About the Cause
Dubai Cares’ programs are designed to reduce, if not remove, the greatest obstacles that prevent children and young people in developing countries from attaining quality education. With each intervention, Dubai Cares evaluates the need for assistance across two key areas:
Access to Education which allows Dubai Cares to improve children’s health and learning environment, increase education enrollment and attainment, increase access to education, reduce absenteeism, increase gender parity and increase promotion rates.
Quality of Education which enables early learning, enhances educational attainment and school progression, improves literacy and numeracy skills among children, enables teachers to access teacher training resulting in better learning outcomes, reduce dropout rates and increase primary school attainment.
Dubai Cares is a long-term advocate of safeguarding children and young people’s right to education and is currently playing a global advocacy role in spreading the knowledge about the importance of providing education to the unprivileged children.
We also champion education through research - There is an overwhelming lack of evidence as to what works to promote children’s learning in crisis-affected contexts. Research plays a pivotal role in tackling this issue.
My Story
My name is Leen Khalil, and I am the founder of Onyx Horizon Solutions. For the past nineteen years, I have dedicated my career to advancing education, health, and humanitarian programs across the MENA region. In every classroom I visited, from rural schools to refugee learning centers, I saw the same reality: teachers hold the key to transforming children’s lives, yet many lack the training, resources, and support to reach their full potential. This realization became my driving force. I witnessed teachers struggling to adapt to new technologies, facing burnout, and working in difficult environments without the tools to create inclusive and engaging learning. At the same time, I saw their passion, resilience, and determination to give students a better future. It was this combination—the challenge and the potential—that inspired me to create EduNova: Empowering Minds, Transforming Futures. EduNova is more than a program; it is a movement to equip educators with the skills, wellbeing, and innovation mindset to thrive in today’s fast-changing world. By integrating pedagogy, digital transformation, and health and wellbeing, EduNova empowers teachers to become changemakers in their communities. Through this campaign, I hope to finalize the EduNova curriculum and pilot it in one MENA country,