Developing our society

Musahama
www.musahama.ae is our online guide to the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) of the UAE, a one-stop, user-friendly platform that provides information on NGOs and voluntary work within the country. We launched it along with the UAE’s Ministry of Social Affairs in 2009, and since then it’s proven to be a huge success – as have the events we’ve held surrounding it, such as interactive workshops that teach the NGOs how to get the most out of Musahama.

Echo of Silence

The Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) and Ministry of Social Development launched their project, Echo of Silence, to enable those with hearing and speech disabilities to integrate further into society through the use of advanced technologies and training programs. Naturally we opted to get on board in order to offer our customers and the community as much as we could, offering the opportunity for every to be able to successfully keep in touch through communication technologies, which, in turn, gives those with hearing or speech impediments more freedom and independence in their life.

Zayed Giving Initiative
In line with the principles established by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founder of the UAE, and continued by HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, the Zayed Giving Initiative has made significant humanitarian contributions to the local and international community since its inception in 2003. With more than 50,000 volunteers who have touched over 100 million people in Arab and African countries through a number of voluntary and humanitarian programs, the Zayed Giving Initiative is a massive contributor to community services and volunteer work throughout the health, education, environment and culture sectors.

As part of our commitment to giving back to our society, we supported the Zayed Giving Initiative by sponsoring the organisation’s Abu Dhabi CSR Conference 2010 as the Official Telecom Partner. The conference’s aims are to create awareness of the strategic advantages CSR offers, throughout civil society, governmental bodies and the private sector.

Raising funds
The extent of our community projects reaches beyond the borders of the UAE, as we strive to help communities in need overseas, too. Humanitarian causes in various countries have been the focus of fundraising initiatives, with money going to the Red Crescent society to be distributed to those who need it most, such as the victims of the Pakistan flood in 2010.

Drive Safely campaign
Road safety is of the utmost importance to everyone, and so we took it upon ourselves to try and improve the levels of security amongst road-users through a campaign aimed at encouraging drivers to put down the phone while behind the wheel. Using the phone while driving distracts the driver’s full attention from the road and environment around the car, leading to an increase in accidents that might have been otherwise avoided.

We would like to think that we’ve played a part in saving lives through our drive safely initiative.

Supporting health initiatives
Health is something that we take very seriously, whether that be the health of our employees, our customers, or of the community around us, and so we’ve taken steps towards making a difference.

All of our employees have access to a gym, for starters, while we also provide healthcare through our dedicated clinic, which offers a range of services so that we can do our best to keep everyone healthy and happy.

But we don’t stop at simply caring for those who work with us. Our philanthropic tendencies extend beyond our employees to the community at large, through various efforts that are intended to champion causes or simply bring a little joy into peoples’ lives. Take our work for breast cancer, for example – we’ve held events, such as our own Pink Ribbon Week, to raise funds and awareness for the disease, including a highly successful walkathon. Then there’s our Drop of Life campaign, in association with the Blood Donation Center at Al Wasl Hospital to assist the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), in which we encouraged our employees to give blood to help save lives.

We’ve also become involved with the Thalassemia Centre, which benefited from our recent blood donations (60% of which went towards helping Thalassemia patients). The children of the center, and their parents, were all treated to a day out at edutainment center KidZania, with many of our employees actively taking part in the day to make it a success and, most importantly, to make sure that the youngsters had a good time.

Pink Ribbon Walkathon
Our Safe and Sound Pink Walkathon has grown into a successful annual event, thanks to the commitment of our employees and their families to raising awareness and funds for breast cancer. Everyone who participates in the event does so for a small fee, which is donated towards creating further awareness for the cause and improving patient care.

Drop of Life
What better way is there to help society than by giving blood? Our Drop of Life campaign was supported by more than 265 employees in 2011, who donated their blood as part of the initiative, held in collaboration with the Blood Donation Centre at Al Wasl Hospital, Dubai. Thalassemia patients will be the recipients of 60% of the donated blood, while the rest will be used by the Trauma Centre.