DUBAI, UAE — The entire world needs massive attention across the public and private sector in order to efficiently address the successive crises besetting the globe, starting from the pandemic, then the Ukraine-Russia crisis, going all the way down to the recent massive quake in Turkey and Syria, according to Carla Haddad Mardini, Director at the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
“The situation requires massive attention from across the private sector, from the public sector or from international organizations whether they are dealing with developing issues or humanitarian issues. So UNICEF is front and centre trying to address these challenges, specially there is a race against the clock to reach the sustainable development goals by 2030. And the children are at the heart of it,” Mardini told the Emirates News Agency (WAM) on the sidelines of the World Government Summit (WGS) 2023 in Dubai.
“Large numbers of boys and girls being out of school since the pandemic, failing to resuming their education as quickly as we want is a huge issue for UNICEF. We want them in a journey from learning to earning as soon as possible so that they can have their bright future,” she continued.
“UNICEF prides itself on a strong, very deep, and long-standing partnership with the UAE government and a very vibrant relation with the private sector. We have established ourselves in 1972 in the UAE and we have been since then working very closely with the government on the level of humanitarian support for some of the most war-stricken, disaster-stricken countries all over the world. At the same time, we are working closely with the private sector in the country and we have a very strong partnership with DP World.”
Noting the importance of international events like the WGS, Mardini said, “This dialogue and networking in events like the World Government Summit is critical, because we are sure one solution would not happen by one entity alone.
“The challenges are so big. The problems are so wicked, and there are global problems that need to be tackled. Working at the intersection of public and private sectors is required to reach, scale, speed and sustainability. We need private sector to bring their core assets to the table to support the governments and international organization to accelerate the global response, whether it’s humanitarian or developmental response.”