The Community Development Authority (CDA) in Dubai launched the emirate’s sixth social survey in partnership with Dubai Statistics Center (DSC). The field work for the survey will begin on September 21, 2019, with an aim to promote initiatives, strategies, programs and policies designed to meet the requirements and needs of families and individuals in the community.

H.E Ahmed Abdul Karim Julfar, Director General of the Community Development Authority in Dubai, said: “We are keen to regularly conduct social surveys to measure the performance of Dubai’s social sector; monitor social issues and trends; analyze data and information gathered on community members; and identify their needs and requirements. This helps us to develop effective social programs and services to address these needs and fill in gaps, to build a community-based environment that drives sustainable development.”

“Through this survey, which is conducted regularly every two years, we look forward to building a database of social performance indicators in the emirate that will contribute to planning process for the future. It also helps us to design social policies to further improves community services; to come up with solutions to achieve community happiness; and to ensure the best levels of progress to benefit the entire community members. In cooperation with the Dubai Statistics Center, we will work to harness all capabilities of field teams to collect data and information on both citizens and residents in the emirate, with an aim to shed light on current social issues. We will seek to benefit from the survey results to build a leading social environment, which will enhance Dubai’s competitiveness in various fields, thereby enhancing people’s happiness and satisfaction,” he added.

H.E Arif Al Muhairi, Executive Director of Dubai Statistics Center, said “The survey forms part of the periodical statistical projects in support of planning and decision-making processes. This provides the Authority with sequential and integrated data that allows comparison and identification of performance patterns and improvement levels, to measure the impact of policies and programs aimed at community development. Besides, it helps identify challenges and aspects that require intervention during the next phase.”

“Our partnership with CDA is aimed at achieving integration, continuity and continuous development and reflects the importance of team spirit in joint ventures. This adds to the importance of the survey as an exemplary joint venture model, which has strategic short and medium and long-term returns,” Al Muhairi added.

The survey aims to measure the performance indicators of the social development sector in Dubai, and to identify the social reality in the emirate in general and link it to some demographic, social and economic variables. The survey will build a database on the social situation in the emirate and study the living conditions of 4,000 families and 500 members of labor gatherings in different areas in the emirate.

The sixth social survey will be conducted by a team of 74 members, which includes researchers, field supervisors, auditors and administrators. It will collect detailed data to measure performance indicators to accelerate social development in Dubai, and to ascertain the social reality in the emirate in general. The survey will link them with some demographic, social and economic variables, in addition to establishing databases on the social situation, to be used in the development of strategies, policy formulation and the identification of requirements, needs and opinions of the community, and the evaluation of the effectiveness of related policies and programs. This will in turn help build a database on current social realities, including quantitative data and general views related to the social realities in the emirate. The survey will also identify the living conditions of families of various nationalities in the emirate and will measure the performance indicators of the Dubai Strategic Plan for the social sector and the performance of CDA’s indicators. Social surveys are an effective way to ascertain people’s opinions, values and attitudes on prevailing social issues, trends and relationships, as well as their needs and future aspirations related to the social sector.

The social survey results for the previous years 2017 and 2018 indicated that 98 per cent of locals and 95 per cent of non-locals agree that Dubai is one of the most-preferred places to live. The results of these surveys reflect that Dubai has a superior social environment that makes it one of the best in the world. In general, the survey identified priorities for action and audit procedures to ensure the best outputs for development programs.

CDA continues to provide accurate and reliable information for the development of Dubai’s social sector by conducting primary and secondary social research and continuous monitoring of variables, issues and trends.