A Moment With
A MOMENT WITH
MISS AMAL AL REDHA
Fundraising Manager at Dubai Cares
By Carolyn Lee
“W
hen you are driven
by a deep love and
passion for what
you do, there is
no telling what you can achieve.” Borrowed.
This sentiment proved to be
particularly true of Ms Amal Al Redha,
the meticulous, articulate and business
savvy fundraising manager, of the
philanthropic
organisation,
Dubai
Cares.
Amal graduated from Zayed University
armed with a bachelor’s degree in
business with a specialisation in
marketing. Shortly after graduating,
she signed on to be part of the
fundraising team for Dubai Cares in
2007. This campaign was launched by
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin
Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President,
Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai.
As she shares with me why she
enjoys working at Dubai Cares, their
successes and what she envisions for
the organisation going forward, it is
very easy to see her passion, tenacity
and love for her job, shining through.
Tell us a bit about Dubai Cares.
Dubai Cares is a philanthropic
organisation that was launched by
HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid
Al Maktoum with the mandate of
providing children in developing
countries with access to quality primary
education. When we first started it
was just a fundraising campaign. We
were however, surprised and inspired
by the overwhelming support that we
received from the UAE community;
schools, universities, corporations, and
individuals.
This led to the decision to transform the
initial campaign into a more sustainable
organisation. Our initial target was to
reach one million children around the
world. Over the past 7 years, we have
exceeded that number. Currently, Dubai
44
Nov - Dec 2014
Cares is reaching more than 10 million
children in 35 developing countries.
What countries does Dubai Cares
work in?
Dubai Cares designs and funds
programmes in Africa, South East
Asia, the Middle East and Haiti.
The organisation partners with UN
agencies such as UNICEF and other
international NGOs such as Save
the Children, which are currently
working on the ground and have vast
experience in the implementation of
our programmes.
Who was your favourite teacher and
why?
Let me first say that I have respect for
all my teachers. However, there was
one teacher that actually touched my
life. It was my Mathematics teacher
from Grade 4-7. I was very sad when
she left. She was my favourite teacher,
because she took time to help me
when I was struggling with the subject.
She supported me academically and
emotionally. She gave me that push
to develop the confidence I needed
After The Bell
to think critically and to approach the
subject using different skills. She is the
reason I advanced in Mathematics.
What are some of the ways in which
educators in the UAE can help with
the development of education in
developing countries?
We are very fortunate that we have a
pool of teachers with a lot of expertise
in the UAE. Our teachers are advancing
daily and our government is very
supportive of teachers. Teachers in the
UAE can assist teachers in developing
countries by volunteering their time
and expertise by providing training. In
most of these developing countries the
teachers are under a lot of pressure.
There are sometimes 60 children to a
teacher. Some of these teachers live
and work in harsh conditions. It takes
a lot of dedication and passion to have
these teachers show up each day and
commit to those children.
It is vital that children receive quality
education in these countries. One way
to do this is to ensure that the teachers
are properly trained. This is an important
mandate of our organisation and a key