Initiative to turn volunteering into a 'Dubai habit'

Dubai - A total of 25 ideas from the Decode workshop will be profiled and be activated across Dubai this year.

A Dubai programme hopes to make volunteering a habit among residents by creating convenient and innovative ways to give back to the society.
The Day for Dubai initiative was launched during the end of last year by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to mark 2018, which honours the humanitarian legacy of the late UAE founding father His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. The initiative encourages residents to dedicate one day each year to a good cause.
A total of 25 Emirati youth gathered at the Decode workshop on Saturday as part of the initiative, where they exchanged ideas on creating innovative ways for residents to volunteer.
"These sessions have been taking place for almost two months and today we aim to tackle volunteering to give a Day for Dubai," said Maryam Ahmad Al Mansouri, the head of Dubai Youth Council.
"The idea behind the Decode workshops is to come up with non-traditional methods for people to volunteer with something they are passionate about in order to make a positive impact in their communities. For example, an artist could give his time to drawing and painting with sick children in hospitals, a banker could give financial literacy session to labourers, etc. Out of today's session, participants came up with 25 ideas. Participants were aged between 18 and 30 years and included people from government entities, the private sector and universities." 
Yamama Al Nuaimi, programme coordinator of the Day for Dubai, said residents can track the number of hours they have spent volunteering through the initiative.
She said that many residents have exceeded the suggested amount of hours. "People are interested in giving," she said. "In this year of activation, we aim to create a habit of volunteering rather than one day of volunteering." 
Al Nuaimi said that a total of 25 ideas from the Decode workshop will be profiled and be activated across Dubai this year.
One of the ideas was to address the Dubai culture of not finishing water bottles. The idea is that volunteers could take the remaining water left in public spaces and restaurants to create a water bank, which could be utilised as a source to water plants or for household chores," she said. "Also, the bottles can be recycled. There is a company where if you donate 1,000 bottles, they donate a wheelchair anywhere in the world."
sarwat@khaleejtimes.com
 

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