The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI) 2016 Year in Review reflects the humanitarian and developmental achievements of the initiatives, projects and institutions that fall under the MBRGI umbrella. These results reflect the foundation’s mission to create hope for the future, and build a more stable world focused on human development.

The MBRGI initiatives are divided into five main pillars: humanitarian and relief aid; healthcare and disease control; spreading education and knowledge; innovation and entrepreneurship and empowering communities.

MBRGI’s total investment in 2016 was over AED 1.5 billion, of which AED 730 million was allocated to humanitarian and developmental initiatives and community programmes. AED 791 million was invested in building three sustainable monuments: the Al Jalila Research Centre, the Museum of the Future, and the Mohammed bin Rashid Library, which will be the largest knowledge building of its kind in the Arab World, and will be officially inaugurated in 2018.

Forty two million people in 62 countries around the world benefited from MBRGI’s initiatives and programmes that seek to alleviate the suffering of disadvantaged groups, help those in need, including patients and people with disabilities, and empower communities by providing tools to improve economic, social and various other aspects that enhance the quality of life in different communities.

Humanitarian and relief aid initiatives recorded an expenditure of AED 252 million, while healthcare and disease control saw investments of AED 224 million. AED 590 million was dedicated to spreading education and knowledge; innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives amounted to AED 377 million and AED 79 million was spent on empowering communities.

In recognition of the people, institutions and initiatives that promote the values of giving, working hard, knowledge, culture and humanity, MBRGI presented awards to the amount of AED 115 million.

The Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives foundation was inaugurated on 4 October 2015. It embodies the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum to improve the Arab world through humanitarian, developmental and community work.

Its programmes share a common drive to create hope in the Arab world and beyond. MBRGI supports more than 130 million people in 116 countries around the world, and encompasses 33 institutions and initiatives that operate more than 1,400 development programmes. The foundation works in collaboration with more than 280 strategic partners ranging from governmental institutions and private sector companies to regional and international organisations.

The humanitarian and relief aid pillar is one of MBRGI’s most important pillars, and is in line with the UAE’s mission to improve the lives of millions of people around the world, regardless of politics, religions, race, colour or any other discrimination. MBRGI institutions provide emergency and disaster relief, as well as humanitarian, developmental and community-based assistance to less fortunate communities living under conflict or facing various epidemics.

Total expenditure on humanitarian and relief aid was AED 252 million in 2016, and benefited 22.6 million people around the world.

The Mohammed bin Rashid Charity and Humanitarian Establishment invests in the fabric of society to help the poor, the sick, widows, orphans, the needy and distressed all around the world, as well as at home in the UAE. Its entrepreneurial programmes, for example, enable impoverished families to earn a living. The charity touched the lives of 1.1 million people in 2016, provided iftar for 11.5 million people fasting outside the UAE and invested AED 94 million in building schools, hospitals, homes, wells and other forms of relief in 20 war-ravaged countries around the world. UAE Water Aid, known in Arabic as Suqia, invested AED 3.6 million in wells and other charity initiatives in 2016, providing clean water to 10 million people.

The UAE Food Bank is one of the newest initiatives to join MBRGI. Launched earlier this year, the UAE Food Bank is the largest initiative of its kind in the region, collecting, storing and distributing surplus food to those in the need in the UAE and abroad.

At 1,130,210 square feet, International Humanitarian City (IHC) is one of the world’s largest humanitarian cities, located within eight hours by air of two-thirds of the world’s population. As such, it contains AED 400 million of stock ready to be delivered to those who need it most.

In 2016, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid launched Dubai’s Awqaf and Endowment vision and strategy, which aspires to make the UAE the most dedicated country in the world to serving humanity. The Dubai Awqaf and Endowment vision and strategy is managed by the Mohammed bin Rashid Global Centre for Endowment Consultancy, which was launched in March 2016 with the goal of reviving Waqf as a development tool for the community. The centre developed an innovative model for any institution to provide endowments, regardless of its size and net worth. Institutions can link any type of assets, resources or services to the concept of innovative endowment. Within a year of its launch, the centre has assisted various entities launch a range of innovative endowments, with an estimated value of over AED 12 billion for knowledge and innovation, education, social services and more.

