The aim of
celebrating the International Day of Cooperative, which is marked on the first
Saturday of July each year, is to raise awareness about it and shed light on
the integration between the goals of the United Nations (UN) and its purposes,
and the cooperative movement, to highlight the contribution of this movement in
solving the main problems that the UN addresses, and enhance and expand the
scope of partnerships between the movement and the other active authorities,
including governments at the local, national and international levels.
The Ministry of
Social Affairs, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, launched in
2008 the - Cooperative Generations – initiative that establishes the meaning of
cooperation, volunteerism, interdependence, participation, and belonging to the
surrounding environment. The aim of such an initiative is to consolidate the
concepts of social responsibility among students in universities and schools in
the State, and to achieve their common interests through economic activities
based on the principles of cooperation, in addition to reinforcing the
principle of partnership between the educational institutions and the community
agencies related to the cooperative movement, believing in the role of youth in
promoting collaborative work to uphold and strengthen the value of cooperation
among students and raise the cooperative awareness, and introduce them to the
fundamentals and principles of collaborative work through projects that hone their
personality and prepare them to become active members in the community.
The wise leadership
of the UAE always seeks to activate the role of the cooperative movement, and
the consolidation of work by giving associations a larger societal role, so that
the associations contribute in increasing localization, and the integration of
the roles of the federal and local government is in line with the strategy of
the federal government and the Vision of the Abu Dhabi Government 2030, each of
which aims to achieve a decent living and human welfare, and provide
high-quality services, as well as facilitating access to government services
and activating the strategic partnerships between the federal government and
local authorities to improve the services provided to the public. The Food
Security Center - Abu Dhabi- has recently signed a cooperation agreement with
the Ministry of Social Affairs to establish a partnership and activate
cooperation between the two parties, whereby the Ministry of Social Affairs provides
the Food Security Center with the latest data, studies, and statistics related
to the cooperative associations in Abu Dhabi, and the development of its
activities periodically, while the Center raises the public awareness and
educates them about the pivotal role of cooperative societies with the
involvement of associations in these regular campaigns, and taking advantage of them as promotional channels
and a window overlooking a wide audience of citizens and residents.
It is noteworthy
that the process of collaborative work in the UAE, started, at the beginning of
1977, with the establishment of four consumer cooperatives, which are; Societies
of Sharjah, Umm Al Quwain, Fujairah, and Al Dhafra Cooperative Society, and with
a limited number of the founding members of no more than 300 members and a small
capital, and after testing the success of the first experiment of the four
associations , the establishment and publication of many associations took
place year after year, not only the consumer cooperatives, but also the
fishermen cooperatives, and housing cooperatives.
05/07/2014