The UAE is known the world over for its glitzy lifestyle offerings. Expats and locals alike often enjoy a high standard of living and the opportunity to mix with hundreds of nationalities. But the cloisters of privilege can sometimes blinker access to valuable personal learning that is gained from interacting with a wider spectrum of society. Noha Mahdi, founder of UAE-based social enterprise The Mawada Project, says she is on a mission to stimulate deeper relations between communities by offering local volunteering opportunities and skills workshops.

“As a region, we could gain so much from practising empathy and putting ourselves in another’s shoes… sometimes we’re not practiced in it,” says the 30-year-old Egyptian-Iraqi entrepreneur.

Mahdi, who holds a Master’s degree in educational neuroscience from Harvard University, says she formed The Mawada Project to build a bridge of ‘compassion’ between communities.

It was while studying for her undergraduate degree in Canada that Mahdi saw the value that volunteering and community service can provide to society. She saw first-hand how the experience of serving others and meeting the needs of those less privileged in one’s community has a huge impact on shaping character. “Canada has so many volunteering programmes. I saw that by engaging in service opportunities, people not only gain social, emotional, communication and leadership skills, but also confidence, compassion, kindness and a sense of purpose.”

Mahdi says children in particular benefit from access to volunteering opportunities because their world-view is still being shaped. “Those who engage in these kinds of activities gain social awareness and a deeper sense of social responsibility and global citizenship, all while learning more about different career paths and industries,” she says.

“In the UAE parents are worried about their children becoming too privileged.

What’s more, many kids are spending so much time in front of their screens that they are not gaining outside experiences. Their access and exposure to what it’s like to be underprivileged is very limited. A lot of us are very privileged,” Mahdi explains.

The Mawada Project offers programmes for children and adults alike that build skills through experiential learning and community service events. “We can create the opportunities in the programmes to build skills such as communications, leadership, and global citizenship,” she says.

Launched in 2016, The Mawada Project soon secured funding from the local accelerator Sharjah Entrepreneurship Centre in the form of a Dhs100,000 prize for social innovation. This allowed Mahdi to expand her service programmes to include a range of special needs centres, nursing homes and refugee centres. The Mawada Project’s volunteers have now positively touched over 4,000 lives since the company was launched.

Mahdi says the centre also offers paid soft skills courses for adults but the main aim of the initiative is to offer programmes for the country’s youth. “For the youth we have offered free events. We use corporate funds to subsidise this,” she clarifies.

One of the centre’s most popular children’s programmes focuses on the lives of refugees. “We spend the first part of the session reflecting on what the lives of refugees might be like and what our role may be in contributing to alleviate that struggle. We then make toy dolls and then we send those to the refugees,” Mahdi explains.

The centre’s organised visits to local hospitals are also beneficial to the community. “We invite children into the local hospital, where they learn skills such as bedside manners and being respectful. We then read and sit with patients. This is a direct engagement; they are such powerful experiences for all concerned,” she says. “Some patients are too tired to talk and some will chat for ages, but it’s always appreciated.”

Mahdi says her biggest challenge so far has been balancing the company’s need for financial sustainability with the firm’s wider social aims. “We’re still figuring out the best way to do that,” she admits.

“I simply want The Mawada Project to be a vehicle that allows every single person to discover the power that they have to make a difference in the world; even if it’s just being more mindful of your neighbours, the idea of making a difference in small ways adds up,” Mahdi says. “We want everyone in the region to have compassion as part of their character. We want every citizen to ask, ‘how am I contributing to my society and what impact am I having?’ Through this, we could have a happier, more peaceful world.”