Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister of United Arab Emirates, Ruler of Dubai
DIHAD
23 – 25 April 2024

Dubai World Trade Centre

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23 – 25 April 2024

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UNOCHA Pre-Conference Workshop – 2022

Home UNOCHA Pre-Conference Workshop – 2022

‘Towards A Global Revitalized Multi – Stakeholders Partnership for SDGs’
The Humanitarian-Development-Peace Collaboration/The HDP ‘Nexus’

13 March 2022 | Novotel World Trade Centre, UAE

Click here to register (882AED)

Workshop Opening
Welcoming Remarks

Ms. Sajeda Shawa  | Acting Head of Office, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), Abu Dhabi, UAE

Sajeda
Ms. Sajeda Shawa
Acting Head of Office, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), Abu Dhabi, UAE | United Arab Emirates

Currently Ms. Sajeda is Acting Head of office– OCHA UAE. Ms. Shawa brings onboard around fifteen years of experience focusing on partnerships, advocacy, and resource mobilization. Her latest appointment was with UNOCHA Regional office for Syria Crisis working closely with the UN ASG – RHC for Syria Crisis supporting him directly on his strategic engagements on donor relations, strategic partnerships, and humanitarian outreach, in addition to leading gulf relations, donor reporting and Arabic advocacy. Before joining the UN and focusing on strategy development, she spent around nine years with the European Commission humanitarian arm (ECHO) managing field operations/projects in Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Jordan, and Syria and during the last three years developed their humanitarian outreach strategy toward the GCC countries (KSA, UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar). Previously she worked with USAID & the Italian Cooperation in Jordan on local development and engagement with the private sector. She is a graduate of Harvard Executive Education Program, holder of an MA in International studies, focusing on the humanitarian landscape in the gulf region post Arab spring, and a BA in English Language and Literature.

Lectures by this speaker
Sunday, 2022-03-13
Welcoming Remarks

  09:00 - 09:05

  09:00 - 09:05

Opening Remarks

Dr. Dena Assaf  | United Nations Resident Coordinator for the United Arab Emirates and Deputy Commissioner General for the UN at Expo2020

Dena
Dr. Dena Assaf
United Nations Resident Coordinator for the United Arab Emirates and Deputy Commissioner General for the UN at Expo2020 | United Arab Emirates

Dr. Dena Assaf is the United Nations Resident Coordinator for the United Arab Emirates and Deputy Commissioner General for the UN at Expo2020. She has been with the United Nations for over 20 years in various senior management positions and advisory roles with UN Peace Keeping, the UN Development Programme, UN Women and the UN Sustainable Development Group at headquarters, the Arab Region, and various UN country offices.

Lectures by this speaker
Sunday, 2022-03-13
Opening Remarks

  09:05 - 09:20

  09:05 - 09:20

Session I: What does the HDP “Nexus” Mean and Why Engage in the Nexus?
The Humanitarian-Development-Peace Collaboration/The HDP ‘Nexus’

Dr. Raidan Al Saqqaf  | Development Coordination Officer, United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Raidan
Dr. Raidan Al Saqqaf
Development Coordination Officer, United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office, Abu Dhabi, UAE | United Arab Emirates

Dr Raidan Al Saqqaf is the Economist at the United Nations of Office in Abu Dhabi, he has over 18 years of work experience in various capacities, including with the UN-Secretariat, UNDP, International Labour Organization, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. He has life and work experience across the Middle East and North Africa as well as in Geneva and Southeast Asia. He worked on a variety of initiatives including humanitarian response design and coordination, peace mediation, sustainable development and economic growth, as well as intergovernmental processes.

Lectures by this speaker
Sunday, 2022-03-13
The Humanitarian-Development-Peace Collaboration/The HDP ‘Nexus’

  09:20 - 10:00

  09:20 - 10:00

Impact-Driven Partnerships for Social Good

Ms. Fairuz Taqi -Eddin  | Chief of Partnerships and Resource Mobilization, UNICEF Gulf Area Office, Dubai, UAE

Fairuz
Ms. Fairuz Taqi -Eddin
Chief of Partnerships and Resource Mobilization, UNICEF Gulf Area Office, Dubai, UAE | United Arab Emirates

