Greater engagement in social development process holds key to progress, says Sheikha Jawaher

Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, wife of the Ruler of Sharjah and Chairperson of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs (SCFA) has emphasised that Sharjah’s strategy of social development that is a measure of the progress and prosperity of the emirate, stems from the vision and directives of His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah.

Establishing a host of entities to meet the aspirations of Sharjah’s residents in all fields, and the coordinated actions of these organisations over the past 40 years have led to a positive impact on all aspects of the life of all community members across the emirate, she pointed out.

Sheikha Jawaher's remarks came during the virtual "Our" Forum, which brought together all entities operating under her leadership. Moderated by Saleha Ghabesh, Director-General of the Cultural and Media Office at SCFA, the forum was organised by the Executive Office of Sheikha Jawaher, HHEO, in cooperation with "Reyada Centre," the educational arm of the entities that operate under her leadership.

"Our" Forum brought together the workforce of 33 entities in four community sectors that work towards developing the talents and capabilities of children and youth, elevating the community, offering family counselling and creating a secure environment that supports women, in addition to enhancing charitable endeavours.

The forum saw the participation of a panel of experts and specialists who shed light on how to innovate and improve development tools to create an efficient corporate culture and outlined a roadmap for entities to efficiently apply this method to improve their strategies and plans as well as work culture.

"Sharjah realised early on the significance of laying a strong foundation for supporting women and girls and paving the way for their partnership and participation in the emirate’s development and prosperity. This was marked by the establishment of the Al Montazah Club under the directives of the Ruler of Sharjah. The Club set out a comprehensive cultural and recreational programme, in addition to sports, and saw an impressive footfall of women and girls of all age groups. This set the right base for the establishment of the Sharjah Ladies Club, SLC, which has since reinforced women’s outstanding presence in Sharjah’s development landscape," Sheikha Jawaher said.

"Every citizen and resident wishes to see Sharjah achieve greater development and progress. Nevertheless, results are not achieved through wishes, but through the collective actions of every individual, and the keen passion of every community member in Sharjah to contribute to its development," she added.

The virtual “Our” Forum, organised by HHEO, focused on 4 key pillars: “Our Principles,: which discussed the concept of compassionate leadership; “Our Objectives,” which tackled social return on investment, SRoI; “Our Data” which highlighted the importance of data and statistics in planning and impact assessment; and “Our Tools” which explored how organisations can use information technology and data in planning and programme development.

The sessions were introduced by Hanan Al Mahmoud, CEO of Al Jawaher Reception & Convention Centre, JRCC, who emphasised that entities which have a direct relationship with the public should be more proactive in adopting social development methodologies and tools to bring about qualitative changes in society, and enable its members to fulfil their ambitions and aspirations. The noble values that these entities seek to achieve should harness the best and most effective methods to elevate actions, principles, values and results simultaneously, she added.

The "Our" forum sessions commenced with a video featuring the achievements and initiatives launched by the entities led by Sheikha Jawaher. The video highlighted the distinctive roles of each entity, as well as the tools and mechanisms it incorporates to serve Sharjah’s social and professional environment.

The first session, themed “Our Principles: Compassionate Leadership,” hosted Jassem Al Baloushi, Board of Trustees Member of Rubu' Qarn Foundation for Creating Leaders and Innovators. He stressed that compassion is a leadership capability that is worth developing as it leads to tangible results at all levels of relationships be it that of parent-children, leader-people, or coach-team. This leadership style is based on communication and engagement with people and aims to inspire and empower them. He noted that the most influential and efficient leader is the one who is compassionate with his team.

In the second session, Farzaneh Majed, ROI Institute Partner, Balanced Scorecard Institute Strategic Partner and Advisory Board Member, CEO of Transform Alliance, shed light on the ‘Our Objectives’ pillar held under the theme, “Our Objectives: Social Return on Investment, SRoI.” She spoke about the various ways to bridge the gap between concerted action and its targeted impact on society and highlighted the indexes to measure this impact.

The third session, titled “Our Data: The significance of data and statistics in planning and impact assessment,” was presented by Amin Al Zarouni, CEO of Sahab Smart Solutions. Al Zarouni discussed the transformations that are possible in the business as well as social sectors through efficient utilisation of data and gave an insight into how to make the most of those transformations to achieve meaningful results. The UAE is one of the leading countries globally and the first in the region to have invested in big data, he added.

Speaking at the forum, Fatima Ali Al Marzooqi, Head of Quality & Business Excellence at HHEO, highlighted the 2021 roadmap that outlines the approaches adopted by the various institutions to achieve the vision of Her Highness, reflected under the theme ‘Awareness helps families; solidarity helps communities’. She laid emphasis on the plans and goals aimed at consolidating the values and principles of institutional work and on intensifying the social impact of their work to encompass all members of society.

At the end of forum, institutions that demonstrated exemplary efficiency in institutional partnership and integration in line with the directives of Sheikha Jawaher were announced. These included FUNN, the Sharjah-based organisation dedicated to promoting and supporting media arts learning among children and youth; Sharjah Youth; and Sajaya Young Ladies of Sharjah. The winners cooperated to organise the FUNNtastic spring camp. The evaluation of the winners was based on several criteria, chief of which were rationalisation of expenses, avoiding repetition and duplication between entities, and ease of procedures, in addition to customer satisfaction and creativity in programmes and plans.