The social summer platform organised by the Ministry of Community Development from July until the end of August 2020, witnessed intense interaction between 5,688 participants from several targeted audiences including all family members, especially children, senior Emiratis and people of determination.

The remote initiatives and activities were organised in partnership with several ministries as well as the private sector all over the UAE.

The number of participants in the platform was divided as follows: 720 in the agricultural hub; 450 in the industrial hub; 771 in the social hub; 1,248 in the sports hub; 1,024 in the recycling hub and lastly 1,425 participants in the 50-challenge hub.

The social summer platform comes under the partnership with the “UAE Youth Summer Academy 2020” in the participation of a group of federal, local government authorities and private sector as well as NGOs in line with the requirements of these exceptional circumstances that imposed social distancing for the safety of all the participants.

The ministry has been keen to provide the platform in a remote participatory manner to pave the way for expanding the scope of participation in its various activities, without limiting it to specific regions and emirates, thus accommodating more participants in the absence of the geographical location of any of these programmes.

Saeed Al Khatri, Director of the Ministry’s Social Development Centres said that the participation and interaction of the different community members at the social summer platform reflects the need of members of the community for various cognitive development programmes, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This qualifies them to acquire skills, knowledge and experience. The activities and workshops received a large presence of the age groups from four years to 60 years.

Al Khatri noted that the Ministry of Community Development is very keen to provide self-development methods and individual participation in sustainable development for all community groups through innovative cognitive methods that meet the desires and interests of families in filling their children’s leisure time with what is useful and instil their love of knowledge in the hearts of young people at an early age.