Someone’s gotta care about Dubai Cares

Someone’s gotta care about Dubai Cares

Dubai Cares employs a slightly different, if not a little bit interesting, skew on screening its volunteers.

October 12, 2011 3:17 by shafeer

Think Up has teamed up with Dubai Cares to form the “Think Cares” project. It’s a part of the re-launched Volunteer Emirates programme by Dubai Cares, which starts this October.

Volunteer Emirates was created to encourage UAE residents, as well as the private and public sector to get involved in charity work.

This year, the project focuses on the rebuilding of a non-profit school in Ajman and they’re going to need 100 volunteers for the undertaking.

Interested in joining? Of course you are! Just imagine the satisfaction you’ll get out of creating a more child-friendly environment for kids in need. We all want that happy, fluffy feeling.

According the Think Up and Dubai Cares sites, volunteers will be needed to help with “playground renovation, landscaping, installing doors & windows, painting & creating murals on playground walls, etc. The program is scheduled to run on 2 Saturdays: October 22 and October 29.”

But before you get too excited, you should know that there is a screening process to this volunteering.

While we all have good intentions and would want to join, actually showing up to do the work is another thing. And perhaps that is why Dubai Cares doesn’t just want anyone to volunteer. They want Dubai Cares aficionados to sign up.

Interested parties must answer at least 3 out of 5 questions about Dubai Cares and email it to volunteeremirates@dubaicares.ae by October 17. You’ll be informed if you’re one of the lucky few to be selected to volunteer.

Here are just some of the questions:

- What are the four main components of Dubai Cares primary education programs?

- Which award did Dubai Cares win under the category of Company of the Year in the Non-Profit or Government?

- How many program partners does Dubai Cares have?

The rest of the questions are here.

So if you know the answer to these questions, it doesn’t matter if you are completely pants at painting and handy work. Just email your answers and you will get a chance to volunteer with what we suspect is your favourite charity organisation (it would have to be for you to know all of the information about them…or even to take the time to Google all of the right answers).

When a Kipp’s own Precious de Leon asked Think Up via Twitter about the screening process, they replied saying that “We thought it was important to educate our Volunteers about the amazing entity @dubaicares & their achievements #ThinkCares”

Ah! We get it. It’s a different approach to creating awareness about the company. Looking at it from another angle, it’s quite brilliant actually—one screening process that has two results:

(1) it ensures that the person is really intent on showing up on the two days to help and not just back out at the last minute (the effort of looking up these answers would almost be a guarantee) and

(2) the questions become a way to create a deeper awareness about Dubai Cares as an enterprise.

Kipp commends the efforts of Dubai Cares to involve the community in charity work. We still have to say that we find our eyebrows still raising at the thought of getting potential volunteers to answer these kinds of questions as a screening process. Sure, ask me if I’ve carried a hammer before. But about which award you’ve won? Hmm….

After all good and (more importantly) genuine intentions to volunteer shouldn’t really be hinged on one’s knowledge of the charity organisation that is providing that platform to do good. Shouldn’t the act of facilitating that the volunteer work and connecting the community to the needy be in and of itself the best marketing strategy for Dubai Cares?