When some spread frustration in our region, we spread optimism

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, may God protect him, stressed the importance of spreading optimism and hope in societies, honoring everyone who dedicates himself to creating hope, and doing favors for those around him.

This came when His Highness announced the search for Hope Makers in the Arab world for the year 2024, with the launch of the fifth session of the “Hope Makers” initiative, the largest Arab initiative of its kind, dedicated to celebrating those who give in the Arab world, by honoring their initiatives, projects, programs, and humanitarian, charitable, and community campaigns. Through which they seek to improve their communities, improve the quality of life in their environments, help the needy and provide relief to the afflicted, and make a positive impact in the lives of the people around them, Harnessing their resources and potential for the public interest or serving a specific segment of society.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said: “Man lives with hope… and societies proceed to life based on the power of hope… and the most difficult challenges are trivialized in the face of real hope… when some spread despair and frustration in our region… we spread optimism and hope.”

His Highness added: “In every village and in every city there are people who have dedicated themselves to creating hope in their communities… and spreading goodness in their country… and doing good to those around them… We look for them… to honor them… and appreciate them… and to create role models and role models from them for everyone.”

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said: “Thank God, we are launching a new round of ‘Hope Makers’. We are looking for them in every society… and in every village and neighborhood… to celebrate them and make people optimistic about them. Whoever sees goodness in himself can nominate himself or nominate others through the website arabhopemakers.com.”

His Highness concluded: “We ask God to always help us spread optimism, positivity, and hope for a better tomorrow in our region, which has suffered a lot.”

The “Hope Makers” initiative embodies the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to promote optimism and positivity in our region, and His Highness’s belief that creating hope in our Arab homeland is a necessity to combat despair and negativity, and that creating hope is the highest translation of the meaning of humanity and the nobility of values.

For his part, the Secretary-General of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives Foundation, Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, said that the “Hope Makers” initiative, launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in 2017, achieved great successes through revealing… About unique Arab experiences in giving, benevolence, and helping others, and inspired millions of Arabs to join this journey, and it translates His Highness’s belief that the Arab world is rich in inspiring initiatives. Individual, institutional and humanitarian projects that deserve celebration and care.

He added that the “Hope Makers” initiative, since its launch, represented a realistic call to combat despair and pessimism, by focusing on the bright aspects of Arab societies, and highlighting the initiatives that contributed to alleviating the pain of the sick, the needy, orphans, and those searching for an opportunity for a decent life, and it succeeded by making it possible for anyone to nominate for the award. Or a team or entity that has a project to improve living conditions in their local community, attracting more than 300,000 nominations during four previous sessions, which enhances optimism about achieving change. Positive, giving a driving force of hope in societies.

Al Gergawi pointed out that His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s announcement of the search for Hope Makers in the Arab World for the year 2024 comes as an extension of the success achieved by the initiative, and a confirmation of its importance in consolidating the values ​​of goodness and giving, which represents an opportunity for all Arabs to learn about touching stories and humanitarian initiatives. Noble, participate in celebrating and emulating her.

The “Hope Makers” initiative, which falls under the umbrella of the “Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives” Foundation, targets individuals and institutions from anywhere in the Arab world or the world, who have a project, program, campaign or initiative that is creative, innovative and has a clear impact, which contributes to To improve the lives of a segment of people, alleviate the suffering of a specific group in society, work to develop a specific environment socially, economically, culturally, or educationally, or contribute to solving any of the challenges of the local community, provided that This is done voluntarily and without compensation or without achieving profit or material benefit.

The nomination mechanism for the “Hope Makers” initiative is based on nominating the Hope Maker himself (the owner of the initiative or project), or through people’s nomination of those they deem worthy of holding the Hope Maker position.

The initiative grants the winning hope maker a financial reward of one million dirhams, in appreciation of his humanitarian contributions, and to encourage him to develop his programs to help others.