In summer 2020, Ms. Fairuz Taqi -Eddin joined UNICEF Gulf Area Office as the Chief of Partnerships and Resource Mobilization based in Dubai. In her capacity, Fairuz heads the UNICEF Dubai office and overseas UNICEF’s Gulf Area partnerships and resource mobilization operations for both private and public sectors. Prior to joining UNICEF, Fairuz served as UNRWA’s Sr. External Relations Officer and managed government relations for UNRWA in the Gulf region. She also served as the Director of Fundraising and Partnerships at Jordan River Foundation; a leading Jordanian NGO founded by HM Queen Rania Bin Abdullah. Fairuz spent 11 years of her career working for CARE USA. During her time with CARE, she held various senior roles in the USA, Egypt and Jordan. In her last five years with CARE, Fairuz was the Regional Director of Partnerships in the Gulf region where she established CARE’s presence in the Arab Gulf countries. As a volunteer for several philanthropic organizations, Fairuz served as a Chairwoman of Capoeira for Refugees, a UK Charity that teaches capoeira to children and youth who are the victims of conflict in the Middle East region. She also served as an advisory board member of Spark, a San Francisco based organization that supports women global issues. Fairuz holds an MA in International Relations.

Lectures by this speaker
Sunday, 2022-03-13
Impact-Driven Partnerships for Social Good

  10:00 - 10:45

  10:00 - 10:45

Tea/Coffee Break & Networking

  10:45 - 11:15

Session II: Progress and Achievements in HDP Nexus Approach: The Collective Outcomes
Operational Guidance on How to Strengthen HDP Collaboration

Ms. Jedda Constantine  | Programme Advisor, United Nations World Food Programme Dubai, UAE

Jedda
Ms. Jedda Constantine
Programme Advisor, United Nations World Food Programme Dubai, UAE | United Arab Emirates

Ms. Jedda Constantine currently serves as Programme Advisor with the United Nations World Programme (WFP) in Dubai. In this capacity, she provides expert programmatic and other operational guidance to WFP staff and public and private sector partners within the UAE and across the GCC region. Prior to assuming her current position, she served as Programme Advisor with WFP’s Regional Bureau in Johannesburg, coordinating the programme cycle and leading programme design support for 12 country operations across Southern Africa. Jedda brings a wealth of operational experience from her 17 years working in the humanitarian field, in both emergency and development settings. She has served in a number of operations in areas affected by structural food insecurity, conflict, and natural disasters. Jedda holds a BSc in International Relations and an MSc in International Development Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is a national of Australia and is married with two children.

Lectures by this speaker
Sunday, 2022-03-13
Operational Guidance on How to Strengthen HDP Collaboration

  11:15 - 12:00

  11:15 - 12:00

Strategic planning processes (HRP) to advance HDP collaboration; Good Practices from the Field.

Mr. Abdul Haq Amiri  | Section Chief for the Middle East and North Africa region, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) Geneva

Abdul Haq
Mr. Abdul Haq Amiri
Section Chief for the Middle East and North Africa region, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) Geneva | United Arab Emirates

Mr. Amiri has served the United Nations for over 25 years, mainly in the domain of humanitarian and emergency response coordination, preparedness, and recovery. Mr. Amiri is currently working as the Section Chief for the MENA region with OCHA Geneva. Mr. Amiri has worked as Head of OCHA Office in Sudan, South Sudan, Libya, Ethiopia, Iraq, KSA, Lebanon and Indonesia. Mr. Amiri has worked as the Head of the OCHA Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa (ROMENA) from 2008 to 2013, and as the Deputy Head of OCHA Office in Indonesia and Sudan 2001- 2005. He has also worked in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and led many UN missions to sudden onset disasters such as the Bam earthquake in Iran, floods in Bangladesh, and volcano in PNG. Mr. Amiri has a Master of Science degree in Social and Applied Economics from Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio, USA, and MSC and BSC (Hons) in development economics from International School of Economics in Islamabad, Pakistan. He is fluent in Persian, Pushto, English, Arabic and Urdo.

Lectures by this speaker
Sunday, 2022-03-13
Strategic planning processes (HRP) to advance HDP collaboration; Good Practices from the Field.

