In Cooperation with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Global Centre for Endowment Consultancy, Emirates Transport has launched an innovative endowment offering community-based institutions and campaigns free advertising spaces on the Corporation's fleet, consisting of tens of thousands of buses operating across the country.

The initiative comes in line with the decision of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, declaring 2017 as “the Year of Giving”, and the Global Vision of Endowment launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai

The endowment allows non-profit awareness campaigns to reach a large segment of the community through advertisements that will roam across the streets of the state. Individuals and institutions wishing to benefit from this endowment can communicate directly with Emirates Transport.

Accordingly, Emirates Transport has received the Dubai Endowment Sign from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Global Centre for Endowment Consultancy, one of Mohammed Bin Rashid Global Initiatives, in recognition of its community contribution as a role model within the government sector.

In view of the directives of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, the Dubai Endowment Sign allows public and private institutions that obtained it to acquire a preference for procurements and contracts in the government of Dubai.

Hanan Mohammed Saqer, Executive Director of Corporate Services at Emirates Transport, said: "As a federal institution, we undertake to contribute actively to the service of the community, and the Year of Giving, launched by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, represents an opportunity for us to intensify our contribution. We have also adopted the Global Endowment Vision, launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, as the endowment represents a sustainable and effective contribution to the development of communities. The innovative endowment we have launched will help spread the messages of the community campaigns across the state, thereby achieving the goals of the campaigns and increasing their impact."

Dr. Hamad Al Hammadi, Secretary-General of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Global Centre for Endowment Consultancy, stressed the importance of the government participations along with private sector institutions in the Global Vision of Endowment through the diversity of initiatives within all sectors of the state.

Al Hammadi said, "Emirates Transport’s collaboration with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Global Centre for Endowment Consultancy is a pioneering step towards enhancing the contribution of the innovative endowment in the community. Emirates Transport has become a role model in this field. We, in turn, call upon all institutions to participate in the innovative endowment using its resources in an innovative way to ensure that the community benefits from its contributions. The Year of Giving declared by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the State, represents an opportunity for various institutions to enter into the field of innovative endowment. The institutions, wishing to enhance their community role, can communicate with us to agree on the innovative form of this role."

The Secretary General of the Centre said that the website - www.MBRgcec.ae is ready to receive inquiries from all interested individuals and organizations wishing to obtain the Dubai Endowment Sign.

The Centre will also provide the necessary consulting to public and private institutions in promoting community contribution by the Dubai Endowment Sign, which helps build a range of community services that address the most important needs of the community through the active participation of institutions.

The Dubai Endowment Sign was launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, as a key initiative of the Global Vision for Awqaf and Endowments, and highlights community participation by providing an opportunity to government and private sector institutions to participate in community service through innovative endowments in favour of the development needs of the community.

The Mohammed Bin Rashid Global Centre for Endowment Consultancy, one of the Mohammed bin Rashid Global Initiatives, will oversee the largest global initiative to revive Endowments including legislation and rules for endowments, products and services and the Endowment district. The new Centre will work on the implementation of the Dubai Awqaf and Endowments Strategy and achieving the Global Vision in this area by stimulating and empowering awqaf and endowments to meet the pressing social needs of people. The Centre will provide services to members of local, regional and global institutions at no cost to convert Awqaf into one of the main catalysts of development in the Arab world. The Centre works to provide Awqaf and endowment consulting according to international best practices, and consulting in awqaf and endowments deployment options to enhance the social impact for the benefit of the Arab people. The Centre also works on knowledge management in the field of Awqaf and endowments through research, studies and the organization of conferences, workshops and partnerships, as well as capacity-building and raising the efficiency of employees working in this area.

Dubai's Global Vision of Awqaf and Endowments, aims to revive Endowments and transform Dubai into a global centre to stimulate and enable Awqaf and endowments to serve humanity through eight enablers including a comprehensive strategy, a clear legislative environment, effective consulting, adopting global best practices in the creation and management of Awqaf and endowments foundations, maximize the impact of Awqaf and endowments through highlighting innovative social opportunities, monitor urgent social needs that can be addressed by Awqaf and endowments, and finally by stimulating Awqaf and endowment through collective funding opportunities. These eight enablers work together in an integrated approach to achieve Dubai’s global vision in this area. These enablers address four strategic objectives, the first of which is to turn Dubai into a catalyst to serve the community through endowments and donations.

The second objective is to transform Dubai into a strategic regional hub to meet the social needs in the Arab world harnessing Awqaf and endowments. The third objective is to transform Dubai into a source of global best practices for Awqaf and endowments, while the fourth objective is to transform Dubai into a global centre for research and expertise of Awqaf and endowments.

The Centre utilises the Dubai Monitoring system for the social needs in the Arab world, a system created by the Centre for monitoring the most prominent social needs that can be met through Awqaf and endowments in the Arab world. The system harnesses reliable global data sources to calculate and develop a heat-map of the most important needs of each country in the Arab world. The system data is updated periodically. The Mohammed Bin Rashid Global Centre for Endowment Consultancy also provides consulting in this area for the concerned local, regional and global institutions.

The Centre has also developed a Best Practices Guide for Awqaf and endowments that combines global best practices with practical examples of various international experiences in the creation and management of Awqaf and Endowment foundations. The Guide explains the best way for the formulation of strategic plans for organizations that operate in the field of Awqaf and endowments customized based on each organizations’ needs, size and objectives. The Guide also includes options for organizational structure, the general framework for setting priorities for projects to maximize social impact, investment management, performance indicators, as well as development operations. The Centre provides the necessary consulting in this area for existing or yet-to-be-established Awqaf and endowment institutions.