Civic Engagement & Business-Link: AED 100 Million Volunteering Ecosystem
In a major push to strengthen community participation and institutionalise volunteerism, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on 29 October 2025 launched the “Volunteering and Community Engagement Ecosystem” — a national-level strategy aimed at embedding giving and civic engagement into the UAE’s social and business fabric.
Key Objectives and Structure
- The ecosystem includes eight strategic initiatives under the Ministry of Community Empowerment, split into two tracks: (1) volunteering-culture promotion and (2) nonprofit sector empowerment.
- Among the major targets:
- Expand the active volunteer base to 600,000 participants.
- Increase the number of licensed nonprofit organisations by 30 %.
- Create 10,000 jobs within the nonprofit and volunteering ecosystem.
- Boost the sector’s contribution to national GDP and position the UAE among the top-3 world-ranking nations in the World Giving Index.
Funding & Digital Platforms
- A dedicated fund of AED 100 million has been allocated as part of the initiative to empower nonprofits and build infrastructure for volunteering.
- A unified digital volunteering platform — Volunteers.ae 2.0 — will be rolled out, enabling individuals and organisations to connect, register and manage volunteer opportunities in a streamlined manner.
- Additional programmes include:
- “7 Over 7”, a campaign featuring seven major volunteering opportunities across all seven Emirates.
- “Your Time Counts”, an initiative linking federal government employees’ voluntary leave with performance-management criteria to embed volunteerism in the public sector.
Why This Matters
- The move signals that the UAE is elevating volunteering from occasional charity to an integrated part of social and economic strategy — aligning with national goals of inclusive growth, social value creation, and sustainable development.
- For businesses and tech companies, the ecosystem opens avenues for public-private partnerships, digital platforms supporting volunteering workflows, CSR (corporate social responsibility) programmes, skills-based volunteering, and social innovation.
- For nonprofits and social-sector bodies, the fund and structural support offer opportunities for expansion, capacity-building, project incubation and potentially greater integration into the national economy.
- For the wider society, the strategy emphasises that volunteering and giving are not ancillary, but core components of national identity — “it builds with one hand, and gives with the other”, as Sheikh Mohammed put it.
What to Keep an Eye On
- Deployment and uptake: How fast the digital platform is adopted, how many registered volunteers join, and how many new nonprofits are established.
- Measurable impact: Whether volunteer hours translate into quantifiable social outcomes (e.g., jobs created, economic value generated, new initiatives launched).
- Business integration: Whether the private sector increasingly engages via employee volunteering, skills-sharing, or platforms tied to the ecosystem.
- Sustainability: Whether the AED 100 million fund, digital infrastructure and volunteering culture can create a long-lasting system, not just a campaign.
