Dr. Hala Al-Tuwaijri, Secretary-General of the Family Affairs Council, revealed that they are looking at implementing plans in the Kingdom’s regions that outline important priorities for the Saudi family in the next five years. “The implementation plan is not a single template, but it is possible to come up with a general methodology that takes into account the needs of each region,” she said.
The Family Affairs Council held an introductory workshop yesterday in Riyadh for family affairs committees in the regions, aimed at introducing the family affairs committees in the regions to their roles and tasks in enhancing the status of the Saudi family and empowering it, and diagnosing its current reality in preparation for drawing a future strategy that enables it to perform its roles in an exemplary manner by knowing the family development needs of each region and the challenges facing families in all regions of the Kingdom.
Dr. Hala Al-Tuwaijri said during the workshop: We cannot come up with a strategy for the Council without a mechanism that deals with all regions, so we will work with the regional committees to achieve the goals and mission of the Council. We look forward to getting feedback from the heads and members of the committees in all regions about the governance mechanism and the needs of the committees, explaining that one of the roles of the Council is to coordinate with the committees to draw recommendations and methodologies and activate them in each region through universities, partner institutions and associations, and there are committees overseen by the Ministry of Labor and Social Development and non-profit institutions that are tools that must be activated and accessible through the committees in the regions.
She ruled out duplication of work and tasks, saying: “Because the council aims to draw implementation plans and not implementation itself, and when any recommendation is submitted, it must be accompanied by an implementation mechanism and indicators, and then comes the role of monitoring the implementation of the relevant authorities.” For his part, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior for Regional Affairs Khalid Al-Ghamlas stated that the family is the cornerstone of the proper construction of society, and taking care of its affairs is a great mission that requires us to govern the work and concerted efforts to provide the best, as the Ministry of Interior focuses on the efforts made in this direction and supports them from all sectors.
The workshop reviewed the draft childhood strategy presented by Dr. Ghada Al-Subaie, head of the Childhood Committee, and stated that the Council completed the strategy by working with 33 government agencies, and it took a year and two months and focused on defining childhood by studying all studies and statistics related to children, and stated that the core issues that concern children were identified, where they reached 15 issues. Dr. Lana bin Saeed, head of the Women’s Committee, presented an overview of the Saudi Women’s Roadmap project, which was adopted at the third session of the Council, and in conclusion, the workshop focused on the methodology of analyzing family developmental needs to come up with the most important challenges and solutions and the best methodology and mechanism for activation, in addition to listing the partner agencies and the role of the committee in each region.
