Charity refers to a quality or virtue of unlimited love and kindness, and a conscious and unconditional practice of benevolent giving and caring. It is carried out selflessly, it is a one-way act where a person gives but asks for nothing in return.
Since 2012, September 5 has been celebrated as International Day of Charity to help those in need through philanthropic activities. The day facilitates social bonding with a focus on creating a common platform for charity across the world.
The day was officially declared by the UN General Assembly to commemorate the death anniversary of renowned missionary and Nobel laureate Mother Teresa, whose life was synonymous with charity. She worked tirelessly for the people who are in need, to overcome the poverty, distress, and suffering of the poorest in the world.
While the day puts focus on the power of community, promotes the rights of the marginalised and underprivileged section of society, and also educates the younger generations about generosity, the United Nations wants the world to know about the need to eliminate the effects of humanitarian crises and to help in promoting education, housing, and child protection.
Charity, like the notions of volunteerism and philanthropy, provides real social bonding and contributes to the creation of inclusive and more resilient societies. Charity can alleviate the worst effects of humanitarian crises, and supplement public services in healthcare, education, housing, and child protection.
The International Day of Charity 2022 theme is also announced by the United Nations every year to push the agenda of sustainable development with the governments around the world.
Significantly, the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development that was adopted in September envisages “a world of universal respect for human rights and human dignity, the rule of law, justice, equality, and non-discrimination”.
The Agenda’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals emphasise the responsibilities of all countries to respect, protect and promote human rights. There is a strong emphasis on the empowerment of women and vulnerable groups such as children, young people, and persons with disabilities, older persons, refugees, internally displaced persons, and migrants.
Defined, devised, and fully owned by countries after the broadest and most intensive global multi-stakeholder consultation in history, the SDGs are the main reference for development policies and programmes at the national level.
Seven years have passed since the Agenda 2030 was announced. During these years, the Sultanate of Oman has resolutely endeavoured to honour its international commitment to achieving these goals by 2030 by integrating the latter into its long-term strategies and short and medium-term plans and programmes, whilst relying on the United Nations 2030 Agenda as a central pillar.
The Oman Vision 2040 and five-year plans and strategies, all underscore the fact that the country takes the agenda seriously and had devised the necessary policies, initiatives, and programmes to ensure the achievement of desired goals by the internationally agreed deadline
Oman’s determination to achieve the goals and targets constitutes a natural extension of the values and principles of sustainability, equality, justice, peace, engagement, and “leaving no one behind” that have been deeply rooted in Omani society since its inception. This reality is reflected in the Basic Statute of the country, which has always been a reference framework for all development plans and programmes in the Sultanate of Oman.
Since the onset of the blessed Renaissance in 1970, the Omani government focused on plans and programmes that enhance the living conditions of citizens. The Royal directives in this regard paved the way for significant progress towards achieving most of the Millennium Development Goals at the time and enabled the country to move forward steadily and confidently towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
As a result, Oman is ranked today among high-level income countries and incarnates an inspiring model of focus on investment in human capital and infrastructure of the knowledge development necessary to deliver socio-economic sustainability.
The social protection scheme in Oman encompasses an array of programmes and policies such as retirement and social insurance systems that are tailored to fit every sector in the country.
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