Friday, September 16, 2022 – 3:10 pm
DUBAI, 16th September / WAM / The Ministry of Community Development participated in the first Gulf Family Forum “Future Opportunities and Challenges for the Family in the Gulf”, which was organized by the General Secretariat of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf and the Family Affairs Council in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on 14 and 15 September this year in Riyadh, coinciding with the “Day of The Gulf Family”, which falls on September 14 of each year.
During the forum, the Ministry presented two working papers, the first during the session “The Impact of Virtual Reality Technology and Augmented Reality on Family Cohesion in the Gulf” presented by Iman Hareb Al-Falahi, Director of the Department of Social Protection, and the second in the session “The Reality of the Elderly “Citizens” in Light of Changes” and presented by Alia Al Joker, Director of the Development Department Family at the Ministry of Community Development.
Iman Hareb Al-Falahi touched on the Gulf family in light of the contemporary technological challenges, noting that several challenges include opening the door to patterns of virtual society to replace social relations and dialogue between members of the same family, penetrating family privacy and social relations, and the fall of some family members as victims of electronic blackmail and bullying. Electronic and electronic addiction, especially electronic games addiction, intellectual polarization, and children’s rebellion once morest the supervisory role of the family, in addition to the production of new interactions and forms of family relations that led to strengthening isolation and widening the gap between members of the same family and the fall of some family members, especially children, victims of rumors and false news that are often re-circulated.
She stressed the importance of employing innovation and technology in facing the challenges facing the family by creating electronic applications to measure relationships between family members, take advantage of parental control tools in smart devices, provide proactive support, and hold a digital ethical pact between family members to enhance family rapprochement, in addition to designing electronic games that address values. noble in the young.
She referred to the experience of the Ministry of Community Development in this regard, through the establishment of a system of protection by early detection of possible abuse once morest any family member and the Ministry’s developmental orientations within the framework of the quality of life initiatives and the national policy for digital quality of life and the initiatives and directives it included for children, students and the family General In addition to the design of the game “KID X” aimed at a balanced and responsible upbringing of childhood in general.
For her part, Alia Al Joker spoke regarding the reality of the elderly “citizens” in light of the changes, noting the state’s keenness to achieve digital integration for senior citizens as one of the means of empowerment in the contemporary world, where technology plays an active role in enhancing the environment that supports the active life of adults, facilitating the requirements of life and achieving community communication with the outer periphery.
She noted the ministry’s achievement of a number of technological programs and workshops within the objectives of the national policy for senior citizens in order to encourage them to adopt the digital mechanism in the completion of daily tasks, government transactions, medical follow-ups, and others. The number of beneficiaries of these programs and electronic workshops to date has reached 65,000 senior citizens.
She referred to the policies, legislation and regulations that support senior citizens in the UAE, the areas of participation of senior citizens and appropriate societal opportunities to employ their expertise through: associations of public interest as permanent or founding members, and in voluntary opportunities within the national volunteer platform under the name of “Senior Volunteers” and in brainstorming sessions and interactive community councils that It brings together adults and youth to transfer experiences and life experiences and enhance their integration into society and in media and social media platforms that accelerate and facilitate access to senior citizens. As well as in the day clubs of the Ministry, which gives senior citizens a societal, cultural, recreational and health priority in light of the participation of all family members and at the community level.
Wm/ Munira Al-Sumaiti/Abdul Nasser Moneim