Dubai cares and gives to the world
We are keen to transform challenges into opportunities, and invest in the human potential and will lend a helping hand to all those in need
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
Crown Prince of Dubai
dubai — More than 17 million people benefited from humanitarian projects funded by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives last year. The initiatives were worth Dh262 million.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Foundation, said: “These initiatives are based on a vision that seeks to improve the quality of life of people. We are keen to transform challenges into opportunities, and invest in the human potential and will lend a helping hand to all those in need.”
The relief efforts included providing food, safe drinking water by digging wells and building infrastructure for suffering people across the world.
Officials said 13 shipments,
carrying more than a 1,000 tonnes of aid and relief materials, were transported to countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas during natural disasters.
dubai — The Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI) announced that its humanitarian aid and relief projects benefitted over 17 million people across the world with a total expenditure of Dh262 million in 2019.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai and Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees of MBRGI, said the foundation is devoted to expanding the scope of humanitarian aid and relief to reach the largest number of beneficiaries. “The foundation stems from a human-centric approach that strives to improve lives, foster the culture of hope, transform challenges into opportunities and invest in human capital, the nation’s most precious resource.”
He added: “The UAE was established on the humanitarian principle of lending a helping hand to anyone in need across the world.
“Making a difference in one person’s life can lead to a better future for an entire society,” he said, adding that the MBRGI has succeeded in transforming humanitarian work into an integrated system of giving that provides efficient and swift response to empower communities, therefore, strengthening the UAE’s position on the global humanitarian aid map.”
The six MBRGI entities that carry out projects and programmes in the Humanitarian Aid and Relief pillar are the International Humanitarian City (IHC), UAE Food
Bank, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Humanitarian and Charity Establishment (MBRCH), UAE Water Aid Foundation (Suqia) and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Global Centre for Endowment Consultancy.
An integrated social system
Ibrahim Mohammed Bu Melha, advisor of the Ruler of Dubai for Cultural and Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees of MBRCH, said the establishment has become one of the highly active organisations to transform occasional humanitarian aid into a year-long system of work. “We are focused on developing sustainable programmes and projects transcend timebound urgent aid to an integrated social support system.”
Clean water projects
Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the UAE Water Aid Foundation (Suqia), said under the umbrella of the MBRGI, Suqia continues its efforts to provide clean water for communities suffering from water scarcity and pollution.
Since its inception, Suqia has completed more than 1,000 sustainable water projects around the world that touched the lives of over 13 million people across 36 countries.
Beating hunger
Dawoud Al Hajri, vice-chairman of the Board of Trustees of UAE Food Bank, said: “We aim to establish the UAE Food Bank as an integrated humanitarian system that involves all segments of the society to collect surplus food and distribute it to those in need.”
He added that the UAE Food Bank launched 93 initiatives and campaigns in 2019 to foster the culture of giving and provide everyone with the opportunity to get involved. The amount of food donated increased by fivefold from the previous year to 13,488 tonnes.