme where kids coming to school receive free meals with an emphasis on hygiene and sanitation.

That’s not all. Dubai Cares has also played an active role in debates at United Nations where it has been invited to partner in the ‘Global Education First Initiative’ an initiative by the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, to address fundamental issues in the provision of quality education for everyone post-2015.

Dubai Cares also works with a network of global partners which include the likes of Unicef, World Food Program, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Oxfam among others. “If some of our programmes are successful, we can replicate it in other countries. We want to attract partners to work in new countries and bring innovative ideas which are sustainable, scalable and impactful. We want children to go to school, to stay in school and also learn at school. This is one of the main challenges we ought to solve.”

muaz@khaleejtimes.com

Walk for education Dubai Cares will host the fifth edition of Walk for Education on Friday, February 7 at the Jumeirah Beach Park, Jumeirah Beach Road. It is an annual event which symbolises the solidarity of the UAE community with children in developing countries who walk an average of three kilometres every day to attend school. Speaking on the relevance of the event, Tariq Al Gurg, said: “Walk for Education is a call to action for us as a community. It highlights not only the long distances that children travel every day to go to school, but also the hardships they face. It is one of our local initiatives that offers volunteers, corporations and individuals as well as donors the opportunity to contribute.” On-site registration will commence at 8am with the walk scheduled for 9am. Post-walk celebrations will be hosted by popular local radio personality Kris Fade, and will include activities for walk’s participants of all ages. The entry fee for Walk for Education is Dh30 only. UAE residents and corporations can register and pay online at www.dubaicares.ae or register on-site on the day.