UAE: FNC calls for regulating volunteering, documenting work hours

Regulating volunteer work through the establishment of a federal database to support individuals, government officials and civil institutions will be among the important items on the agenda of the UAE's Federal National Council (FNC) when it meets on Wednesday.

Dhirar Hamid Belhoul Al Falasi, Chairman of the FNC committee on Social Affairs, Labour, Population and Human Resources, said his committee has adopted 13 parliamentary recommendations in its final report on the issue of “regulating volunteer work” which will be part of the meeting of the members.

Among the major recommendations is the documenting of volunteering work and hours at the federal level.

Al Falasi pointed out that the committee also highlighted the importance of incorporating the concepts of online volunteering and its importance in the curricula of all educational stages.

The recommendations aim at spreading and encouraging the culture of volunteering, while raising awareness of its importance and harmonising the outputs of voluntary work in the UAE.

The committee also recommended that the ministry sets up annual targets with performance indicators for activities and operational programmes that achieve the strategic goal of establishing a culture of volunteering in society to enhance a culture for it and raise awareness of its importance. This is in line with the "UAE Centennial 2071" towards building a more cohesive society.

The committee also recommended establishing measurement indicators for preparing and publishing studies and reports on volunteer work.

The FNC member explained that the committee made four observations on government authorities organising volunteering work at the state level. The first was the limited operational activities for increasing the number of citizens registered on volunteer platforms.

“This has led to the low awareness among individuals about the importance of volunteering, and the inability to evaluate and develop volunteer work to serve members of society,” he said.

Another observation is the absence of strategic initiatives and programmes to spread the culture of e-volunteering by educating members of the society using social media and voluntary institutions of the power of IT in various aspects of development, including volunteer work.

The third observation, according to Al Falasi, is the absence of results for the indicators measuring specialised volunteering programmes, as well as the failure of all volunteer teams to be registered in the official volunteering platform. “This has led to the multiplicity of bodies supervising volunteering work and the dispersion of the efforts of individuals and institutions,” he said.

The fourth observation was the absence of results of indicators measuring training and rehabilitation programmes to enable volunteers refine their abilities and skills, Al Falasi added.

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