International Humanitarian and Philanthropic Council launches ‘Impact Makers’ initiative

ABU DHABI/WAM

H.H. Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Chairman of the Presidential Court for Development and Fallen Heroes’ Affairs and Chairman of the International Humanitarian and Philanthropic Council, stressed the importance of enriching humanitarian content as an institutional and societal responsibility shared by media institutions and digital content creators. This responsibility is vital considering the unlimited support of the UAE’s leadership in equipping young Arab talent with advanced tools and skills in storytelling related to humanitarian and development work. H.H. Sheikh Theyab elaborated that highlighting humanitarian efforts and developmental contributions is crucial for community solidarity as they impact positively the lives of millions of people across the world. He noted that the UAE was implementing significant humanitarian initiatives and projects that reflected its leading global position.
His remarks came on the launch of the “Impact Makers” initiative by the International Humanitarian and Philanthropic Council in cooperation with the New Media Academy. The initiative comprises several educational programmes and training workshops on digital media content creation with regard to humanitarian and developmental work. H.H. Sheikh Theyab asserted the need to empower individuals to forge positive and influential content that addresses humanitarian issues, increases community awareness through storytelling and appropriate media strategies. These efforts are especially pertinent with respect to initiatives aimed to provide basic services to communities in areas such as healthcare and education, which will eventually result in prosperity, stability and security.
The initiative targets journalists, camera crew and content creators from the UAE, Arab world and other countries specialising in humanitarian and developmental affairs. Its goal is to help them enhance their skills in telling humanitarian stories, preparing media content, and producing audio and visual programmes across diverse digital platforms in more creative and appealing ways.
The initiative also will train official spokespersons representing UAE-based humanitarian donor organisations and charitable associations in corporate reputation strategies and media crisis management. The New Media Academy continues to support content creators and social media influencers, enabling them to deliver their message in a professional manner that contributes to social growth. The “Impact Makers” initiative includes several training modules, beginning with the “Spokesperson Skills, Media Appearance, and Crisis Management in the Media” programme, the “Humanitarian Impact Journalism” programme, and the “Humanitarian Impact Content Creators” programme. The last of these will include two versions, one of which will be done in partnership with the Arab Youth Centre.