The Coca-Cola Foundation, in partnership with INJAZ Al-Arab, has announced the winners of the third edition of the Ripples of Happiness program.

With its increased awareness, the primary focus of the educational initiative is to encourage students to become more socially responsible members of the community, as well as promoting entrepreneurial spirit, financial literacy and workplace readiness.

The overall winners of the competition were students from the Applied Science University in Bahrain, who were awarded $ 10,000.

Their submission, entitled ‘Spotlight,’ was aimed to raise awareness of the difficulties facing blind people in Bahrain.

The students were recognized and rewarded by the Ripples of Happiness program for successfully planning, organizing and financing a creative and innovative solution to a social problem in their community.

Runners-up in this year’s program were Jeddah-based King Abdul Aziz University winning $ 7,000 and the University of Business & Technology of Saudi Arabia $ 5,000. Both of their works were aimed at educating society about a key issue.

The Coca-Cola Foundation has made a huge investment into the Ripples of Happiness program since its start, with over 500 students participating, and over 320,000 Arab youth were engaged students since its regional roll-out in 2012.

Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed bin Saqer Al-Nahayan, chairman of INJAZ Al-Arab and INJAZ-UAE, congratulated the winning team and commented on the significant role of youth in building societies.

The Ripples of Happiness program is an exciting initiative and fantastic opportunity for students around the Middle East to work directly with Coca-Cola employees and INJAZ Al-Arab to obtain dynamic and spirited practical skills that will enable them to better contribute to the community around them, he added.

“In addition, students learn real-world work skills that aid their development and provide them with a better understanding of what the working environment will be like after graduation. These adopted and valuable skills were given special consideration when it came to judging each project and we were impressed by the caliber of submissions this year. The teams raised the bar in terms of their initiatives and goals, which made it extremely difficult to come to a decision on an overall winner.”

Executive Director of INJAZ Bahrain Sheikha Hessa bint Khalifa Al Khalifa commenting during the ceremony held in Bahrain to award the Bahraini Ripples of Happiness winners said: “I would like to thank the Coca-Cola Foundation for giving students the opportunity to participate in this amazing work and to show their individual and collective abilities of which they acquire many behavioral skills that will definitely have a positive impact on their personal and professional path. This will also help create good citizens who care about serving their community and the welfare of it, as much as they care about their interest and future.

“We hope that the students will not stop showing their kind generosity, contribution and service to this community after the completion of the Ripples of Happiness program. Your participation in this program should be the beginning of an exciting journey. We wish to see your ripples of social and voluntary contributions growing to spark the spirit of joy and happiness to everyone who needs it in this country and the whole world,” he said.

Imad Benmoussa, GM, Coca-Cola Middle East Region, said: “Following the successes of the program’s inaugural year, and coupled with the impressive achievements for 2013, our plans are to grow Ripples of Happiness over the coming twelve months to further engage with other universities across the region. As part of this, the Coca-Cola Foundation will continue to empower youth to drive positive impact and support in communities by implementing beneficial projects to prepare them for their future careers.”

The 2013 program has taken place simultaneously in universities across Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine, with over 300 students participating from 20 universities, all of whom were mentored by members and volunteers from INJAZ Al-Arab network over a period of six weeks.