  12:00 - 12:45

  12:00 - 12:45

Lunch, Free Time & Networking

  12:45 - 14:00

Session III: Challenges and Opportunities: Financing the HDP Nexus
The Future of Innovative Islamic Social Finance

Mr. Houssam Chahin  | Chief of Private Sector Partnerships, Middle East and North Africa, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Dubai, UAE

Houssam
Mr. Houssam Chahin
Chief of Private Sector Partnerships, Middle East and North Africa, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Dubai, UAE | United Arab Emirates

Houssam Chahin is the Chief of Private Sector Partnerships, MENA at UNHCR. Houssam has more than 20 years of experience in fundraising, partnerships building, and stakeholders relations management in both non-for-profit and the governmental sectors. Specialized in fundraising campaigning, stakeholders’ engagement, strategic planning, and donors management, Houssam launched and developed new fundraising programs such as the Islamic Philanthropy program for UNHCR with its flagship - The Refugee Zakat Fund. Houssam worked with organizations like Greenpeace and Abu Dhabi Environment Agency. He joined UNHCR in 2011 where he is currently leading a regional team of professionals in Private Sector Fundraising within the MENA region and developing key programs, including Individual Giving, Digital Campaigning, Foundations, High Net Worth Individuals, and Corporations Fundraising.

Lectures by this speaker
Sunday, 2022-03-13
The Future of Innovative Islamic Social Finance

  14:00 - 14:45

  14:00 - 14:45

Advancing Nexus Implementation and Funding: Adaptation and Innovation in SRH and GBV Humanitarian Operations, Programmes and Service Delivery in Protracted Crises.

Dr. Luay Shabaneh  | United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Regional Director, MENA, Cairo, Egypt

Luay
Dr. Luay Shabaneh
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Regional Director, MENA, Cairo, Egypt | United Arab Emirates

Luay Shabaneh, currently serves as Arab States Regional Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund starting May 2016. A native of Palestine, he has held a number of high-profile national and international public service positions over the last two decades in the area of official statistics, population census, population and develop- ment, monitoring and evaluation, programme management and advoca- cy within the UN System, in government and in the multilateral arena. He served as Minister of Statistics in Palestine from 2005 until he started his UN career in 2009 when he joined UNFPA as Chief Technical Adviser in Iraq. Following this, he joined UNDP/UNCT in Iraq as the Senior Programme Manager for a joint UNCT programme on Public Sector Reform and Modernization. In 2015, Luay returned to UNFPA as the Regional Adviser for Population Data and Policies in ASRO. Within the Arab region, he served as chair or member of several regional professional and re- search committees. Such as the Chair of the Statistical Committee of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), Arab regional statistical forum and as member of the board of the Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics. Prior to that, Luay Shabaneh started his professional career at Palestine Central Bureau of Statis- tics (PCBS) in 1994 where he served starting from labour statistician, to be Director of Labour Statistics Department., then sub-regional director in the first population and housing census, Di- rector General of Population and Social, followed by Senior Deputy Assistant of PCBS President for Statistical Affairs, and a few years later he was selected to be the second President of PCBS. Dr. Luay holds a PhD in Applied Social Statistics from Lancaster University, UK, a Master’s Degree in Mathematical Statistics from the University of Jordan and a Bachelor of Science in Mathemat- ics from Baghdad University.

Lectures by this speaker
Sunday, 2022-03-13
Advancing Nexus Implementation and Funding: Adaptation and Innovation in SRH and GBV Humanitarian Operations, Programmes and Service Delivery in Protracted Crises.

  14:45 - 15:30

  14:45 - 15:30

Workshop Summary
Wrap Up & Presentation of Certificates

  15:30 - 16:00

Background

With a different theme for DIHAD every year, it was agreed that a pre-DIHAD workshop would be organized in alignment with the main theme of the Conference to introduce participants to the topic from the perspective of the multilateral humanitarian system.

This 18th edition of the pre-DIHAD workshop aims to discuss the “SDG17, Partnerships and Cooperation for Sustainable Development”; the role of partnerships and collaborative work in the “Humanitarian-Development-Peace Collaboration, the HDP Nexus” by bringing technical experts to share their experiences and lessons learned with the group of professional participants who would be interested in expanding their knowledge and engage in the discussion.

Thematic Overview

The new 2030 Agenda with the 17 (SDGs) builds on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); it is a renewal of commitment to complete what was not achieved or went off track by providing more focused and improved assistance to the least developed countries and other countries in special situations.

The achievement of the 2030 Agenda set out an ambitious and transformational vision that requires absolute dedication and engagement by all stakeholders. The 17 interlinked and integrated SDGs and 169 associated targets require multi-stakeholder partnerships that will enable achieving the Goals by the year 2030. Implementing this Agenda requires a revitalized Global Partnership for Sustainable Development, based on a spirit of strengthened global solidarity, focused in particular on the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable and with the participation of all stakeholders.

The 2030 Agenda recognizes the need to build links between all factors: development, humanitarian response, and peace and security. Thus, a growing emphasis is placed on the Nexus approach to sustainable development, seeking to build synergies from these links without which the SDGs will not be realized and will be at risk.

