The Big Heart Foundation champions youth empowerment through education, protection, and rehabilitation, removing barriers to lasting opportunity.
SHARJAH: The Big Heart Foundation (TBHF) has reaffirmed its commitment to empowering youth worldwide through sustainable programmes that address education, protection, and rehabilitation. Operating under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, the Foundation has reached more than 6 million people across over 37 countries through more than 230 humanitarian and development projects.
Marking International Youth Day 2025, TBHF highlighted the urgent need to provide young people in conflict-affected and underserved communities with the tools to thrive. According to the United Nations, over 267 million youth globally are currently not in education, employment, or training, with refugee populations facing particular barriers to higher education. In many regions, instability, climate disruption, and poverty have deepened the exclusion of youth from development agendas, despite their potential as future decision-makers and peacebuilders.
TBHF’s youth-focused approach ensures its initiatives are community-driven and evidence-based. Whether through rebuilding schools, offering mental health support, delivering skills training, or creating platforms for young people to advocate for change, the Foundation prioritises dignity and long-term opportunity. Even in emergency contexts, TBHF works to restore a sense of stability and agency, recognising that recovery must go beyond immediate aid.
Director of The Big Heart Foundation, Her Excellency Alya Obaid Al Musaiebi, said: “For many young people in the communities we serve, leadership is a necessity born from crisis. They are already solving problems and holding families together. Our role is not just to support youth, but to remove the barriers that were never theirs to face.”
From a refugee girl in Sudan returning to school, to a young man in Lebanon launching a small business, TBHF’s work continues to show how access to opportunity can transform hardship into momentum. The Foundation’s call is clear: creating structural change ensures youth are not just participants in their communities’ recovery — they are leaders shaping their future.
