The Department of Community Development (DCD) in Abu Dhabi organised a ceremony to honour the best winning concepts on the ‘Wyakom’ platform, an online platform to address existing social challenges and devise solutions for them. The ceremony was held in the presence of H.E. Dr. Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili, Chairman of DCD and H.E Eng. Hamad Ali Al Dhaheri, Undersecretary at DCD, along with a group of executive directors, at the Marriott Hotel Al Forsan.
During the ceremony, the nine ideas which had advanced to the final round were announced, including: the ‘Well-Being bank’ that is based on the principle of solidary time exchanges where people can devote their time for services they are skilled at, and loan time in the form of services they require. The primary objective is to enhance a sense of self-worth and social support and boost their well-being; the ‘Senior’s Recreation & Activity Centre’ which is dedicated to senior citizens and the residents. This Centre's mission is to organise a range of social, recreational, and training programs, as well as to offer them services and activities with their loved ones; ‘Volunteer Emirati staff in hospitals to help senior citizens’ is an innovative concept which aims at guiding, monitoring, and facilitating the elderly through their medical checkups and providing them a better understanding of the medical instructions and procedures; ‘Rewarding increased physical activity or weight loss achieved by members in schools’ is a program for promoting physical fitness and a healthier lifestyle among children in schools; ‘Life Coaching for Seniors and Families’ is an intellectual digital platform and application that connects seniors and family members individually or as a group with life coaches to maintain their subjective well-being; ‘POD to Lead Community Support Sessions’, which proposes Khalifa City to host regular community support sessions led by people of determination, to provide people of determination opportunities for empowerment;. the ‘Community Hub: for the community by the community’ aims to host social events that encourages social connectivity; ‘Enhancing bus stops in Khalifa City’ proposes upgrading several bus stops to be more modern, sustainable and secure; ‘Community Garden: a way to nurture the social connection’, aims to embrace social connectivity by providing more opportunities for family get-togethers and implementing various events and activities for all community members.
Furthermore, the ceremony lauded the three winning concepts. The winner of the first place, Dr Patricia Fidalgo, proposed the ‘Well-Being Bank’, which aims to encourage people to donate an hour of their time delivering a service which they are skilled at in return of the services they require. Any person can either donate or borrow from the “well-being bank” by donating time to perform the tasks they can do and borrow time services they need based on solidary time exchange. The winner of the second place, Sarah Alnahdi, proposed the idea which focuses on appointing Emirati volunteers in hospitals to serve senior Emirati citizens and residents by assisting them in understanding medical instructions as well as medical procedures, as most of the hospitals lack Arabic-speaking doctors and medical staff. This concept is aimed at making Khalifa city the first to serve senior Emirati citizens through Emirati volunteers. The winner of the third place, Suzan Safah, proposed “Rewarding increased physical activity or weight loss achieved by members in schools”. The aim of this program is to inspire and reward children in preliminary grades to practice physical activity and benefit from a more active and healthier lifestyle.
Together with its partners in the public, social, private, and third sectors, the DCD will provide complete support to put these winning ideas into practice. This is consistent with its mission to offer a high-quality standard of living for all community members as well as to advance the role of Wyakom Platform in boosting community members' involvement in bringing about beneficial impacts for the community's well-being.