The overall ambition of the Nexus approach, the Humanitarian-Development and Peace Collaboration is to reduce humanitarian need, risk and vulnerability. Humanitarian, development and peacebuilding actors recognize that development assistance has to be scaled up in fragile and conflict-affected contexts, especially with the increasing humanitarian needs and diminishing resources to address them; they need to better connect their joint analysis, planning and programming with longer term development efforts. Henceforth, it is agreed to adopt a Common Framework for all actors to target the most vulnerable and shift towards systematically reducing need, risk and vulnerability particularly in protracted crises and where context allows.

Click here to register (882AED)

Explore past pre-conference archives here.

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Shortage of ‘Human Resources for Health’ in Developing Countries

Supported by Noor Dubai

Subtitle:

The shortage of health workers in developing countries may undermine the attainment of the Sustainable development goals, universal health coverage and undermine control of epidemics/pandemics. So how do we improve the number and quality of health workers in developing countries?

Context:

The World Health Organization in its 2006 World Health Report reported that over 4 million more health workers are needed globally to prevent crisis in the health sector. Out of which Africa alone needs 1.5 million workers. Thus 36 of the 57 countries in the continent have critical shortages of human resources for health.

Globally all countries are challenged by worker shortage, skill mix imbalance, maldistribution, negative work environment, and weak knowledge base. However, it is worse in the poorest countries mostly of Africa and Asia where the workforce is under assault by HIV/AIDS, epidemics, out-migration, poor working environment, demotivation, undertraining and inadequate investment.

The critical shortage of health workers in developing world especially Africa is a major impediment to achievement of health/developmental goals, and could hinder the ability to control epidemics and pandemic outbreaks. In many developing countries this shortage not only affects provision of life saving interventions like childhood immunization, maternal services and prevention/treatment of the major infectious diseases –HIV, Malaria and Tuberculosis; but also hampers response to serious epidemics and pandemics like Ebola, Hemorrhagic fevers, Yellow fever and Covid-19. In addition to this the increasing aging population and change of life style in these developing countries results in rising burden of chronic diseases and non-communicable diseases like diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cancers etc needing more well trained health personnel’s and facilities.

This shortage is made worse within these countries by a vicious cycle of outbreaks of epidemics that further deplete the workforce and emigration of health workers to other parts of the world. The gross mal-distribution of the workers where by majority of health workers are in the urban areas but most of the population lives in rural areas in these countries, aggravates the situation. Furthermore the opportunities for continuous medical education and self-development is generally limited.

Thus, this human resource for health crisis in the developing countries especially Africa is not only about the quantity of the health workers and their distribution but also their quality. Due to weak educational systems and training facilities, occasioned by poor investment, health workers in many of these countries are not only inadequately trained but also lack the continuous medical education to handle emerging life threatening emergencies and chronic health conditions.

The crisis is partly caused by underfunding from governments due to competing developmental demands with very weak economies. This results in fewer ill-equipped training institutions, undertraining, under-recruitment, lack of facilities, demotivation, brain drain etc. The pull of higher salaries in industrialized countries and the push of poor working conditions at home along with political and social strife drive thousands of health workers to jobs abroad each year. This ever increasing brain drain from these poor weak countries to richer nations of the West and Middle East compound an already bad situation.

Challenge statement:

The SDG goal 3 (Ensuring health living and promoting wellbeing for all for all ages), the universal health coverage and ability to withstand epidemics and pandemics like Covid-19 cannot be achieved in many countries if the human resources for health crisis in these countries is not tackled.

So how can we address this gross shortage of health workers in developing countries especially Africa in terms of not only the number of the health workers, but their distribution and their expertise (knowledge and skills?). What innovative and technological approach can be applied to address this big challenge?

The digital literacy divide between e-learners: how to narrow the gaps?

Supported by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

Title: The digital literacy divide between e-learners: how to narrow the gaps?

Concept: In a world that everyone is using the digital sphere to communicate and learn, there is still a gap between the e-learners as some have high digital literacy while many still have more limited literacy.

MSF’s e-Learning team (TEMO) aims at reaching 95% of the organization’s staff and not only 25% with high digital literacy, access to computers, access to internet, etc.

Challenge: In this scenario and in order for all staff to have access to distance learning and eLearning Solutions like Tembo can offer, what are proposals and ideas to promote digital literacy for the e-learners to narrow the gaps?

