The nation’s youth will be the new focus of Emirates Foundation, announced the UAE-based philanthropic organisation on Tuesday at the unveiling of its new identity and strategy.

Henceforth to be known as “Emirates Foundation for Youth Development”, the organisation will also adhere to a new business model striving for long-term progress rather than short-term funding.

Over the past year, Emirates Foundation undertook a thorough reassessment of its operations, said CEO Clare Woodcraft. “Globally, philanthropic organisations are realising they have a very important role in development. Essentially, the onus is on us to really look at our effectiveness and our efficiency — how we can best create impact. And we decided that youth development was going to be core focus of our work,” she said.

Noting that young people account for a high percentage of the local population, and that up to 40,000 of them face unemployment, Woodcraft explained the organisation’s shift in concentration. “Human capital has really climbed up the radar screen as one of the most important aspects of socioeconomic development. Young people are faced with multiple choices that are often difficult to navigate. We felt that this growing complexity of the environment for young people coupled with their importance in development meant that this was an excellent area for us to focus on,” she said.

The new Emirates Foundation for Youth Development will address three key areas: building leadership skills; tackling social issues that obstruct youth development and personal empowerment through volunteering. Previously, the organisation developed programmes around the broader themes of youth leadership, knowledge creation and society and culture. Successful existing programmes will continue to operate, including the volunteering initiative “Takatof” which has 26,000 registered members. New projects under consideration include the promotion of financial literacy and increasing employment among the disabled.

In addition to narrowing its target group, Emirates Foundation for Youth Development is adopting a new business model of “venture philanthropy”, said Woodcraft. “It’s different from traditional philanthropy in that it takes, like venture capitalism, a much longer time.”