Dubai - Hessa bint Essa Buhumaid, Minister of Community Development, and Ayman Al-Mufleh, Jordanian Minister of Social Development, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in social development issues between the governments of the UAE and Jordan covering seven areas.

The areas include rehabilitation and empowerment of persons with disabilities (people of determination), family development, productive families, protection and social welfare, elderly welfare (senior citizens), non-benefit public associations and social aids.

The MoU was signed by Hessa Buhumaid at the 77th session of the Executive Office of the Council of Arab Ministers of Social Affairs, held on 19th and 20th October, 2022, in Jordan. The pact is part of the joint social work and the efforts of the two countries in consolidating bilateral relations and at the same time, enhancing cooperation, efforts of the two countries in consolidating bilateral ties for the benefit of the two nations through exchanging experiences, especially in social and development fields.

The MoU focused on exchanging best experiences and practices concerning the rehabilitation and empowerment of persons with disabilities (people of determination), through visits, acknowledging the experiences of the two countries in the field of welfare and rehabilitation. The MoU will benefit from the expertise, the latest laws and legislations regulating work in this field, exchanging successful experiences in the employment of people of determination, in addition to exchanging information, scientific publications, applications and smart programmes.

In family development, the MoU stressed the importance of exchanging information, legislation and specialised expertise to identify the latest results of research and studies between the two countries in the field of family development. The memorandum also refers to the exchange of experiences of the two countries in micro-enterprises to empower women socially and economically, cooperation in the field of legislations, policies and programmes related to the social and institutional development of women, exchanging experiences and initiatives of social awareness to support equality and gender balance and reduce violence against women.

The MoU also highlighted the importance of developing productive families between the two countries by exchanging experiences and technical consultations in economic and knowledge empowerment of productive families. It highlighted the organising of exhibitions to display products of distinguished productive families, exchanging experiences, and studies and research in the fields of small and micro enterprises that increase source income and programmes of productive families.

Article 4 of the MoU highlighted protection and social welfare in terms of exchanging experiences, visits, studies and legislations in the field of children of unknown parents and foster families, exchanging the results of joint studies in the field of protection, welfare and rehabilitation of juveniles, social protection institutions and benefiting from successful experiences in this field.

As for the welfare of the elderly (senior citizens), the MoU focused on the importance of exchanging experiences and policies related to these categories. At the same time, it encourages collaboration between all relevant associations working in the UAE and Jordan in serving the elderly (senior citizens).

Article 6 focused on the efforts of non-benefit public associations as the two countries emphasised the importance of exchanging their experiences, volunteering initiatives and social responsibility activities, as well as cooperation in the field of legislation and policies related to associations.

Article 7 of the MoU discussed social aid; it stated exchanging experiences, legislations and best practices in the UAE and Jordan in enabling beneficiaries to work, reviewing the experiences and initiatives of the two countries in finding other sources of income for the beneficiaries of social aids, initiatives and projects.