The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme and Emirates Foundation signed a Memorandum of Understanding that lays the ground for strong partnership on the promotion of volunteering in the United Arab Emirates.
Areas of cooperation include; creating an innovation and knowledge hub on volunteerism, enhancing research and evidence around volunteerism in the UAE, and encouraging UAE nationals to serve abroad as UN Volunteers for peace and development.
The Agreement was signed by Jason Pronyk, UNV Regional Manager for Arab States, Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, (on behalf of Olivier Adam, UNV Executive Coordinator) and Maytha Al Habsi, CEO of Emirates Foundation.
I am confident that the signing of this MoU is only a start of a fruitful partnership for the promotion of volunteerism in the Arab States region, and in the United Arab Emirates more specifically. We look forward to joining our efforts with Emirates Foundation to increase mobilization of volunteers for the 2030 Agenda and enhance our knowledge-base on volunteering in the UAE, ” comments Olivier Adam, Executive Coordinator of UNV.
In her comment on this occasion, Al Habsi said, “since the establishment of Emirates Foundation in 2005, volunteering has been at the heart of our mission and top priorities aligned with our vision to engage and empower youth to take on a leadership role within society. Our partnership with The United Nations Volunteers programme is aligned with this vision and is a critical part of our model of Youth Development which is about engaging and empowering youth to take an active role in solving social problems systemically and at scale.”
We look forward to working with UNV and engaging our youth with meaningful opportunities to volunteer and engage in public service fostering a culture of volunteering within and outside the UAE,” Al Habsi, CEO of Emirates Foundation states.
Emirates Foundation is a national organization set up by the Abu Dhabi Government to facilitate public-private funded initiatives for the empowerment of youth across the UAE. It promotes volunteering as one of its tools for youth engagement and empowerment.