The “Hope Makers” initiative receives nominations for its fifth session through the website “arabhopemakers.com”, and seeks to collect tens of thousands of stories of hope in the Arab world by investigating their stories, highlighting the hope makers and owners of noble projects and programs, and monitoring their efforts and celebrating them on a global scale. Wider scope.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, may God protect him, launched the first session of the “Hope Makers” initiative, in 2017, through an innovative announcement that His Highness published on his official accounts on social networking sites, In it, he offers a “job” for a hope maker, the conditions of which are that the applicant must master the skills of giving and serving people, and that he must be positive and believe in the energies of those around him from the people of the Arab world, and that he must have experience represented in undertaking an initiative. At least one community, in exchange for a reward worth one million dirhams, noting that applying for the position of “Hope Maker” is available to anyone without specifying a specific age.

His Highness’s announcement received great interaction, as the number of nomination requests from Hope Creators – individuals, volunteer groups, humanitarian and community institutions – exceeded 65 thousand applications, from various parts of the Arab world, a number that exceeded expectations, knowing that the target number for the initiative was 20 thousand.

The finalists reached 20 hope makers from various parts of the Arab world, who adopted various initiatives covering various humanitarian and societal fields, and among them was Nawal Al-Soufi from Morocco, residing in Italy, as she devoted herself to saving refugees fleeing to Europe across the sea, and contributed to saving more than 200. A thousand refugees.

The first session was distinguished by the initiative of Hisham Al-Dhahabi from Iraq, who adopted the cause of street children in his country, providing them with all forms of care through the “Iraqi House of Creativity,” which he founded specifically for them.

In the second session of the “Hope Makers” initiative, which attracted more than 87,000 nominations, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum honored the five Hope Makers who qualified for the initiative’s finals with a financial reward worth one million dirhams for each of them, bringing the value of the “Hope Makers” award to the “Hope Makers” initiative. Five million dirhams.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum also announced the establishment of the “Hope Makers Academy” with 50 million dirhams, to support hope makers in the Arab world, provide humanitarian incubators for their projects, transfer international scientific expertise in the humanitarian field to their projects, and provide executive and leadership training courses for them, in cooperation. With the best expertise and specialized international institutes.

The second season featured the Mahmoud Waheed initiative from Egypt, which was titled “With Us to Save a Human Being,” concerned with sheltering homeless elderly people on the streets, providing them with all forms of health and psychological care, rehabilitating them to restore their normal lives, and seeking to reunite them with their families, with the help of a number of Volunteers who work with him.

The Nawal Mustafa initiative also emerged from Egypt, which devoted itself to the issue of female prisoners and their children, as it adopted many projects and programs to rehabilitate female prisoners, assist them, and train them in crafts and manual professions, to support themselves and their families. She also founded the “Care for the Children of Female Prisoners” Association, to shed light on children who live Within the prison walls with their inmate mothers, following up on their conditions and meeting their needs.

In the third session of the “Hope Makers” initiative, in which 92,000 Hope Makers participated, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum honored the five Hope Makers who qualified for the initiative’s finals with a financial reward of one million dirhams for each of them.

In the third season, the initiative of Dr. Mujahid Mustafa Ali Al-Talawi from Egypt emerged, who has been providing health care to the poor and poor for decades, for a nominal fee or for free, and supports the poor, needy, and orphans in his village of Tala in Upper Egypt.

The initiative of the American journalist who obtained Palestinian citizenship, Steve Sosby, also emerged due to his efforts with the children of Palestine who lost their limbs, and his encouragement of teams of doctors and volunteers from around the world to support Palestinian medical teams, establishing the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.

In the fourth season, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum crowned Iraqi Tala Al-Khalil with the title of “Hope Maker,” after she received the highest percentage of votes in the closing ceremony.

His Highness directed that all four Hope Makers who qualified for the finals of the initiative be winners of the title, and they are, in addition to Tala Al-Khalil, the Iraqi Muhammad Al-Najjar, the Moroccan Amin Imner, and the Egyptian Fathia Al-Mahmoud, among more than 58,000 Arab Hope Makers.

