Mentor Arabia, the Middle East and North Africa chapter of the Mentor Foundation, an international organization focused on preventing drug abuse among youth, announced today the signing of Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) that mark the start of its operational initiatives in the Arab world.
The MoUs will be signed at the Mentor Arabia royal gala dinner to be held tomorrow (Monday, April 23) at Kuwait’s newly opened The Avenues mall. The VIP event is being held under the patronage of the Emir, His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah.
The MoUs will mean Mentor Arabia working with global coffee retailer Starbucks Coffee, regional telecom provider MTC and civil society organization Ghiras, to develop and implement innovative initiatives that will prevent drug abuse and promote health and wellbeing among Arab children and youth.
“The relationships we are forging are a testament to the importance that we place, in Mentor Arabia, on the partnerships with the private sector,” said Prince Turki bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz, Chairman of the Mentor Arabia Board of Trustees. “It is high time the concept of corporate social responsibility is translated into concrete steps and actions directed towards the empowerment of our youth. Our young people are too important to our future, and to our economic and social wellbeing, to leave unprotected in an age of increasing drug abuse.” He applauded the efforts of the foundations Kuwaiti members, Mohammed Abdulaziz Alshaya, Fiasal Al Mutawa, Fatima Al Issa, Mohammad Al Ghanim, and Saud Al Babtain, for their tireless efforts in forging these partnerships.
“These MoUs will enable us to launch pilot programmes in Kuwait over the next few months before rolling them out across the Arab world,” he added.
Prince Turki made his comments in advance of tomorrow’s 500-guest VIP event. The royal gala dinner will be attended by Queen Silvia of Sweden, President of Mentor International and Prince Turki, and will be hosted by Mentor Arabia Board Member Mohammed Abdulaziz Alshaya. The event is to be supported by lead sponsors the Alshaya Group, Mabanee Co., MTC and the National Bank of Kuwait.
International studies and surveys taken around the region suggest an increasing drug problem in the Middle East and North Africa. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), heroin and opiate abuse is on the rise in MENA countries, along with HIV/AIDS prevalence among the region’s injecting drug users. In 2005, the UNODC said there were more than 500,000 drug addicts in the Arab world. Increasing opium production in Afghanistan and the opening of Iraqi borders are expected to drive these numbers higher in coming years.
“We must earnestly explore the cause behind the spread of drugs in the Arab world,” Prince Turki added. “We must also realize if we go on dealing with this problem as non-existent we may one day find ourselves facing an even greater challenge for which we may not be able to bear the social, economic and cultural cost. This is in addition to the massive shortage of accurate studies about the drug issue in Arab countries, an issue which also needs to be addressed.”
Prince Turki said Mentor Arabia will work on "multiple fronts, guided by a clear strategy and measurable plans”, and with the support of the media sector, which he described as "vital", the efforts to spread awareness across the Arab World will forge ahead.
Mohammed Abdulaziz Alshaya, Chairman of the Alshaya Co., said: “As a member of the Mentor Arabia Board of Trustees, I am delighted that Kuwait is going to play such an integral role in spearheading and piloting these initiatives before they are implemented in other parts of the Arab world.”
“Partnerships between the private and public sectors and organizations like Mentor Arabia are vital if we are to combat an issue that is affecting our economies and societies as a whole,” Alshaya added. “Our most important target audience is youth and children as they are the most vulnerable, but we are also focusing our efforts on those groups and individuals who influence the young: parents, grandparents, other family members, teachers and mentors, health workers, the media, government, civil society organizations and the private sector. We are committed to involving all of them to create a robust safety net for our youth.”
Mentor Arabia’s activities will focus primarily on raising awareness of drug abuse and prevention and on providing young people with healthy and fun alternatives. Projects currently in the foundation’s pipeline include training children, families and caretakers in the detection and prevention of drug abuse, supporting the development of related public policies throughout the region, research and assessment studies, and the development of after-school alternative programs for at-risk youth.
Mentor Arabia’s projects with Starbucks Coffee and MTC will include training company staff and partners on drug abuse awareness and prevention, and on building communication skills to enable the trainees to act as Mentor Arabia ambassadors in society. The partnerships will also fund life skills programs for students to help build their self-esteem and confidence and help them avoid falling into the drug trap.
Mentor Arabia is the eighth chapter of the international Mentor Foundation. Other chapters exist in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, the United States, Colombia and Lithuania.
The Mentor Foundation
The Mentor Foundation is an international non-governmental organization with the mission to prevent drug-misuse and to promote the health and well-being of young people in the world. It was founded in 1993 by Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden and other dignitaries such as His Royal Highness Prince Talal Bin Abd El-Aziz Al Saud.
The Mentor Foundation implements educational, cultural, informative and training projects and programs in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO), governmental institutions, civil society organizations and the private sector to prevent youth from falling into the destructive drug-trap.
The board is presided over by Her Majesty Queen Silvia, the Mentor Foundation’s Board of Trustees is drawn from a wide range of dignitaries including H.E Prince Talal Bin Abd El-Aziz of Saudi Arabia, H.M Queen Nour Al-Hussein of Jordan, the Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg and Crown Prince Felipe of Spain.
Mentor Arabia
Mentor Arabia is a non-governmental organization launched in April 2006 and led by a Board of Trustees chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Turki Bin Talal Bin Abd El-Aziz El Saud.
Its vision is of an Arab world that provides opportunities for the healthy development of children and youth free from the harm caused by drug-misuse. Its mission is to prevent drug misuse among youth by striving to identify, promote and share information, and resources. It will also share proven and promising practices and projects that make drug misuse less likely among these groups.
Mentor Arabia is the eighth regional chapter to join the Mentor Foundation family.
Mentor Arabia was born from the recommendations of the scientific workshop held in December 2004 in Dubai, in partnership with the Dubai Police, entitled “For an effective prevention against drug misuse”.
Participating in this were representatives from several international governmental and non-governmental institutions working in the field of drug prevention together with experts, academics and researchers specialized in the field.
