SHARJAH, 8th March, 2023 (WAM) – H.H. Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, wife of the Ruler of Sharjah and Chairperson of NAMA Women Advancement (NAMA), emphasises that enabling women worldwide to have seamless access to scientific and technical disciplines has become a critical component in fulfilling their right to education, given the transforming needs of modern economies and societies.
Providing women with equal access to quality education is essential for achieving progress and stability in society. Sheikha Jawaher launched the "Jawaher Fund for the Advancement of Women's Education" on International Women's Day, aligned with the strategic objectives of NAMA. The fund has two categories:
The first category, "International Scholarships," provides women from developing countries with the opportunity to pursue a master's degree.
The second category, "Research Grant Awards," supports research pursued by male and female students and faculty at selected universities. The research projects must have a gender focus across science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), health, social sciences, business, and finance.
“The fund mainly focuses on young women as we believe there are countless brilliant minds amongst us who require impetus to realise their full potential. These new scholarships have been designed to support bright women across developing nations in pursuing graduate studies. Investing in women will ultimately serve as an investment in society at large. We must understand that the only way to achieve real, sustainable and meaningful progress is by empowering women with academic knowledge, enabling them to do well professionally and achieve real and meaningful female-male partnerships worldwide,” Sheikha Jawaher opined.
The Jawaher Fund, established by NAMA, is committed to creating enabling environments and providing access to vital tools and resources to support women worldwide. A significant component of the fund is focused on promoting gender-focused research and data collection across various disciplines to strengthen the world's understanding of how gender dynamics impact societies and economies.
NAMA will communicate and coordinate with educational institutions in the countries where the fund programme is offered. The entity has already distributed the fund's initial disbursements for female researchers in collaboration with the University of Sharjah under the "Women in Research" forum and at the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) in Islamabad, Pakistan, in partnership with NUST's trust fund. The grants for NUST's female students have been allocated following Sheikha Jawaher's visit in 2020, where she met with university officials and identified targeted strategies to fulfil students' needs.
Under Sheikha Jawaher's directives, NAMA prioritises education, vocational, and academic training for women across all of its programmes and initiatives. Universities interested in the fund are encouraged to contact the NAMA team through programs@namawomen.ae or visit https://www.namawomen.ae/en/project/jawaher-fund for more information.