Community Development in Dubai Launches Third Phase of 'Ithraa'

The Community Development Authority (CDA) in Dubai has launched the third phase of its "Ethraa" initiative for the evaluation, development and empowerment of non-profit organisations, in a strategic step reflecting Dubai's commitment to community empowerment and to shaping leading global models in sustainable development.

This phase serves as a direct implementation tool for achieving the strategic objective of activating the role of the third sector, embodying the priority of "building and empowering a high-impact third sector ecosystem," fully in line with the goals of the "Dubai Social Agenda 33," which aims to establish a more cohesive, prosperous and sustainable community.

Her Excellency Hessa bint Essa Buhumaid, Director-General of the Community Development Authority in Dubai, affirmed that advancing the third sector represents an essential step towards enhancing the quality of life of community members, and that the launch of the third phase of the "Ethraa" initiative is in line with the vision of the wise leadership, which consistently places people at the forefront of its priorities and seeks to build a cohesive and sustainable community.

She added that the core objective today is to build and empower a high-impact third sector ecosystem through qualitative initiatives that translate ambitious ideas into tangible reality, ensuring an enabling and stimulating environment for non-profit organisations to become strategic partners in advancing sustainable development and consolidating Dubai's position as a leading global model in social work.

This phase has seen a wide response, with 146 non-profit organisations engaging in the development track. The initiative aims to elevate the institutional performance of non-profit associations and empower them in line with the highest standards of governance, transparency and quality across technical, administrative and financial aspects.

For his part, Dr Ahmed Al Hashemi, Executive Director of the Regulatory Affairs and Community Services Sector at the Community Development Authority, said that the third phase of "Ethraa" represents a qualitative shift in the mechanisms of administrative, financial and technical support and empowerment for the third sector, expressing his aspiration to transform institutional excellence from an optional practice into a sustainable approach to work.

He added that hosting the expanded introductory workshop, which brought together more than 200 participants from the third sector, at the Al Khawaneej Majlis embodies full cohesion and readiness to elevate the outcomes of social work to new levels of maturity, and to equip non-profit organisations with the methodologies and tools that raise their operational efficiency and ensure the sustainability of their impact.

The initiative is built on three main pillars designed to ensure operational efficiency and achieve sustainable impact: "institutional empowerment and governance," "human and social capital," and "sustainability and performance excellence." At the end of the evaluation cycle, organisations compete for three levels of the "Ethraa Excellence Award" — Gold, Silver and Bronze. The initiative has seen rising performance across its previous cycles, with the number of winning organisations increasing from 25 in the first cycle to 30 in the second, confirming the growing commitment to governance standards.

Source: Emirates News Agency – WAM