The “Hope Makers” initiatives and projects were distributed across multiple sectors and axes, with community service initiatives topping the largest number of entries with 14,060 entries, followed by humanitarian and relief aid initiatives with 12,726 entries, then spreading education and knowledge with 6,311 entries, and youth empowerment initiatives with 5,303 entries. Inspiring stories with 5,018 entries, and health and disease control initiatives with 3,505 entries, culture and arts with 2,592 entries, and other fields with 8,784 entries.

The Iraqi hope maker, pharmacist Dr. Tala Al-Khalil, was able to make a big difference in the lives of sick children with disabilities, as she founded the “Warriors Academy” in Basra, and through her personal efforts, she was able to care for more than 200 children with “Down Syndrome” and cancer, and provide support. Psychological support for children, due to its belief that this support increases the rate of recovery, and that a good psychological state has a significant impact in strengthening the immune system, and for this reason it used the arts, to raise children’s immunity. People with cancer and Down syndrome.

As for the Iraqi hope maker, Dr. Muhammad al-Najjar, he received great appreciation for his role in restoring hope to many amputees in Iraq. He was able to establish a football team that represents Iraq in international forums. He inspired a number of Iraqi clubs and pushed them to form local football teams. For leg amputees.

The Moroccan Hope Maker, Amine Emner, recorded a prominent presence in the fourth session, as he turned his accounts on social networking sites into a new portal for giving, with the aim of improving the quality of life and raising the standard of living of less fortunate families in the Kingdom of Morocco, where the Moroccan Hope Maker, President of the Aftas Development Association, adopted the initiative. And cooperation, many humanitarian initiatives and campaigns, such as organizing many relief campaigns to distribute aid to the needy in the Kingdom of Morocco, including sacrifices, food baskets, digging wells, and building… Bridges, and other charitable works.

The Egyptian woman, Fathia al-Mahmoud, nicknamed “Mother of Orphans” and “Mama Fathia,” also deserved honor and praise, after she received 34 orphan girls in her home, and supervised their care, education, and upbringing in cooperation with her husband, relying on their savings that they had collected from a work trip. Long in the West, she also founded the “A Touch of Hope” Association for Orphan Care.

The fourth edition of “Hope Makers” witnessed a partnership between the initiative and the “ET in Arabic” platform, to develop a joint vision entitled “Art Creates Hope,” with the aim of involving Arab celebrities in doing good, establishing their image as an example to be emulated in humanitarian work, and supporting and enabling charitable work through… Collaborating with figures of high artistic and social standing, as artists and content makers participated in humanitarian projects, to help those in need and alleviate their suffering.

The “Hope Makers” initiative aims to honor donors in the Arab world, highlight the owners of noble projects and programmes, monitor and celebrate their efforts, and encourage young people and Arab citizens to engage in creating hope and positive change, combat despair and negativity, and take the initiative to change their reality and achieve success. Their dreams, and building the future they aspire to.

The initiative seeks to instill a culture of hope in the Arab world by highlighting humanitarian, relief and community volunteer projects, and rewarding distinguished hope makers with the most influential initiatives by providing them with financial support, to help them continue their initiatives and intensify their humanitarian and volunteer efforts in their communities.

The “Hope Makers” initiative gains its importance from its ability to contribute to creating positive, inspiring role models for young people in the Arab world, who can be role models for others in working for constructive change, and its role in introducing the initiatives, projects and programs of the Hope Makers through various traditional media and new media platforms. And enhance their fame in their communities and in the Arab world.

Mohammed bin Rashid:

. Man lives with hope. Societies proceed to life based on the power of hope. The most difficult challenges are diminished in the face of true hope.

Muhammad Al-Gergawi:

. “Hope Makers” achieved great successes by revealing unique Arab experiences in giving, benevolence, and helping others, and inspired millions of Arabs to join this journey.