Another milestone for Dubai

A UAE local paper today lauded Dubai Cares selection by the UN to be part of the UN global education initiative "Education First" as a ''proud moment'' for Dubai. ''Dubai can now place another feather in its cap Dubai Cares has been selected to join a UN global education initiative "Education First" headed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. This announcement came at the 67th session of the UN General Assembly in New York City,'' Khaleej Times wrote in its editorial. ''Dubai Cares - founded in 2007 by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai - is the only organisation that has been selected from the entire Middle East to be part of Technical Advisory Group (TAG) and Subgroup on Advocacy and Communications for the five-year UN educational initiative,'' the paper said. ''This is a proud moment for Dubai since its philanthropic initiative has not only received recognition of a global platform, but is also going to employed in increasing access to primary education. ''Dubai Cares, which celebrated its fifth anniversary last month, has already been enthusiastically involved in educating millions of children in the developing world. Since the organisation has been long engaged in improving school infrastructure; water, sanitation and hygiene in schools; school health and nutrition, it will especially prove to be a useful asset for providing its technical expertise and advice to the UN initiative. ''Moreover, Dubai Cares has also been extensively committed to improving quality of education and thus will be able to effectively guide the UN program, which seeks to lobby for making quality of education the centre of political and developmental debates. ''Seven million lives in 28 developing countries have been changed because of Dubai Cares. And now with the organisation's new liaison with the UN, there is great hope that many more lives will be transformed and numerous futures will be built. And once again, the UAE will prove that it is a global player with a vision of transforming the world for the better,'' Khaleej Times concluded.