Some 300 social and economic experts gathered in Jeddah Saturday at the Productive Families Forum to discuss unemployment and poverty in Saudi Arabia. The Emir of Makkah Prince Khaled Al-Faisal opened the forum on behalf of King Abdullah, and was joined by Minister of Social Affairs Yousef Al-Othaimeen, Minister of Trade and Industry Abdullah Zainal, and Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah, the Minister of Education, in discussions at the first session of the two-day event. At the opening Prince Khaled spoke of the success of initiatives brought to the attention of the authorities last year by a Saudi woman named Azzah which have helped to created jobs for Saudi women. “We studied Azzah's initiative and produced recommendations which were then approved by Prince Naif, the Minister of Interior,” Prince Khaled said. The move, according to the Prince, led to regional authorities relaxing certain regulations to permit families to work from homes and display their products at exhibitions without inducing extra financial cost. No longer just theory Trade Minister Abdullah Zainal praised moves that had made working from a home a “reality, and no longer a theory on paper”. According to the minister, home business formed the backbone of many economies. “In the US, the income of productive families is over $300 billion, making them one of the largest producing sectors in the country,” Zainal said. The priority in the Kingdom now, Zainal said, was to provide the proper environment for productive families and let them work within an institutional framework with bylaws and regulations and trade licenses. Yousef Al-Othaimeen spoke of productive families as among the “new ideologies giving Saudi women more economic options”. “Working from distance, individual projects and other similar concepts are different in form but all lead to the same noble goal of social responsibility,” Al-Othaimeen said. “They can help poor families be independent and not have to resort to charity.” Prince Faisal, the Minister of Education, said that continued development would rely on the seriousness of individuals and organizations to create jobs for productive families, and advances in awareness of social responsibility in making the productive family an integral part of the community. “Thirdly,” Prince Faisal said, “we need to create the opportunity for families through help in training and marketing their products, as well as accept the sort of income such activity can be expected to produce.” The minister also spoke of new secondary school courses aimed at developing a culture of productive vocational work which focus on removing social stigma and encourage manual work as a means to earning a living. Interviews with some participants at the expo Families, businesswomen and other participants told Saudi Gazette why they were at the event. Layla Al-Ojaimi, a Saudi who organizes groups to work at the Sulisel Gallery of the Al-Faisalia Charity Association that presents traditional products, said: “We are cooperating with Saudi students who graduated from sewing institutions, and institutions for handicapped on many numbers of small accessories, gifts, and handmade traditional gifts.” The Princess Jawaher Center in Dammam to help productive families also took to encourage handmade products. “We give eight month training courses for girls, then after that we get them to market and offer lather products for famous companies such as Aramco,” said Rahma Fallata of the Center. Al-Ber Charity is one of many also involved, providing financial help to the tune of SR5,000 to Saudi Sara Al-Radadi. “I got five thousands Saudi riyal from Al-Ber to start up my own business, and once I'm selling products I repay at a rate of SR250 per month,” Al-Radadi said. Other Saudi businesswomen joined the forum to discuss job opportunities. “We are interested in forums like these which give us the chance to meet producing families and look at financing their business schemes,” said businesswoman Nahed Batubara. Forum Chairwoman Ulfat Qabbani said the forum had been created to “change the traditional view of family production”. – With contribution from Naif Al-Masrahi and Noura Al