Overcoming Challenges to the Inclusion of Beneficiaries with Disabilities in Emergencies

Supported by International Humanitarian City

Keywords: Emergency Preparedness & Response; Disabilities

Introduction:
IHC for the 2020 Humanitarian Hackathon decided to focus the attention on a group of vulnerable populations affected by Disabilities. The purpose of this challenge is to stimulate people to think outside the box and come up with possible innovative tools that the humanitarian community can offer to people exposed to emergencies and having different kinds of disabilities. In particular, mobility and communication/ability to attract attention are two crucial factors when it comes to the immediate aftermath of a disaster as well as the short and long-term living situation the affected disabled population may find themselves in. The purpose is to integrate and enrich the humanitarian prepositioned stocks with appropriated equipment and aid and therefore strengthen the emergency preparedness and have tools ready for their use in the response phase. The aim is to involve the Humanitarian Hackathon 2020 participants and transform their ideas in humanitarian aid for the benefit of the disabled. Looking at the list of the humanitarian relief items stocked within various humanitarian hubs it appears that no specific items are kept in stock specifically to support the differently-abled living in areas affected by disasters.

Scenarios:
The most frequent emergency scenarios are due to natural disasters such as floods, Tsunamis, Earthquake, cyclones, volcano eruptions, fire-forest etc…in addition to conflict areas. Hackathon participants are invited to think about the disabled population in those scenarios, and particularly, how the disabled can attract rescue teams or humanitarian workers providing assistance. Options for innovative solutions may focus on preventive measures, especially for the populations most exposed to risks and living in prone and hazard areas and subject to frequent natural disasters. Other innovative solutions may focus more on the immediate response following disasters when the affected population is forced to vacate their accommodation, which is appropriately equipped for their disability and moved into newer and less familiar areas. How can we help them?

Below are some tips for the various potential disabilities.

Suggestions:

  • Overall, items that could be useful to most disability categories could be:
  • A Tools to attract attention (which can be distributed to all vulnerable people affected)
  • A disability-friendly app
  • Stool bags compatible with a foldable wheelchair toilet seat
  • Clear masks for lip-reading for the rescue teams
Improving Small Farmers Access to Knowledge About Crop Production Techniques through E-Agriculture

Supported by International Humanitarian City

In several humanitarian response areas, are blessed with diverse climatic conditions for almost all crops (cereal, fruit and vegetable crops), besides ample opportunity to grow high value vegetables as off season in certain zones and pristine climatic niches as well production of certain fruits and vegetables seedling in low, high and walk in tunnels.

Moreover, there is also immense scope of growing short duration vegetable in three successive seasons i.e. summer, winter and autumn such as tomato, broccoli and potato. The small farmers in general are neither aware of the opportunities of effective utilization of their physical , financial and human resources nor know the ways and means to utilize their available resources. Thus they follow the hit and trial rules to grow crops which often incur heavy losses to them.

DISTANCE LEARNING CHALLENGES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES IN A POST COVID-19 WORLD

Supported by Dubai Cares

COVID-19 exacerbated pre-existing gaps in Developing Countries, which were already strained, underserved and faced significant tech capacity limitations, causing serious learning disruptions.

Context

The world has been brought to a standstill by the impact of COVID-19. Airports, restaurants, movie theaters and other elements of the social environment have been disrupted by this virus’ contagion. While watching movies and dining in public are not essential to our lives, work and education are.

Education systems and learning have been heavily disrupted by COVID-19. At its apex, school closures reached over 180 countries. Currently, according to the UNESCO Education Impact Tracker, there are still 34 country wide school closures and over half a billion affected child learners. “The medium and long-term implications of the learning crisis [has] forced 1.6 billion learners worldwide out of the classroom” (UNESCO). This is especially true for education in developing countries, which were already facing poor economic conditions while also coping with low literacy, numeracy, enrollment and proficiency.

In July, UNESCO estimated “that about 24 million learners, from pre-primary to university level, are at risk of not returning to school in 2020 following the education disruption due to COVID-19. Almost half of them are found in South and West Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. University students are affected the most, due to the costs related to their studies. Pre-primary education is the second most affected while at primary and secondary level 10.9 million students are at risk, 5.2 million of whom are girls.”

