Dubai: Standard Chartered Bank announced today the launch of Goal programme in the UAE in collaboration with non-profit business education centre Rawafed. Together, both entities will implement sports and life skills to empower and equip young girls with the confidence, knowledge and skills they need to be integral economic leaders in their families, communities and societies.
Goal is Standard Chartered’s leading education programme that provides financial literacy, life skills and employability training to young girls across its footprint.
Goal’s training curriculum is based on four modules: ‘Be Money Savvy’ focuses on financial education (how to save, invest and open a bank account); ‘Be Yourself’ imparts effective communication skills; ‘Be Healthy’ builds knowledge on health and hygiene and ‘Be Empowered’ teaches girls how to be confident, authentic and stand up for their rights.
Launched in 2006, the programme now presents in over 20 markets and has reached out to, and inspired, over 381,000 girls to date, with a target to reach 600,000 girls by 2020. The programme has also been successfully implemented in other AME markets including Pakistan and Jordan with a reach of over 2000 girls annually.
Several studies have shown that investment in girls positively affects GDP growth rates. A World Bank study in 1999 demonstrates that increasing the secondary education of girls by 1 per cent results in an annual income increase of 0.3 per cent per capita.
Educating girls and giving them the tools to shape their own future has an incredible multiplier effect on economic growth. It leads to increased prosperity not just for individuals but for their communities and their societies. It provides returns for decades.
Rola Abu Manneh, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank UAE said: “There is a massive hidden potential waiting to be unlocked for girls in the UAE. By expanding the reach of our Goal programme to even more girls and young women, we hope to provide them with the right tools and knowledge to make informed choices as they move into adulthood, and to empower them to be more active economic participants in their communities”.
What makes Goal unique is it’s play rather than classroom-based methodology to get the curriculum messages across. It is also, leveraging sports as a dynamic and healthy platform. The physical activities generate fun and help girls remember what they have learnt while giving them a break from the stresses of home life.
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For more information or interview opportunities, please contact:
Wasim Ben Khadra,
Head of External Communications, UAE
Mobile: +971 56 508 0106
Email: wasim.benkhadra@sc.com
About Standard Chartered
We are a leading international banking group, with a presence in more than 60 of the world’s most dynamic markets. Our purpose is to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, and our heritage and values are expressed in our brand promise, Here for good.
Standard Chartered PLC is listed on the London and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges as well as the Bombay and National Stock Exchanges in India.
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About Rawafed
- Focus on youth and gender development
- Licensed under the Knowledge & Human Development Authority
- Holistic approach that addresses educational, creative, physical and psychological needs of the youth through family and community based programs.
Key projects / recognition
- Tamkeen- illiteracy, targeting youth between 14 and 18 who have not had any formal education.
- Taahel: targets high school graduates and offers them different kinds of skills that enables them to find jobs
- Helayel’s Reads: A 1-yr remedial program that targets displaced Syrian children, aged 9-13
- Rawafed is popular with the local community because of its reputation for creating exceptional volunteering opportunities - "Help-me-Read", "Joy-of-Eid", "Marah trips" and "Eid fiestas“ were a huge success.
About Goal
- Goal currently runs in India (Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai), Nigeria (Abuja and Lagos) and is also set to launch in China (Xi'an, Nanjing, and Chongqing) this year.
- We aim to provide 600,000 young women across Asia, Africa and the Middle East with important life skills by 2020. The adolescent girls are from urban communities and are between the ages of 14 to 19, who are either in or out of school and who subsist on a low family income.
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