Faisal, Emir of Makkah Region, inaugurated the Social Development Forum's first session under the theme “From Patronage to Sustainment” at Jeddah Hilton, Saturday. The forum is organized by Society of Majed Bin Abdul Aziz for Development and Social Services as part of its development activities. After the opening ceremony, Prince Misha'l Bin Majed Bin Abdul Aziz, Governor of Jeddah, and chairman of the society delivered a speech titled “Social development from individual competitiveness to complementary philanthropic.” “There is a perceptible shift in our society and we find that social development projects have now come to be identified with advancement in economic, political, cultural and other sectors,” he said. “These days the private sector is playing a key role and forging partnerships in non-profit sectors,” he said. Besides the active private sector role, he said, the role of women has been developed. They are now participating more and more in several important sectors. “The rural areas are now becoming economic productive workshops and effective centers to achieve a fine balance between growth and sustainability” he added. Prince Misha'l dwelt on the importance of redefining the development and social work, and how to achieve sustainable development driven by regional experiences. He stressed on the need to develop social and development work from competitive individual-based charitable efforts and contributions to self-integrated sustainable development including establishing dedicated modern scientific and organized methods for those activities to ensure continuity. “We want to enhance the performance and capabilities of non-profit organizations, through effective communication between them and all society sectors, and sharing local and international knowledge and expertise, in addition to activating the role of different sectors of society through the application of performance and transparency evaluation,” he said. Dr. Youssef Bin Ahmed Othaimeen, Minister of Social Affairs, presented a worksheet on the status and aspirations of social development in the Kingdom. Princess Al-Bandari Bint Abdulrahman Al-Faisal, Director General of King Khalid Charitable Foundation, dwelt on an initiative to build a national strategy for social development. More than 40 global personalities are participating in the forum from the Kingdom and from abroad, and officials from Gulf, Arab and foreign development and social associations and institutions are offering their visions and experiences.
