Rudayna Abdo, visionary founder and director of Lebanese organisation Thaki, was awarded the Schwab Foundation Prize at the Davos Forum in recognition of the NGO's role in the education of children in the Middle East. Thaki, which is apolitical and non-sectarian, offers online education to marginalised children in the Middle East, with the aim of improving the level of education of refugees in Lebanon.
"As Palestinian and a refugee, I have suffered the injustices of violence and war. Today, Thaki has supported over 30,000 children and we are now looking at ways to support the children of Gaza. None of this would have been possible without my amazing team and the dozens of volunteers who have joined this mission since day one." - Rudayna Abdo.
Thaki's offline application, available in English and Arabic, allows children to use the programme on devices supplied to them by partner companies.
In Lebanon, according to a recent UNICEF survey, more than a quarter of families now have children who have dropped out of school, compared with 18% in April 2022.