Majid Al Futtaim and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have announced their partnership to help send 1 million children to school by 2020.
The two parties have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that aims at providing quality education opportunities for the most vulnerable and marginalised children across the MENA region, starting with 200,000 direct beneficiaries, which will include children, parents, and teachers.
The MoU targets improving child-friendly education, safe learning environments, promoting life skills and citizenship education for children in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Lebanon, and United Arab Emirates.
Despite the decreasing number of out-of-school children in the MENA region, which has dropped by over 18% since 2008, bringing hope and new opportunities to millions, the region still has nearly 22 million children who are either out of school or at a risk of dropping out. These children include the most vulnerable, including girls who live in rural areas and those from minority communities.