Providing essential and life-transforming healthcare and disease control where it is most needed is a central pillar of MBRGI’s work.

In 2016, MBRGI provided a variety of health services through its entities and institutions, dedicated to providing specialized healthcare and infectious disease control, with AED 224 million allocated to health initiatives and programmes that benefited 10 million people around the world.

In 2016, Al Jalila Foundation provided 1.6 million vaccines to prevent against maternal and neonatal tetanus across 15 countries. The foundation also collaborated with the Mohammed bin Rashid Charity and Humanitarian Establishment to conduct several heart surgeries for children in the UAE and abroad.

On its end, Noor Dubai continued working to rid the world of the causes of blindness and visual disability. In 2016, Noor Dubai rescued the eyesight of over 6.6 million patients through treatment or surgery. The foundation also, through its mobile eye clinics, examined 15,603 patients, distributed 2,862 glasses and performed 1,794 surgeries in various countries.

To support medical research and help find solutions, the Al Jalila Foundation Research Centre, the UAE’s first independent biomedical research centre, funded more than 55 local research studies and invested more than AED 16.3 million in medical research, study grants and fellowship programmes.

Initiatives to spread education and knowledge in 2016 saw an investment of AED 590 million, with this pillar accounting for the largest portion of total MBRGI 2016 expenditure, emphasizing MBRGI’s commitment to education, and benefiting 9.3 million people globally.

The year 2016 was a landmark year for education and literacy in the Arab world. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, under the guidance of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, pronounced it the ‘Year of Reading’, and introduced a strategy to consolidate the reading culture, inspire a generation of readers, and establish the UAE as a hub for knowledge.

The Arab Reading Challenge (ARC) is arguably the most prominent reading development initiative in the Arab World. The competition aimed to encourage a million students, from the 1st to the 12th grades, collectively to read 50 million books. During 2016, motivated by taking part in ARC, more than 3.5 million students read more than 150 million books, helping to instil a life-long habit of reading in children across the region. In the 2016/17 academic year, the second round of the Arab Reading Challenge reached 7 million students who read over 200 million books.

In 2016, the Mohammed bin Rashid Library was launched at the total cost of AED 1 billion. The first phase of the library’s construction began during the first quarter of 2016. The library will be 1 million sq ft in total and be home to over 4.5 million printed, digital and audio books.

In Ramadan 2016, MBRGI launched ‘Reading Nation’, a Ramadan fundraising campaign that raised AED 80 million to purchase and distribute 8 million books and to equip 3,000 libraries across the Arab and Muslim World.

MBRGI places importance on promoting and nurturing the Arabic language. In this regard, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Arabic Language Award ceremony was held, honouring 10 individuals for their contribution to the Arabic language in public life. Reading was also the core theme of the Knowledge Summit 2016, organised by Mohammed Bin Rashid Foundation (MBRF), whose mission is to establish Dubai and the UAE as the centre for knowledge and research. The summit is also the platform for the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Knowledge, which acknowledges the achievements of individuals, bodies and institutions in spreading knowledge.

Dubai Cares continued its effort to provide quality education to children in disadvantaged communities by introducing programmes that eliminate barriers to school attendance. This includes building and renovating schools, equipping classrooms with the necessary educational tools, improving the quality of water and sanitation in schools, as well as training teachers and developing curricula. In 2016, over 2.2 million beneficiaries joined the Dubai Cares education programme.

In parallel to its sustainable education programmes, Dubai Cares announced in 2016 its support for emergency education and relief around the world, with a total funding of AED 73.5 million. Dubai Cares also supported education programmes for thousands of young Syrian refugees in Lebanon and supported the education sector in the Gaza Strip in Palestine.