In Dubai, learning English will help its many labourers get better jobs and salaries.

But with average monthly salaries of $220, and a hard life of 12-hour work shifts, they neither have the money nor time to educate themselves.

SmartLife, an NGO for Dubai's labourers, wanted to help them improve their status and quality of life.

We created Project Akshar (Alphabets), where we set out to graduate Dubai's labourers from blue collar to white collar for $0.

We first launched free English classes.

And to encourage labourers to register and enroll, we first needed to show them how easy it is to learn English.

So, using effective visual learning techniques:

a) We took words that are useful to them.

b) Wrote their English phonetic pronounciations in the Hindi script.

c) We then combined them with their visual representation integrated into the Hindi alphabet.

d) And as a result, we created words that teach them English through their own language.

We then placed hundreds of words like these, designed to look like school notepads, across their daily journey, across Dubai. We printed a number, which they could give a missed call on. And we called them back to enroll them into the classes.

We turned Dubai into a blackboard for them. Labour camps became Educational camps. Transport buses became School buses. Construction sites became Learning sites. Mundane routines became Inspiring journeys.

We also extended their learning across channels by creating: Learning flashcards, an Interactive karaoke song, Print ads in vernacular media, Bus shelter ads around labour camps.

Project Akshar (Alphabets) is transforming their lives of labour into lives of learning:

(1) 5000+ students have graduated thus far in 12 months.

(2) 28% have cleared job interviews for white-collar jobs.

(3) 12% launched businesses back home.

(4) 23% got promoted to white-collar jobs from existing blue-collar jobs in the same companies.

(5) 37% got higher salaries; including certain workers moving from 800 AED ($220) per month to 8000 AED ($2200) per month in just 12 months!

(6) The project has been invited to be a part of the Dubai Government’s ‘Happy Dubai’ initiative.

(7) All costs were pro bono ($0) courtesy our partners.

(8) SmartLife generated unprecedented earned media for its brand worth $430,000 across TV, Press, Radio and Social Media regionally and worldwide. Among many others, the project was endorsed by Timeout, Dubai One, The National, Gulf News, XPRESS, Expatwoman.com, Dubai Municipality, Emirates 24/7, GEMS Winchester School, City 7, Dubai Media Inc, Manorama News, Manoramaonline.com, Khaleej Times, Gulf Madhyamam daily as well as Contagious, Best ads, Euro News, Act Responsible, Ad Forum, Ebola Industries, Digital Synopsis, Creative Criminals, Little Black Book and Communicate.

(9) Won the Grand Prix for Good and 8 Golds at Dubai Lynx 2015.

SmartLife is an NPO/NGO for Dubai's labourers, run by white-collared professionals on a volunteering basis.

SmartLife's core purpose is to improve the quality and the status of the labourer community in the UAE; shifting them from blue-collar to white-collar.

They do this through different channels:

(1) Education - we created free English classes as part of Project Akshar (Alphabets).

(2) Talent and Skills development - through learning as well as entertainment programs.

In terms of marketing budgets, being an NGO, their budgets are $0 and they create work based on the strength of their ideas and partnerships out of it.