People Making a Difference in the UAE: December 2026

December in the UAE is busy with National Day, the cooler weather and the end of the year, and it is also when a lot of residents start asking how they can give something back. This list is our answer for December 2026: ten people and organisations quietly making life better here, for people, animals and nature.

We picked them because their work is public, well documented and open to residents who want to help, whether that means a morning on a beach clean-up, a bag of preloved clothes or a little time with rescue dogs. Every fact below comes from the organisations themselves or from UAE news coverage, and we have stuck to their work, not their private lives.

1. Habiba Al Mar’ashi and Emirates Environmental Group

Habiba Al Mar’ashi co-founded Emirates Environmental Group (EEG), described as the UAE’s first environmental NGO, which began in 1991 from a flower shop in Al Bastakiya with 12 founding members. She is the reason this list starts in December: EEG’s Clean UAE campaign drew more than 90,000 volunteers across all seven emirates in December 2025, up from 4,500 in 2002. The 25th edition runs from 5 to 15 December 2026, and she calls it “a national movement” rather than just a clean-up.

• What they do: Co-founder and Chairperson of EEG, which runs Clean UAE and other public environmental drives.
• Where: Clean UAE 2026 stops: Dubai (5 December), Sharjah (7), Fujairah (9), Ajman (10), Umm Al Quwain (12), Ras Al Khaimah (14) and Abu Dhabi (15).
• How to get involved: Register through the Clean UAE form linked on the EEG homepage. Individuals and organisations are both invited.
• Checked on 8 November 2026, details can change.

Read the profile

Official site: Emirates Environmental Group

2. Tatiana Antonelli Abella and Goumbook

Tatiana Antonelli Abella founded Goumbook, a social enterprise working on sustainability and climate action in the region since 2009. Its Give a Ghaf campaign plants the native ghaf tree, and Goumbook holds a Guinness World Records title for the most seeds planted at the same time in one hour. She also conceptualised and manages Dubai Can, the city campaign to cut single-use plastic bottles with public water fountains, and organised the first MENA Ocean Summit in Dubai in 2023.

• What they do: Founder of Goumbook, behind Give a Ghaf, Mangroves Matter, Drop It, Save the Butts and other campaigns.
• Where: Dubai, with projects across the UAE.
• How to get involved: Plant a ghaf through the Give a Ghaf or Plant Now pages on the Goumbook site, or refill a bottle at a Dubai Can fountain.
• Checked on 8 November 2026, details can change.

Read the profile

Official site: Goumbook

3. Ayesha Khan and Food ATM

Ayesha Khan, an engineer who moved to the UAE in 2006, started by cooking for the cleaners and workers in her building. In 2019 she opened the first Food ATM in Ajman, selling full meals for between 50 fils and Dh3, and giving them free to anyone who cannot pay. By August 2024 she was running five kitchens, each feeding 12,000 to 15,000 people a day, and in 2021 Food ATM earned a Guinness World Records title for serving 50,744 community meals in under eight hours.

• What they do: Founder of Food ATM, which keeps prices low by buying near-expiry food and works with companies that prepay meals for their workers.
• Where: Outlets reported in Ajman, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
• How to get involved: Companies and individuals can sponsor meals in advance, loaded onto a worker’s Food ATM card.
• Checked on 8 November 2026, details can change.

Read the profile

Official Instagram: Food ATM

4. Rana Hajirasouli and The Surpluss

Rana Hajirasouli founded The Surpluss in Dubai in 2021, a platform where companies trade or donate surplus stock, space and materials instead of sending them to landfill. In a single year it diverted more than 1 million kilograms of waste. Its circular giving work with Dubai Holding now supports more than 20,000 low-income people in the UAE, and The Surpluss was runner-up in Dubai Holding’s Innovate for Tomorrow 2024.

• What they do: Founder of The Surpluss and a doctoral researcher in industrial sustainability at the University of Cambridge.
• Where: Dubai, with more than 25 partner businesses and organisations.
• How to get involved: If your company has leftover stock or materials, the platform is built for passing them on rather than throwing them away.
• Checked on 8 November 2026, details can change.

Read the profile

Official site: The Surpluss

5. Majed Abdullah Bin Saad and ATHR

Majed Abdullah Bin Saad is a young Emirati volunteer who founded ATHR, from the Arabic word for impact, a homegrown initiative that links volunteers, companies and government bodies on community and nature projects. ATHR has worked with more than 40 major entities across all seven emirates, and in October 2025 he was chosen as one of the IUCN UAE Young Changemakers for the World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi. He likes to make volunteering fun, for example by adding kayaking to mangrove planting days.

