Ministers interact with UAE twitterati for ideas
abu dhabi — Ideas poured in when two UAE ministers took to Twitter yesterday asking how to make the UAE more generous.
The two-hour interactive twitter dialogue was held by Ohood Al Roumi, UAE Minister of State for Happiness and Shamma Al Mazrui, UAE Minister of State for Youth Affairs, under the hashtag #YearOfGiving.
The online dialogue held ahead of the Giving Retreat to be hosted on February 1, was aimed at garnering ideas and suggestions for new initiatives for 2017 – declared the UAE Year of Giving by the UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The real-time interaction with twitterati was flagged off by Al Roumi at 1pm and lasted till 2pm.
Maha Zaatari, a professional coach was among the first to pitch in an idea to promote giving. “I suggest to assign a specific day of giving dedicated to CSR where all companies dedicate this day for giving,” she tweeted.
Rehan Naeem, a learning and development consultant, maintained giving is not just monetary. “Best giving is in kind. Compassion and kindness is better generosity than monetary generosity,” Naeem tweeted.
Dr. Gurmeet Narang seconded the opinion by tweeting “It is not mandatory to give money. You have things to give – smile, idea, hug, love, compassion or joy.”
A graduate student Abdullah K. Alatiyat urged the minister to come up with a law to force the private sector to activate their CSR campaigns and give back to the society.
His idea to make community service compulsory in schools and to activate it in orphanages and disabled centres got a pat on the back from the minister herself.
“Thank you Abdallah. This is a good suggestion,” Al Roumi tweeted immediately.
The Happiness Minister wrapped up the interaction by saying volunteering should be made compulsory for all citizens and that government can set up database of opportunities.
The second real time interaction was held from 3pm to 4pm by Shamma Al Mazrui, UAE Minister of State for Youth Affairs.
The online discussion aimed to align the contribution of the ‘Serving the Nation’ pillar of the Giving Retreat, headed by Al Mazrui, to the ‘legislations and policies’ pillar, which is headed by Al Roumi. More than 100 ministers and government officials will gather on Wednesday to discuss a unified plan to institutionalise charity and promote giving initiatives throughout the year.
The idea pooled through the twitter interaction will be presented to retreat participants who can shape them into actionable programs and initiatives.
Al Roumi said the Giving Retreat supports the UAE’s mission to build a society based on knowledge and happiness.
“We are keen to build a national consensus on the values of charity and giving, and to bring together our communities to work together,” said Al Mazrui.
anjana@khaleejtimes.com