Read about the philanthropic activities of H. H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE in the areas of education, economy, infrastructure and health. This page also highlights the UAE Government's partnerships with civil societies to improve the quality of life both inside and outside the country.
H. H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai too is involved in several social, charitable and developmental activities in the UAE.
On 4 October 2015, he launched the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI). It embodies his vision to improve the Arab world through humanitarian, developmental and community work. MBRGI operates in the following five main pillars:
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MBRGI covers under its umbrella, several entities that were already working in the fields of charity and developmental work. Affiliated bodies under MBRGI are classified as per the five main pillars.
Entities dedicated to humanitarian aid and relief
Entities dedicated to healthcare & disease control
Entities dedicated to spreading education and knowledge
Entities dedicated to innovation and entrepreneurship
Entities dedicated to empowering communities
In the area of combating poverty and disease:
The UAE observes that the prevalence of severe poverty in a number of countries and regions across the world is the result of several factors some of which are deeply rooted because of poor international response and the absence of a comprehensive vision to address the issue. The UAE has become a role model in this respect due to its commitment to achieving the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals, which prioritise poverty eradication.
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives not only provide aid but also combat the root causes of poverty and disease worldwide. Their programmes have assisted 40 million people in 99 countries by 2015.
With regard to eradicating poverty specifically, MBRGI and its affiliated bodies have given financial and practical support to more than 1.5 million households in 40 countries. They constructed the largest infrastructure and logistics system in the world on an area of 700,000 square feet to provide facilities and services for charitable and humanitarian institutions. Between 2011 and 2014, the UAE donated 8.9billion AED to eradicate poverty worldwide.
In the fight against the spread of disease, their programmes have prevented and treated blindness for 23 million people and provided 81 million vaccines and medications in the past eight years. They have protected 3.6 million children in vulnerable countries from intestinal worms, which threaten their health and future. They have also built 46 hospitals.
According to the UAEInteract website, between 1971 and 2014, the UAE spent 2billion AED on projects associated with children's health, education and relief efforts in Asia and Africa. Some of these programmes involved vaccinating children against polio and measles with a special focus on Pakistani and Afghanistani children.
In the area of spreading knowledge:
In spreading knowledge in other countries, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives and its affiliated bodies seek to support education, disseminate knowledge, encourage the research and spread of knowledge, and provide children with healthy learning environment free of disease and its causes.
The initiatives in this sector have been responsible for the construction 2,126 schools around the world, training 400,000 teachers, distributing and printing more than 3.2 million books, translating 1,000 knowledge-based books, encouraging millions of students in the Arab world to read 50 million books a year and sustaining Arabic language support initiatives.
In 2016, the initiative of Reading Nation was launched. It was a Ramadan campaign aiming at collecting, printing and distributing 5 million books from the UAE to the world. The campaign was launched under the direction of H. H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in partnership with MBRGI, Dubai Cares and the Emirates Red Crescent.
In the area of empowering communities:
Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives holds conferences and grants awards to innovative individuals in the fields of media, art and sports. To date, half a million people have been touched through these initiatives; 67,000 of them are media personnel who have contributed to opening new horizons for media in the region. The Foundation is further concerned with consolidating a cultural discourse characterised by tolerance through investing half a billion AED in cultural understanding initiatives, which have benefited more than 200 nationalities.
In the area of entrepreneurship and innovation for the future:
The UAE is a regional leader in encouraging entrepreneurship and pioneering innovation. The UAE Government stresses on these as essential keys to sustainable progress. In the recent past, the visionary leaders of the UAE have announced several initiatives and policies in these fields. The UAE recognises industrialisation as the key to economic development.
In the area of spreading entrepreneurship and innovation, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives and its affiliated bodies aim to train officials and leaders from 155 governmental organisations from various countries around the world, in order to develop the governmental mindset and raise the level of public services. In addition, it has also invested AED 1 billion to create an integrated environment to serve creative innovators locally, regionally and globally through the Museum of the Future.
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