In June 2014, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, launched the UAE Water Aid Foundation (Suqia) to provide clean water to five million people worldwide.
Suqia managed to raise AED 180 million in 18 days, to provide clean drinking water to 7 million people around the world, in cooperation with the Emirates Red Crescent Authority.
In March 2015, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum issued a law establishing the UAE Water Aid Foundation as non-profit organisation, to enhance the sustainability of the initiative. Today, the UAE Water Aid Foundation is under the umbrella of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, and strives to find sustainable solutions to the issue of water scarcity. It promotes happiness within poor and disaster-stricken communities by fostering and investing in innovative and sustainable solar-powered pure water solutions through effective partnerships in a sustainable and efficient platform, aligned with best international practices. The Foundation also supervises The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Water Award, an annual USD 1 million international award, allocated to research and development of new technologies and mechanisms in solar power to produce water.
The UAE Water Aid Foundation has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Charity and Humanitarian Establishment to enhance joint cooperation in helping and developing countries in need, and facilitating collaboration to implement joint humanitarian initiatives and projects that serve the strategies and objectives of both organisations. This enhances their social roles within an established framework and set methodologies. The MoU also helps both organisations to effectively use their potential and existing resources to address water scarcity and water pollution.
Suqia cooperates with the Emirates Red Crescent Authority, the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Charity and Humanitarian Establishment, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, to provide potable water to the needy, the disadvantaged, and those who are in distress around the world. After the MoU was signed in 2015, the sides worked together to provide drinking water to people in Somalia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Ghana, Yemen, and Benin to help 60,000 people, through 10 different projects. So far this year, the foundation has launched 14 international projects, with over 100,000 people directly benefitting from them.
In the holy month of Ramadan in 2015, Suqia distributed over 2.5 million packs of bottled drinking water to those fasting in the UAE, via local charity and NGO institutions. Over 12 million packs of water were sent to those affected in Yemen, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and international Cooperation. This Ramadan, the foundation aims to increase its goal of providing drinking water within the UAE and abroad, and will organise campaigns to raise money in cooperation with other organisations, support water management projects, and achieve its set objectives.
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