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19 March 2024

#LastILearned campaign to educate displaced children launched; Dubai Cares pledges Dh73m

Published
By Bindu Rai

Dubai Cares has pledged Dh73.47 million and launched a month-long social media campaign to raise funds to educate children who have been displaced from their homes.

The Education in Emergencies initiative will also receive its social media push with the hashtag #LastILearned, which will showcase a series of short clips narrating stories of a select few displaced children talking about the last thing they learned in school.

The current campaign, which rolled out on Wednesday, will specifically go towards educating Syrian refugees in Lebanon, along with children who have lost out on basic skills in Niger amidst the Boko Haram kidnappings and the lost generation in Sierra Leone whose education has taken a back seat amidst the Ebola outbreak.

Announcing the start of the campaign, Tariq Al Gurg, Dubai Cares CEO said: “We have pledged $20m (Dh73.47m) for Education in Emergencies, of which will be contributing approximately $8m across the three countries targeted in this campaign.

“This amount is separate from the $10m Dubai Cares pledged last month at the 71st UN General Assembly, which would go towards research in the same field.”

Al Gurg continued: “During a crisis, priority is always given to food, shelter, and health; education remains largely neglected. This is why we took it upon ourselves to fulfill this need.”

Dubai Cares is working with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in this initiative with its Deputy Director of Education, Jennifer Sklar, who said: “Today the number of children, adolescents and youth displaced from their homes due to conflict stands at 62.6m across 32 countries.

“Education is one of the least funded sectors today. And the hurdle gets bigger when you realise their ability to learn is also damaged due to psycho social elements. These are children who are exposed to war-related trauma and need our help.”

According to latest global statistics, one in 113 people is either a refugee, internally displaced or seeking asylum; and more than half of the world’s refugees are children.

The average length of displacement today has reached 17 years and the average length of conflict today is 37 years.

How can you help?

Dubai Cares is appealing to people in the UAE to step up and donate. Follow the hashtag #LastILearned on social media and pledge monetary support.

You can contribute via SMS on Etisalat by sending the word ‘donate’ to 9030 to give Dh30 and 9090 to donate Dh90.

Those shopping at Geant can pledge donations there.

Donations can also be made when paying for the food bill and participating restaurants.

Online donations can be made on Dubaicares.ae, while corporates can approach the organization directly to provide donations.