Prince Majid Society for Development and Social Services to hold 2nd Social Development Forum

The 2^nd Social Development Forum organized by The Society of Majid bin Abdulaziz for Development and Social Services will take place June 4 to 6, 2011(Rajab 2 to 4,1432H) under the patronage of HRH Prince Khalid al-Faisal, Prince of the Makkah region. The theme of this year’s forum is “From charitable to sustainable activating partnerships.”

Participants will include prominent local and international leaders in social development who will share their experience and expertise with other attendees in order to further develop strategies and plan a sustainable development process to improve the lives of the individual in the society.

The first session of the forum achieved unprecedented success and the resulting recommendations have been translated into practical input thanks to the attention of the Governing Council of the Assembly, which closely followed up the recommendations to ensure that they were implemented on the ground.

HRH Prince Mishal bin Majid bin Abdulaziz, President of the Governing Council of the Assembly and the President of the Forum stated that: “The Prince Majid Society for Development and Social Services does not look at development as mere ideas and visions, but sees it as an integrated cultural behavior pattern starting with every individual and reaching to the top of the social pyramid.”

His Royal Highness went on to make the point that in order to make effective breakthroughs in social causes it is necessary to engage all relevant governmental and non-governmental organizations and non-profit organizations, saying: “Working together, our goal is to achieve a state of ongoing cooperation by which everyone can contribute their experience to the sustainable development of a society where every individual has the right to a decent standard of living.”.

“One of the most important recommendations of the first forum was to hold workshops and lectures to show the participants how to change the concept of social development and we are in constant communication with private entities and governmental non-profit organizations to consolidate the concept of sustainable development as a strategy for the institutions, the nation and the citizens’ best interests.

The forum considers one of its most important objectives is to address the role of voluntary social work and the implementation of initiatives aimed at promoting social development to attain a consolidated society in which individuals who have attained better living standards want to help others achieve the same goal. The forum also seeks to establish the concept of individual empowerment through each person discovering their own capabilities and fulfilling their potential without reliance on others.  

This year's forum focuses on the idea of transition from charitable to sustainable by activating partnerships in multiple directions to enhance capacity-building and improve the performance of non-profit sector, in order to implement development projects complemented with charitable aims that are aligned with the National Development Plan and the UN Millennium Development Goals,

The forum is organized every two years by The Society of Majid bin Abdulaziz for Development and Social Services, a non-profit social work organization, which in 2010 (1431) was honored by being named the leading non-profit organization in sustainable development.  This award was presented during the 27^th session of the Council of Ministers of Social Affairs in the Gulf Cooperation Council.  The same year, the Society issued its first annual sustainability report, based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which is one of the world's most widely recognized standards for sustainability reporting, becoming the first non-profit organization in the Kingdom to issue a sustainability report.

This report shows the Society’s performance in the application of sustainability in all its operations through focusing on major issues and taking into account the priorities of the stakeholders. This report will be prepared as a basis for measuring the sustainability performance of the Assembly in the coming years.