Dubai Cares Signs Partnership Agreement with UNESCO to Fund US$ 3 Million Education Programme

Dubai Cares, a UAE-based global philanthropic organisation working to provide children in developing countries with access to quality education, will be funding a US$ 3 million Capacity Development for Education (CapED) programme by UNESCO.

The two organisations agreed to work together to support countries make progress towards the Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) aimed at ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, through the design and funding of integrated, impactful, sustainable and scalable programmes.

Thanking Mr Al Gurg for his cooperation and generous support, Ms Bokova said:

“With SDG 4, we all have a clear and common vision. The next step is to equip governments and societies with the ownership to take forward the policies and strategies they have crafted. “Achieving SDG 4 is not only a question of funding. It is also the result of each country’s firm commitment to education, with trained staff, relevant policies, effective institutions and reliable data to inform strategies and prioritise needs.

“Just like the partnership we are signing today, CapED is the product of a joint effort. With capacity development at the heart of its interventions, the Programme draws on more than twelve years of action on the ground to help countries implement reforms and build quality, inclusive and equitable education systems,” added Bokova.

Commenting on the signing of the agreement, Tariq Al Gurg said, "Our new partnership with UNESCO comes at an opportune time to effectively support developing countries in setting the appropriate mechanisms to deliver on the 2030 agenda on education. The program will build the capacity of ministry officials and ensure alignment between national sector plans and the ambitions of SDG4 for a pilot group of countries. This upstream approach will also complement Dubai Cares’ downstream interventions at community and school levels, helping us realize our vision for a holistic approach to development.”

The funding will allow UNESCO’s CapED Programme to support the implementation of SDG4 through a pilot programme in 10 countries. The programme will provide capacity development to review existing policies and plans in the light of SDG4 and to improve national data collection and analysis to better monitor progress towards the goal.