• What they do: Runs ATHR’s programme, its mobile outreach set-ups called ATHR Stations (MAHATAT) and the ATHR Platform.
• Where: Projects across all seven emirates.
• How to get involved: ATHR shares its activities on its official Instagram account.
• Checked on 8 November 2026, details can change.

Read the profile

Official Instagram: ATHR

6. Thrift for Good

Founded in 2020 by Jennifer Sault, Thrift for Good is a charity thrift shop and sister enterprise of the UAE charity Gulf for Good, giving 100% of its profits to projects for vulnerable children. Volunteers clean, repair and sort donated clothes, shoes, bags and books, and by April 2026 the shops had raised more than Dh4.7 million from over 208,000 items. December is a natural time for a wardrobe clear-out, and Dh10 high-street pieces are what sell fastest.

• What they do: Resells donated fashion and books in Dubai to fund children’s projects vetted by Gulf for Good.
• Where: Four stores in Dubai, including one in Dubai Investment Park. The site lists daily hours of 10am to 10pm, with the Sustainability Hub closing at 8pm.
• How to get involved: Donate preloved fashion and books, or volunteer for sorting, sewing, till shifts and other jobs through the volunteer page.
• Checked on 8 November 2026, details can change.

Read the profile

Official site: Thrift For Good

7. K9 Friends

K9 Friends has been rescuing and rehoming stray and abandoned dogs in Dubai since 1989, and had found homes for more than 7,000 dogs by 2022. Its motto is simple: “We believe there is a home for every dog.” The cooler December weather is the most pleasant time of year to spend with dogs outdoors, and adopting or fostering is the biggest help you can give.

• What they do: Dubai’s long-running dog adoption shelter, offering adoption, fostering, sponsorship, membership and charity merchandise.
• Where: Dubai.
• How to get involved: Adopt, foster, sponsor a dog, become a member or buy from the merchandise store, all through the K9 Friends site.
• Checked on 8 November 2026, details can change.

Read the profile

Official site: K9 Friends

8. Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Project

Since 2004, this Jumeirah programme has rescued, treated and released sick and injured sea turtles found on UAE beaches, and it had returned 2,175 of them to the wild by June 2024. Turtles are treated at the aquarium in Jumeirah Burj Al Arab, then recover in the Turtle Lagoon at Jumeirah Al Naseem, working with Dubai’s Wildlife Protection Office and the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory. If you find a stranded turtle on a winter beach walk, call 800 TURTLE (800 887853).

• What they do: Rescues and rehabilitates sea turtles, including hawksbill and green turtles, and releases them back into the Arabian Gulf.
• Where: Jumeirah Al Naseem Turtle Lagoon, Dubai. Jumeirah lists feeding sessions at 11am on weekdays and 11am and 3:30pm at weekends.
• How to get involved: Report stranded turtles on 800 TURTLE. The official page does not list a price for watching the feeding.
• Checked on 8 November 2026, details can change.

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Official site: Jumeirah Turtle Rehabilitation

9. Emirates Nature-WWF

Founded in 2001, Emirates Nature-WWF works in association with WWF on conservation, climate action and citizen science, and marked 25 years in 2025. It has turned more than 5,000 residents into citizen scientists, and its decade-long marine turtle monitoring programme mapped the migration routes of turtles in the region. Director General Laila Mostafa Abdullatif has been with the organisation since 2008.

• What they do: UAE environmental nonprofit running public programmes such as Leaders of Change, Connect With Nature, Earth Hour and Food For Life.
• Where: Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with projects nationwide.
• How to get involved: Sign up as a Leader of Change, join Connect With Nature activities or donate through the official site.
• Checked on 8 November 2026, details can change.

Read the profile

Official site: Emirates Nature-WWF

10. Dubai Cares

Dubai Cares has funded schools and learning programmes in developing countries since 2007, reaching more than 116 million direct and indirect beneficiaries in 60 countries. It is also one of the easiest ways for UAE residents to give time: a record 9,700 volunteers took part in 2024. By the end of that year it had disbursed more than AED 1 billion across 260 programmes with 143 partners.

• What they do: UAE-based education foundation working on children’s and young people’s learning in developing countries.
• Where: Dubai, with programmes abroad.
• How to get involved: Register on the volunteer page, join Volunteer Emirates or Students for Students, or eat out during Taste of Giving, when part of the bill supports Dubai Cares.
• Checked on 8 November 2026, details can change.

Read the profile

Official site: Dubai Cares

If you only do one thing this month, pick a Clean UAE stop near you between 5 and 15 December and bring a friend. Then keep the rest of this list for the other eleven months.