As closures forced students and parents home, the need for connectivity and hardware arose. “Today half of the world’s population (3.6 billion people) still lack an internet connection.” Many countries with low economic development and lack of connectivity, adapted via national broadcasts over TV and Radio, “yet the benefits of internet-based solutions vis-à-vis radio and TV solutions are considerable: connected digital technologies allow for the possibility of two-way communication, real-time interaction, gamified learning, and much more. Investments poured into efforts to make digital tools the principal hubs of learning, rather than brick-and-mortar school sand classrooms” (UNESCO).

“According to UN estimates, nearly 500 million students from pre-primary to upper secondary school did not have any access to any remote learning. Three quarters of these students lived in the poorest households or rural areas. More nuanced data showed finer disparities that traced and functioned to accentuate existing social, economic, gender and geographic fault lines. Analysis from Brookings shows that at the height of school closures, around 90 percent of high-income countries were providing some form of online remote learning, but only 25 per cent of low-income countries were doing the same” (UNESCO).

 

One of the flagship innovations responding to this at a global level is GIGA, an initiative launched by UNICEF and ITU in September 2019 to connect every school to the Internet and every young person to information, opportunity and choice. GIGA is supporting the immediate response to COVID-19, as well as looking at how connectivity can create stronger infrastructures of hope and opportunity in the “time after COVID.” The main objective of GIGA is to connect 2 million schools and 500 million children by 2025 and 5 million schools and 1 billion children by 2030, via funding of local infrastructure entrepreneurs and open source digital public goods.

Lastly, the long term effects of diminished education is worth considering, as “the World Bank has projected the financial cost of this learning loss to be as high as USD $10 trillion or 10% of global gross domestic product” (UNESCO). The human and economic impact of stunted education will ripple through the next decade as less educated students, workers and citizens will enter a world that is simultaneously regressing (climate change) and rapidly evolving (technology). Those that are already economically disadvantaged are at greater risk of getting left behind even more.

Challenge Statement:

As discussed above, distance learning is not always feasible due to low prevalence of connectivity and hardware in developing nations and economies, where the population is less able to purchase cell phones and laptops, while the public and private sectors are less likely to build connectivity infrastructure such as cell towers and Wi-Fi access points.

  • How can distance learning solutions be delivered to low income / remote / rural areas with low hardware saturation and lack of internet access so as not to exclude them from education services and systems they were already underserved by?
  • Think of innovative*, feasible and scalable solutions for learning disruption in developing countries

Things to keep in mind for solution design and review criteria:

  • Developing contexts often have limited access to transportation, clean water and sanitation
  • *Innovation does not necessarily mean very high tech and revolutionary. Sometimes the most innovative thing is using or reformulating something basic and abundant in a new and low cost way
  • Reflect on the sustainability of the design, as many solutions end up collecting dust after initial investment and intervention
  • Think through the replicability and scalability of the solution for global reach in similar environments
  • Contemplate potential cross-sectorial collaboration (telecom, government, and academia)
  • Consider the operational part of it: how is it going to work, under what umbrella, with what organizational or collaborative structure
  • Deliberate on the Who and How of funding your solution
Water Scarcity and Accessibility to Clean Water

Supported by UAE Water Aid

The UAE Water Aid Foundation, Suqia, under the umbrella of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, works diligently to provide clean and safe drinking water to communities in dire need and that lack basic access to water. Thus, Suqia contributes directly to Goal 6, Clean Water & Sanitation, of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It also has important contributions to goals 1 (no poverty), 3 (good health and well-being), 4 (quality education), 5 (gender equality) and 17 (partnerships for the goals).

Access to clean and safe water remains one of the most critical challenges faced by many around the world. While governments and societies work together to provide solutions to communities in need, the number of those who lack access to basic drinking water services continues to increase till date. According to recent statistics, the figure has reached a staggering 785 million in 2019. In many communities, people spend up to 6 hours each day collecting water. Not only does walking long distances while carrying 20 liters of water cause severe health issues, but it also keeps children out of school and wastes time that families could be using to earn an income.

Utilizing various solutions including artesian wells, water purification stations, water filters, water distribution networks and others, we were able to provide clean drinking water for more than 13 million people in 36 countries around the world.

The main challenge is in providing communities that need it the most. Often these communities are in remote locations difficult to get to and may be overseen in search of the places that require access to clean drinking water.

Although, the water infrastructure is not available, tele-communication networks are often available.

How can we utilize the tele-communication networks or mobile applications to support our goal of reaching out to communities in need? We are looking for a solution that would be easy to use where individuals can pin-point locations globally that face water shortage and lack easy access to clean drinking water. The solution would ideally identify the type of need in the area, the water quality, the approximate number of people living in the area, etc ..