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Arada foundation

Arada Foundation statement

At Arada we are committed to upholding the principles of Corporate Social Responsibility. We strive to make living better for people by focusing on where we can make a difference for a positive impact on communities.

Initiatives

Support for people of Sharjah during flooding crisis

In April 2024, Arada launched a series of initiatives to help people in Sharjah who were affected by severe flooding.

This included a partnership with Sharjah Social Services Department (SSSD) to provide housing for 3,000 people who had been displaced by the flooding. The affected families were housed at the Nest complex at Aljada, where they were provided with furnished apartments, food and utilities, alongside an aid package drinking water, toiletries and other essential items. 

In an another major initiative, teams from Arada coordinated with local NGO UAE Rescue and Manbat – Arada’s social initiative launched in partnership with the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment – to deliver over 6,500 food packages to stranded residents in Sharjah’s city centre.

Initiatives
Initiatives

Support for Gaza

In October 2023, Arada has teamed up with The Big Heart Foundation to raise AED600,000 for the Tarahum, the ‘Compassion – for Gaza’ campaign launched by the UAE to provide relief to Palestinians affected by the war in the Gaza Strip.

Arada donated a total of AED550,000 for the campaign, which was supplemented by an additional AED50,000 raised through staff contributions through the YallaGive donation and crowdfunding platform.

The Big Heart Foundation has been leading an appeal for donations as part of the “Tarahum – for Gaza” campaign, which aims to mitigate the severity of the humanitarian conditions and alleviate the suffering of the most vulnerable groups, especially children, who constitute nearly half of the Gaza Strip’s population.

Home for a Home

Launched in March 2022 during Ramadan, Arada’s signature initiative has so far resulted in the provision of homes for over 3,300 refugees, and water infrastructure to support 43,000 people in northern Kenya. Held in collaboration with UNHCR and The Big Heart Foundation, this program provides a home for a vulnerable family for every home sold by Arada during Ramadan.

In 2024, Arada and The Big Heart Foundation partnered with Human Concern International to bring Home for a Home to Syria, which will result in the construction of a fully fledged community for displaced families near Aleppo.

Initiatives
Initiatives

Earthquake relief in Turkey and Syria

In February 2023, Arada teamed up with UNHCR and The Big Heart Foundation (TBHF) to support vulnerable families in Turkey and Syria who were affected by the catastrophic earthquake that affected both countries. An AED2 million donation resulted in the delivery of 1,000 family tents, which provided much-needed protection and shelter for 500 families in Turkey and 500 families in Syria. The master developer also conducted an internal staff fundraiser, which raised AED120,000 to support families in Syria and Turkey, via UNHCR.

Separately, Arada has also made an AED500,000 donation to the ‘Bridges of Goodness’ national initiative, which was launched by HH Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Wife of HH The Ruler of Sharjah and Chairperson of The Big Heart Foundation (TBHF).

The Big Heart Foundation collaborations

In May 2022, Arada staff fundraiser provided scholarships for 50 students at The Big Heart Foundation Educational Center in Sharjah. All Arada employees were invited to voluntarily donate as much or as little as they wanted to provide support for youth based at the Centre.

Furthermore, 360 man-hours was donated by employees from 10 different departments in October 2022 to develop and deliver vocational workshops of up to
2 hours for 250 students from The Big Heart Foundation.

Initiatives
Initiatives

Manbat Ramadan Drive

In 2021, the Arada Foundation launched a Ramadan initiative that saw 4,000 boxes of fresh produce picked straight from Emirati farms distributed to local families in partnership with the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE). The programme was managed by Manbat, the farmer’s market based at the Aljada megaproject in Sharjah.

Volunteers, including members of Arada’s staff, visited the farms in order to help pick fruit and vegetables to be packed, amounting to 200 boxes of produce every day. Once packed, the boxes were collected by refrigerated vehicles managed by Sharjah Cooperative Society and delivered to Sharjah Charity International, which then distributed them to local families in the UAE.

Support for the Port of Beirut’s Victims

A few weeks after the explosion at the Port of Beirut in the capital city of Lebanon on 4th August 2020 that left many homeless and without the basic needs, Arada donated to Sharjah’s ‘Salam Beirut’ initiative and organised 65 tonnes of food relief for Lebanon by partnering with Sharjah Cooperative Society and Emirates Red Crescent. In total, 2,000 ‘Hope Donation’ boxes containing a wide range of essential food items such as rice, flour, pasta, tinned vegetables and sugar were prepared and shipped to Lebanon.

Initiatives
Initiatives

Kerala COVID-19 Support

In July 2021, Arada donated over 1,000 pieces of vitally needed medical equipment to the Indian state of Kerala to support the local government’s efforts to combat the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The donation was made via the Care for Kerala initiative, was set up by the Government of Kerala. Items donated include Dräger Savina ventilators, Philips EV300 portable ventilators, oxygen concentrators and fingertip pulse oximeters. The medical equipment was sourced from manufacturers who deliver it directly to the Government of Kerala before reaching hospitals around the south Indian state, which then suffered from a lack of emergency equipment.

e-Learning COVID-19 Support

In May 2020, Arada contributed to the Sharjah Private Education Authority (SPEA) by donating 1,000 HP computers to help students in Sharjah who have been unable to afford the equipment to take part in the distance learning schemes.

Initiatives
Initiatives

Sharjah Community COVID-19 Support

During May 2020, Arada rolled out a raft of initiatives to support a wide swathe of the Sharjah community in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This included the donation of sanitation gates for emergency services, free meals for healthcare workers, as well as free sanitation packs for residents at Arada communities. Sanitation gates were also donated to Sharjah Police Station, Sharjah Civil Defense Station and Al Qassimi Hospital and Kuwait Hospital.