DUBAI- Hessa Bint Essa Buhumaid, Minister of Community Development, stressed that the directives of the UAE leadership in the 50th year and COVID-19 pandemic recovery year promote the vision of improving wellbeing and community, thus, overcoming challenges and achievements within the next fifty years to achieve the goals of the UAE 2071 centennial.
This was announced after she chaired the first meeting of the Wellbeing Council for the current year 2021, which was held remotely to review the World Happiness Report 2021 and attended by several officials from relevant federal and government authorities to the happiness and wellbeing sector as well as executive councils.
The council is a platform to promote government coordination and integration and achieve the UAE leadership directives in this regard.
The agenda of the meeting highlighted the national wellbeing strategic plan 2031, the roadmap for the current year, and the mechanism for monitoring the implementation and marketing of the initiatives.
During the meeting, the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre reviewed the results of the 2021 World Happiness Report of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network Initiative entitled "Knowledge for Prosperity", based on the Gallup Global Survey on the assessment of people’s wellbeing and happiness on a scale of 0 to 10 degrees. This year's report is exceptional due to the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Gallup Global Report also showed a rise of 7.37 percent in the level of living satisfaction among UAE citizens in 2020 compared to 6.74 percent during 2019.
Buhumaid instructed the members of the council all over the UAE to put an improvement plan that enhances the UAE's progress in the global living satisfaction index and achieves the UAE government's vision of providing the best wellbeing for the community through initiatives and projects that serve all the members of the of society, citizens and residents alike, and by focusing on areas including economic security, social networking, mental health and physical health.
She also announced the appointment of Ammar Al Muaini as the Secretary-General of the Wellbeing Council and chair of the executive team.
About the latest development in the wellbeing national strategic plan 2031, she stressed the importance of updating the objectives to keep pace with the current circumstances and the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic and achieve the aspirations, strategies and visions of the leadership towards recovery during the next phase.
The objectives of the strategic plan include three basic objectives with 13 detailed pillars: first: "Achieve an advanced country and sustainable cities that support wellbeing and livelihood to lead proactive development and opportunities"; second: "build strong and cohesive families in a coherent community with values of tolerance, giving and community participation", and third: "encourage individuals with active, positive, meaningful and responsible healthy lives".
The goals of the first pillar include economic and social development that creates opportunities and enhances living standards, ensuring flexible and reliable government systems and services, designing and developing facilities, infrastructure, housing and transportation systems that support wellbeing, promoting lifestyles and practices that contribute to the preservation of the environment and natural resources to ensure sustainability for present and future generations, and encourage cultural and recreational wellbeing supporting activities.
The goals of the second pillar are: promote wellbeing, family cohesion and social relations, encourage the adoption of wellbeing in learning and working environments, promote the values of giving, cooperation, solidarity and community service, promote digital wellbeing, encourage wellbeing and positive purposeful digital communities.
The goals of the third pillar of the national wellbeing strategy are: Encourage individuals with active, positive, meaningful and responsible lives, promote a healthy and active lifestyle, enhance good mental health and adopt positive thinking as a core value to build good life skills.
As part of the agenda of this year's meeting, the council's roadmap will include several initiatives to enrich the community projects and behaviours that support wellbeing, regular meetings, virtual wellbeing seminars, community design wellbeing centres, preparation of the annual wellbeing initiatives report, and preparation for the national wellbeing survey 2022.
Buhumaid directed the members of the council to prepare a marketing plan to circulate the wellbeing initiatives and achieve the best positive results among the community.
© Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2021.
