Arab Reading Challenge

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has organised a community knowledge event in cooperation with Jumeirah Model School. The event, which was supervised by DEWA’s knowledge management team, is in line with the directives of HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, to declare 2016 as the ‘Year of Reading.’ It also supports the ‘Arab Reading Challenge’ initiative of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, which is the largest Arab project to encourage students in the Arab World to read. Under the initiative, over one million students commit to reading 5 million books between September 2015 and March 2016. The knowledge event reflects DEWA’s ongoing efforts to encourage younger generations to read, analyse, and discuss. 

“His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has observed that: “Reading opens minds, magnifies hunger for knowledge, and instils the values of openness and moderation that define great civilizations.” To support the Arab Reading Challenge initiative and the goals of the UAE National Agenda 2021, which looks towards developing a first-rate educational system, DEWA cooperates with different organisations to promote reading among younger generations in the UAE,” said HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA.

“DEWA is committed towards helping raise a generation that has a strong passion for reading and learning as this is the key to the mind and the road to success. DEWA has opened its private libraries to all students to encourage the young generation to cultivate the habit of reading. Our Knowledge Management team’s visit to Jumeirah Model School reflects DEWA’s strategy and approach to become a sustainable learning organisation working to promote a reading culture reading for all society. We look forward to making UAE students among the best in the world, backing them with knowledge and reading skills, and we would like all our schools groom leaders and teachers with highest international standards,” added Al Tayer.
During the event at Jumeirah Model School, Shaima Al Marzouqi, a local Emirati writer, was joined by members of DEWA’s Knowledge Management Team in reading passages from HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s book ‘Two Heroic Leaders,’ which tells the stories of Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and their dream to build a beautiful country where families enjoy peace and security and children play everywhere. After the reading, a discussion was held with the students where special emphasis was placed on the moral lessons featured in the book. 
“DEWA’s Knowledge Management was established in 2010 and works according to international best practices. The team spread awareness on the concepts of knowledge management, which are based on international standards and cover a wide range of channels. It defines investment priorities and encourages knowledge capabilities and creative intellectual assets to enhance knowledge sharing in DEWA, organisational units and stakeholders, by building innovative libraries” said Dr. Yousef Al Akraf, Executive Vice President of Business Support and Human Resources at DEWA.