ABU DHABI, (Pakistan Point News - 25th Nov, 2020) The Ministry of Community Development and Emirates Foundation have organised the first-of-its-kind "Virtual Ideathon" in cooperation with IAVE, a global voice for volunteering, as part of efforts adopted by the national volunteering campaign, "UAE Volunteers", and the online platform, "volunteers.ae". The 3-day event brought together NGOs and volunteering organisations from around the world to unify efforts to develop sustainable and impactful solutions to key challenges of volunteering during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The virtual Ideathon was a 72-hours competition held online from November 9th to 11th, 2020, during which volunteer teams came together for an inspirational journey into the thought processes and ideas for actionable solutions through volunteerism that will one day make a positive difference in the world for each of the three key subthemes of the Ideathon: Volunteerism in the Mental Health Support Sector, Volunteerism in the Medical Sector, and Volunteerism to Support the Vulnerable, and promote positive values around the world.
Volunteer organisations and NGOs from around the world took part in the event, and had their efforts judged by a team of 18 local and international experts who were looking for originality ideas with a clear scope of work, objectives, vision and mission that are both feasible and scalable to a world-wide endeavour. They also considered the innovative use of technology, sustainability, and the submission of extra creative elements.
Speaking at the event, the Emirates Foundation Acting CEO, Ahmed Al Shamsi, said, "Emirates Foundation considers this project to build resilience within communities by crowd-sourcing sustainable and impactful solutions to challenges presented by the COVID19 pandemic to be the start of a new wave of volunteerism which will have an incredible impact on every continent, every nation, every community. Through the Virtual Ideathon, we are on the verge of discovering solutions that are scalable, effective, and progressive, solutions that are going to be active contributors to reducing risks, increasing confidence, and raising the potential for a more inclusive society.
"Emirates Foundation has dedicated itself to working tirelessly to enable our volunteers and participants to come to this point – where collaboration and teamwork are encouraging innovation and inspiration within the community, and by working hand in hand with IAVE, we are offering our participants the unique opportunity to showcase innovative ideas and potentially receive the support needed to actually make a real difference in the world."
Hessa Tahlak, Assistant Undersecretary of Social Development at the Ministry of Community Development and Chair of the Volunteering Team, said: "The UAE is proud to hold the first-of-its-kind "Virtual Ideathon", bringing together NGOs and volunteering organisations from all over the world to work on developing sustainable and inspirational solutions to the challenges of volunteering during the Coronavirus pandemic, during which the UAE’s volunteering achievements have been remarkable. Organising the first Virtual Ideathon, ‘Building Resilience within Communities’ reflects and supports the UAE’s successful accomplishments in terms of personal, community and institutional volunteering during the COVID-19 pandemic."
She elaborated that the Ministry of Community Development and Emirates Foundation have achieved a major development in affiliation with the Supreme National Committee for Volunteerism during Crises through the launch of the national "UAE Volunteers" campaign, and provided several volunteering opportunities through the national volunteering platform, "Volunteers.ae".
She noted that, "The campaign attracted more than 22,000 volunteers from 130 nationalities in the UAE. These volunteers gave their time and effort for everyone, they have also accomplished a lot through virtual and field volunteering. Together with frontline heroes, they stood side by side to combat the novel coronavirus-COVID-19 and dedicated their sincere volunteering efforts to protecting the community from the repercussions of the pandemic and enhancing the UAE’s global leadership and remarkable success in addressing this pandemic."
IAVE Executive Director, Ms. Nichole Cirillo, said, "We are delighted with our cooperation with the Ministry of Community Development and Emirates Foundation for the outstanding organisation of the Virtual Ideathon. This was derived from our collective desire to raise awareness of the importance of volunteerism efforts within the community. Social work and social involvement, which contribute to the support of society, build and empower the culture and value of cooperation and positivity. With our emphasis on the importance of creativity and innovation in the ideas presented during this Ideathon, both individuals and society as a whole can reap the benefits of the best possible solutions to the challenges currently being faced."
She added: "With the great number or participants and the innovative ideas presented during the Ideathon, we have reaffirmed the significance of continued cooperation, with the need for communities to continue to support and encourage the development of supportive ideas in order to achieve the desired goals and objectives."
After receiving submissions from across the globe, 24 organizations from 21 countries were selected to participate in the Virtual Ideathon, with 8 organizations working on their ideas within one of three specific subthemes. Around 120 creative participants from around the globe strived to provide the best solutions to the challenges at hand for each subtheme, with the support of 31 coaches and mentors.
At the end of the Ideathon, each winning idea became eligible for a performance-based grant of up to US$ 25,000 that will allow the implementation of their ideas in the community.
After the judging process was completed, the following participants were declared the winners in their subthemes: In the "Volunteerism in the Mental Health Support Sector", the winner was Ruach Tova from Israel, a leading organisation in the field of volunteering in Israel, with an idea that utilises an algorithm-based questionnaire to provide customised volunteer opportunities for people with mental health issues. The idea was co-created by people with mental health issues and volunteer organisations. The process advantages are co-creation, innovation, accessibility, impact and experience.
The "Volunteerism in the Medical Sector" winners were DeedMob B.V. from the Netherlands, who develop software to enable people to meaningfully contribute their time, skills and resources in addressing the world’s toughest challenges. Their project will activate over 8,000 new medical volunteers for medical support, and mobilise a further 25,000 non-medical volunteers to help those medical volunteers with a range of tasks, including grocery shopping, babysitting etc. while they are working their shifts. The platform creates a more resilient, sustainable and healthy community on a structural basis.
The "Volunteerism to Support the Vulnerable" subtheme was won by The Volunteer Center of Trinidad & Tobago from Trinidad & Tobago , VCTT, whose project uses expertise in designing indigenous, high impact virtual mentorship programmes for underserved youth. VCTT is scaling impact by evolving the current mentorship pilot programme to a Social Enterprise online mentorship platform for all organisations serving youth.
Representatives of the Ministry of Community Development, Emirates Foundation and IAVE expressed their sincere thanks to all participants, and congratulated the awardees for their magnificent contributions to the "Virtual Ideathon", which will see their projects carried forward to the next stages in community volunteerism.
