The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and Global Foundation for the Performing Arts (GFPA) are to initiate art and music therapy sessions targeted to children in state care in the Maldives.

This was announced during a meeting held at the Permanent Mission of the Maldives in New York City between First Lady Fazna Ahmed and Head of UNITAR New York Office Lucia J. Guo, Executive Director of GFPA and Byron Zhou, Pianist on the artist roster of the GFPA.

Discussions at the meeting revolved around collaboration on music art therapy in the Maldives. With this being said, the Maldivian First Lady proposed to jointly collaborate to facilitate art and music therapy sessions targeted to children in state care, to which the UNITAR and GFPA officials agreed to host discussions with Maldivian stakeholders, at the earliest, in order to facilitate such a programme.

First Lady Fazna revealed that her trip has opened doors for new mutually beneficial partnerships, and expressed interest in the use of art and music in education.

In this regard she inquired on the first steps to initiate collaboration with UNITAR and GFPA to conduct training for Maldivian teachers in art therapy.

Highlighting the educational and healing benefits of art and music, the UNITAR and GFPA officials briefed the Maldivian First Lady on the online courses conducted in collaboration with world-renowned institutions such as Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In this regard, the representatives expressed keen willingness to facilitate art and music therapy for children through train-the-trainer sessions aimed for teachers in the Maldives.

All parties reaffirmed commitment to carry forth the partnerships discussions as the meeting concluded.

Permanent Representative of the Maldives to United Nations, Thilmeeza Hussain joined First Lady Fazna during the meeting.