Friday, Jul 05, 2013
Dubai: In just one year, more than 453,000 blue-collar workers, mostly labourers, around Dubai have benefitted from the Community Development Authority’s (CDA) Honour Labour programme and its 40 partner organisations.
Since these men are away from their families for extended periods, they are more prone to feeling isolated, depressed, lonely and homesick. The challenge then was to come up with a holistic approach in improving their quality of life through collaboration, Dr Omar Al Muthanna, CEO of the CDA’s Social Regulator and Licensing Sector, said.
To date, more than 1,175 volunteers, mostly Emiratis, have contributed more than 175,030 hours of their time from May 2012 to empower labourers through the Honour Labour programme that includes educational, vocational, and entertainment activities.
“This is a display of collaboration between government, the private sector and the social sector. Right now in total we have a mix of 40 government agencies, companies, and non-profit organisations (NPO). This is truly unprecedented, this kind of collaboration to cater to the community has not happened before,” Al Muthanna told Gulf News.
Throughout the year, all projects for blue-collar workers were planned accordingly to avoid duplication and utilise resources. NPOs that teach English, for example, are assigned areas to maximise their reach.
“We were first doing things in an unorganised way and the CDA came in and they formulated the way we worked and all that,” Rex Prakash, SmartLife Foundation General Secretary, told Gulf News.
Sameer Shah, Director of the Danube Welfare Centre, said: “All this started in conjunction with the CDA. Because of this entire concept, we are in the position to help develop the skill sets of people.”
Al Muthanna said since the programme was not a one-time thing, it paved the way for continuous services delivered straight to the workers. Currently, more than 1,000 workers have received educational and vocational training and more are under way. A total of 5,300 have been accommodated at free medical camps organised throughout the year.
More than Dh3.2 million worth of in-kind services and products have been distributed by partner agencies, not to mention the 11 million subsidised minutes from telecom company du to bring workers and their families closer.
Al Muthanna said he aims to make the programme sustainable by calling on other organisations and individuals who care about others to join the programme.
“Our vision is this will become a standard way of providing services through collaboration because that is the best proof that we live in a society that is responsible and empowered. It is fulfilling to say that I live in a community or a city, where, whenever there is a social issue, communities come together and they resolve that issue,” Al Muthanna said.
BY Janice Ponce de Leon Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
