Picture shown is for illustrative purposes only.

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and Alwaleed Philanthropies, have announced the launch of “Maharat”, a childhood development and cognitive skills application. The platform, currently in its first phase, provides professional services of early detection and intervention for more than ten million children across the Arab region.

The virtual launch was attended by Engineer Abdullah Bin Amer Alswaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, and Princess Lamia Bint Majed Al Saud, Secretary-General and Member of the Board of Trustees of Alwaleed Philanthropies, along with Dr Munir Al-Desouki, Assistant Minister of Communications and Information Technology, and a wealth of leaders and senior officials of the Ministry and employees from Alwaleed Philanthropies.

“Maharat” aims to facilitate the detection of development-related problems among children, while also engaging teachers and parents in the assessment process. In doing so, it contributes to providing accurate professional diagnoses of cases that need early intervention. The application aims to lay the foundations to provide tailored programmes designed for the children, informed through scientific and practical methods to address their needs. The development of the application is empowered by the expertise and knowledge of experts in psychology, pedagogy, and other relevant areas.

The application will benefit all children in early childhood, with particular importance for children with motor and cognitive developmental delay, hyperactivity, impulsivity, poor communication and motivation for language learning, concentration problems, inattention and working memory deficit. 

For four decades Alwaleed Philanthropies has supported and spent more than $4 billion on social welfare and initiated over a thousand projects in nearly 200 countries, managed by ten Saudi women, reaching more than one billion beneficiaries around the world, regardless of gender, race, or religion. Alwaleed Philanthropies collaborates with a range of philanthropic, governmental, and educational organisations to combat poverty, empower women and youth, develop communities, provide disaster relief and create cultural understanding through education. It seeks to build bridges for a more compassionate, tolerant, and accepting world.