Dubai’s Crown Prince seeks ‘strong partnerships’ to promote corporate social responsibility
Dubai’s Executive Council adopted new policies aimed at encouraging corporate social responsibility among private sector companies at a meeting held at Expo 2020 Dubai on 6 December. Council chairman Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum called for “strong partnerships” between the public and private sectors.
“The concept of social responsibility represents the commitment of companies to enhance the wellbeing and happiness of the community,” said the Crown Prince. “Strong partnerships with the private sector, which is a strategic partner in our development journey, is vital to accelerate our development plans.”
The newly introduced social responsibility policy seeks to raise the role of companies and private establishments in social and economic development and inspire private companies to contribute to the community. The policy also seeks to align their projects and contributions with the priorities set by the government.
“Many private sector institutions have proven over the years that they are responsible towards the community and are capable of fulfilling their social responsibilities. The most recent example is the collaboration between the private sector and the Dubai government during the pandemic through the Community Solidarity Fund, to which the private sector contributed more than AED356 million,” added Sheikh Hamdan.
A Community Development Authority (CDA) survey found that 67% of companies’ social responsibility initiatives were in the field of education, while 63% contributed to environmental causes and 58% to empowering people of determination. The CDA is responsible for setting up and developing frameworks for social development in Dubai and aims to achieve the goals set under the Dubai Strategic Plan 2015 by raising the levels of social development in Dubai and enhancing the role of nationals in society.
The Executive Council also approved Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority’s (RTA) joint mobility plan and an electric scooter policy designed to support the use of sustainable transport.
The joint mobility plan, which covers the individual’s journey from the ‘first mile’, highlights various means of transportation provided by the RTA to take users to the ‘last mile’ of their journeys. It aims to increase the use of public transportation to reach about 35.5% of total sustainable mobility by 2026.
As part of the plan, Dubai is seeking to develop multiple means of joint transportation that can be integrated with the public transportation system, and the RTA has begun a trial run of several initiatives, including the use of electric scooters. Surveys revealed an 82% satisfaction rate in the use of electric scooters in key areas of Dubai. A total of 390,000 electric scooter journeys were made during the period from October 2020 to June 2021.
