Her Excellency Hessa Bint Essa Buhumaid, Minister of Community Development signed two memorandums of understanding and services integration, the first with Dar Zayed for Family Care concerning the current situation of the management and governance of children without family care, and the second with Department of Community Development in Abu Dhabi concerning the non-benefit public associations.
Her Excellency signed the first memorandum of understanding with Excellency Hamad Al Nukhairat Al Ameri, Director General of Dar Zayed for Family Care while the second memorandum with Excellency Dr. Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili, Chairman of Department of Community Development in Abu Dhabi. Her Excellency Hessa Bint Essa Buhumaid, Minister of Community Development emphasized the importance of this partnership as it embodies integration with government authorities and departments to promote the vision of developing services for different categories of the community, accelerate the pace of work and social development in the UAE in line with the objectives of the national agenda of the UAE 2021 vision, in terms of achieving an inclusive community and family cohesion, creating effective members in the progress and development of the society, adopting long-term strategic plans derived from the leadership vision and future directives of the UAE government, aimed at achieving wellbeing for its community members and consolidating the UAE leading rank globally in line with the accomplishments of various authorities all over the UAE towards the UAE 2071 centennial goals and objectives.
Furthermore, Excellency Dr. Khamis Mugheer Al Khaili, Chairman-Department of Community Development in Abu Dhabi, said that these agreements are an extension of joint cooperation with the Ministry. They are among the priorities and plans of the ADDCD and the social sector in the Emirate to achieve the vision of providing a decent life for all members of society, in order to ensure that all possibilities are invested and obstacles are overcome through strategic cooperation between the segments of society to achieve the highest levels of quality of life and social welfare.
Al Khaili added that this step contributes to moving forward by providing new and sustainable solutions that meet our basic aspirations of providing a decent standard of living for all, forming a cohesive family that constitutes the nucleus of a tolerant and nurturing society of its various categories, and creating an active and responsible society, in addition to joining efforts at the local and federal level to ensure best practices are applied.
Excellency Hamad Al Nukhairat Al Ameri, Director General of Dar Zayed for Family Care, said that signing the Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Community Development and the Department of Community Development is among the DZFC’s priorities and plans to support children without family care. This reflects the principles of our wise leadership regarding strengthening cooperation and coordination between local authorities and institutions, achieving strategic partnership, and working to increase the activation and reinforcement of communication between state institutions to achieve sustainable social development in supporting the category of children without family care and leadership in alternative care and community integration.
Al Ameri stressed that the Memorandum of Understanding aims to develop, improve, and upgrade the level of services provided to children without family care in line with best practices and the highest international standards.
The first memorandum of understanding focused on studying the current situation of managing and governance of children without family care and understanding the current situation of foster families residing in Abu Dhabi who are fostering children from other emirates from outside the emirate of Abu Dhabi. The aim of the MOU is to support the stability of both foster children lodged by foster families and the foster families themselves, submit proposals that would help manage the situation of children without family care in Abu Dhabi in terms of frameworks, procedures and policies.
The MOU identified areas of cooperation by establishing a joint database to provide all needed data and information to understand the situation of children without family care, and children lodged by foster families residing in the emirate of Abu Dhabi and from other emirates, provide the necessary data and information about the management of lodged children, foster families and services given to them either through various homecare from outside Abu Dhabi, establish a taskforce team to examine the different needs of those lodged children and foster families, raise proposals of frameworks, procedures and policies that contribute to the management of the situation of those children without family care in Abu Dhabi.
The second memorandum of understanding is related to the services integration between the Ministry of Community Development and Department of Community Development in Abu Dhabi concerning non-benefit public associations. The MOU aims to facilitate the field of non-benefit public associations by activating their role in the society, developing their basic principles and joint action to achieve the desired goals, empowering strategic partnerships and cooperation that would serve the implementation of social initiatives.
The Service Integration MOU was based on defining the authorities of the Ministry and the Department in the field of non-benefit public associations in accordance with Federal Law No. (2) of 2008 concerning non-benefit public associations and NGOs, amended decree of the Federal Law No. 35 of 2020, the activation and supervision of non-benefit public associations and NGOs through a range of effective mechanisms, cooperation and coordination in legislative policies related to non-benefit public associations and NGOs and exchange experiences and information in this regard.
The MOU identified coordination roles between the two parties by establishing a joint committee to implement all the necessary articles of the MOU to modify the status of non-benefit public associations and NGOs, declare and license non-benefit public associations and NGOs within the geographical scope of Abu Dhabi, establish the indicative statute of non-benefit public associations and NGOs, harmonize all e-services provided by both parties to non-benefit public associations and NGOs, exchange mutual cooperation and consultation in the areas of legislations and policies that are related to non-benefit public associations and NGOs, cooperate, and coordinate the dissemination of information, data and reports about non-benefit public associations and NGOs.
The second memorandum of understanding included detailed articles on the licensing of non-benefit public associations and NGOs in Abu Dhabi, overseeing and supervising these associations, prior approvals, forming a joint committee to achieve the objectives and goals of the Memorandum of Integration of Services between the Ministry of Community Development and the Department of Community Development in Abu Dhabi, in the context of facilitating, coordinating, controlling procedures and achieving public interest.