Post-it® raises funds to support Manzil Centre for People with Special Needs

Iconic brand's ‘Kindness Project' to support the school's Micro Enterprise program forges ahead into second phase

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 29th December 2013 – In line with its long term commitment to support the micro enterprise (ME) segment of Manzil Centre for People with Special Needs,  under the aegis of the recently introduced, 'Kindness Project, 3M's iconic Post-it® brand has now contributed the requisite funds to enable the institution to deploy expert resources to empower children with new skills.

This milestone was marked by an event organised at 3M's Innovation Centre facility in Dubai that was attended by the children and faculty of Manzil along with Irfan Malik, Area Vice President, 3M Middle East and Africa. 

Announced in July 2013, Post-it® has entered into long term collaboration to support Manzil towards introducing expert resources in the realm of art, craft and other creative skills, who will impart training to students thus enabling them to learn and master new skill sets that will be of assistance to them while either seeking a job opportunity or starting their own micro enterprise.

“At 3M, we are extremely proud of our collaboration with Manzil and are fully committed to ‘The Kindness Project' that has been initiated by our Post-it® brand. Sustainability of this program is a key priority for us as we acknowledge this program as a long term initiative for 3M in the Middle East. Our objective for this collaboration is to support Manzil in diversifying the employment oriented skill sets that can be instilled into children as they work towards supporting their livelihoods. I do hope that this humble start will go a long way in helping the school achieve its objectives”, said Irfan Malik, Area Vice President, Middle East and Africa, 3M.

The handing over of the raised amount marks the completion of the first phase of the project. During the next phase, children will start receiving training from the new faculty, post which Post-it® and Manzil will organise an art exhibition of the creative work done by the children that will be auctioned and the amount raised will be directed to further support Manzil.

In order to raise further awareness about Manzil and encourage people to render support to this initiative, Post-it® had introduced Manzil on its popular facebook page, www.facebook.com/postitme. Visitors were encouraged to share a short message about a selfless and noble deed done by anyone they know through a specially designed facebook application and for every such story Post-it® also contributed funds towards the realisation of The Kindness Project.   

“We are very excited with the progress of ‘The Kindness Project' and are eagerly awaiting the commencement of the program's next phase under which, our children will get the opportunity to learn new skills. The long term engagement with Post-it® will ensure that all existing and new students at the school will get the opportunity to benefit from this program”, said Dr. Ayesha Saeed Husaini, Director, Manzil Centre for Individuals with Special Needs.

Manzil's PRIDE (People Receiving Independence and Dignity with Employment) initiative is a vocational training program for students with mild to moderate intellectual challenges. The emphasis of the program is to develop student's knowledge and skills to become part of the mainstream workforce. Students learn how to become as independent as possible, with a practical focus on functional numeracy and literacy, career planning that includes on-the-job training sessions, learning office skills etc. A Micro Enterprise (ME) candidate learns to enhance his own inherent creative skill sets which will subsequently be required to run a micro-enterprise.

Invented in the 1980's, Post-it® brand boasts of more than 4,000 unique products and the brand enjoys a cult status amongst consumers the world over. Today, with countless innovations in its product portfolio, Post-it® products are sold in more than 100 countries.