Dubai Cares, part of Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, has announced four new programmes that will directly address key educational issues by tackling obstacles and bringing new opportunities within the reach of thousands of children in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean islands.

The programmes, worth AED12,778,857 (US$3,478,660), are set to benefit more than 6,350 school children. It will be implemented in Antigua and Barbuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean, as well as Vanuatu and Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean respectively. The aim is to support countries and islands severely affected by climate change.

In the Caribbean, Dubai Cares has launched two new programmes, with the first being in St. Vincent and the Grenadine in partnership with ‘The Zero Hunger Trust Fund.’ The plan is to improve the schools’ internal facilities to foster health and safety by supporting children’s learning opportunities and ensuring they have at least one nutritious meal per day. It also provides 2,139 school children with monitored feeding across 12 primary schools.

The programme in Antigua and Barbuda, titled ‘Renovation of Villa Primary School in Antigua and Barbuda,’ is being executed in partnership with the Extended Arms Foundation with the purpose of renovating the Villa Primary School in Antigua, and improving its infrastructure.

This programme, which benefits 355 school children, meets the government's commitment to providing quality education while using the renovated school as a benchmark in the country.

Tariq Al Gurg, Chief Executive Officer at Dubai Cares said, "The four new programmes in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean islands are designed to drive lasting institutional and structural changes, aimed at enhancing the quality of education through awareness-raising activities, strategic planning and intervention, policy involvement and technical training.

"These programmes reflect our commitment to continuously identify new interventions, particularly where countries are in need of resources, improve infrastructure and provide quality education to support the development of children. Moreover, our recent intervention in Antigua and Barbuda comes at a time when support to the education sector in the Caribbean is much needed due to the recent devastation brought on by hurricane Irma."

In the Pacific Ocean, Dubai Cares is rolling out a two-year programme in Vanuatu in partnership with UNICEF titled ‘Access to Early Childhood Development and Increasing Primary School Readiness in Vanuatu.’ It seeks to adopt a holistic and integrated approach to improve early childhood education through several components such as quality of instruction, water, sanitation and hygiene, WASH, facilities, nutrition, and child protection.

The programme is in line with the Pacific Multi-Country Programme (2013-2017) under the Ministry of Education’s Early Childhood Development, ECD, strategy. It will be realised in the Panama province and will target pre-schools and parents in 84 communities. This will generate a structure and solid findings for replication and potential scale up, influencing key ECD-related policy decisions in the country and the region as a whole.

In Kiribati, the goal is to support the government in developing policies and quality standards to improve the existing national curriculum and services. It is also being implemented in partnership with the UNICEF and explores the introduction and operationalisation of a one-year school readiness programme for all five-year-olds in Kiribati. It is being carried out concurrently with the ‘Kiribati Development Plan.’ This two-year programme benefits around 1,000 school children.