Dubai Cares today announced the successful completion of its “End Poverty. Educate Now.” Ramadan campaign, which ran throughout the holy month of Ramadan to provide the UAE community with several opportunities to support and make a difference in the lives of children living in poverty globally. The UAE community, individuals and businesses alike, positively responded to the campaign, which aimed to highlight the vital link between the reduction in poverty rates and increased access to quality education, more specifically on primary education as the first step towards enhancing a child’s physical and intellectual development.
Lack of education limits many young people’s employment prospects, especially women, to poorly paid and often unsafe work like domestic servants, agricultural laborers or factory workers. Better educated people have a greater probability of being employed, are economically more productive, and therefore earn higher incomes. Poverty claims the lives of 22,000 children under the age of 5 each day. If all children in poor countries could read, global poverty would fall by 12%.
Tariq Al Gurg, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Cares said: “The on-ground realities that I have personally witnessed during my field visits to some of the world’s poorest countries do not need any statistics to highlight the plight of the people, especially children. The impact that lack of education has had on their lives is evident, and this is what our 2013 Ramadan campaign aimed to highlight among the people of the UAE, encouraging them to support our efforts in bringing about a positive change in the developing world.”
The campaign included a 20-day community engagement activity at The Dubai Mall, where an interactive Dubai Cares stand sponsored by Damas aimed to firmly establish the link between access to education and reduction in poverty, in a visually attractive manner. Black and white posters on tiles showing children living in poverty gradually transformed into a colored image representative of children receiving education. The change took place every time a donation of AED 50 was made in support of the campaign.
Jamil Al Shehhi, one of the participants commented: “I visit The Dubai Mall quite often, and most of the times I see some marketing or sales promotions. It was very pleasing to see a different sort of activity organized by Dubai Cares this time, one that was interactive and philanthropic at the same time. It is heart breaking to learn about the challenges and difficulties that children in developing countries face every single day and hence I decided to support this campaign. I have children of my own, and I would not imagine them in such a situation. I really hope that other residents also support Dubai Cares and help improve the health, financial and educational standards of these children and their families.”
As part of its “End Poverty. Educate Now.” Ramadan campaign, companies in the UAE were given the opportunity to support Dubai Cares by making a direct financial contribution. These companies include Al Rams Trading, Al Rostamani, DMCC, dnata, Dubai Investments, Dubai Properties Group, HSBC, Jafza, Mashreq, Paris Gallery and RTA.