Social progress is essential to the development of any nation. In the Sultanate of Oman, the Ministry of Social Development seeks to develop its programmes, activities, and services to be directed to various segments of society so that each individual can invest his full potential to achieve an adequate standard of living in the light of a cohesive family and a prosperous society.
The programmes of support, empowerment, rehabilitation and training provided by the ministry to the families and individuals are done in partnership with the relevant authorities in accordance with the mechanisms and services of protection and social care within a framework of sustainable development integration and within targeted social priorities, plans and policies.
The social welfare sector includes various programmes and services provided by the ministry to groups and cases in need of care and assistance. This aims to enable and provide a decent life for them. The cases benefiting from the social security pension reached 72,675 by the end of 2021, for which an amount of RO 109,828,261 was disbursed. The total number of individuals benefiting from the social security pension reached 129,475.
As disaster aid, a total amount of RO 94,002 was disbursed to 365 people in 2021 under the social security system, while RO 129,789 was provided to 451 people from the low-income category.
As part of the ministry’s efforts to employ members of social security families and persons with disabilities during the year 2021, job opportunities were created for (114) members of social security families and the like and for (12) persons with disabilities.
Being an integral part of Omani society, the elderly have their share of care and attention. The Social Welfare House in Al Rustaq has a number of elderly people - especially - those who do not have a breadwinner from their relatives to take care of them, serve them and meet their life needs. The number of inmates in this house until the end of 2021 reached 45 (34 males, 11 females). On the other hand, the number of elderly people benefiting from social services through the home care programme provided stood at 3,308 — 1,563 males and 1,745 females.
To enable, rehabilitate and care for persons with disabilities, to rely on themselves in managing their lives, the ministry offers a range of different welfare programmes and social services for this category, including the “Vocational Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center” which aims to care and rehabilitate persons with mental disabilities who are eligible for vocational rehabilitation.
The number of those enrolled in the centre’s programmes until the end of 2021 reached 58, including 31 males and 27 females. The “Al-Aman Rehabilitation Center” also provides its entrants with a number of social, health, rehabilitation, psychological and therapeutic services. Until the end of 2021, the total number of children enrolled in the centre reached 315, including 204 males and 111 females.
There are also “Al-Wafa Centers for the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities” that aim to care for children with disabilities between the ages of (2-14) years of both genders who suffer from various simple and medium mental disabilities, hearing disabilities and motor disabilities. The number of those enrolled in these centres reached 2,590 people, 1,551 of which are males and 1,039 females, distributed over 27 centres in the various governorates of the Sultanate of Oman.
Last September, the Ministry of Social Development signed six memoranda of understanding to “promote and provide training, rehabilitation and operational services for persons with disabilities” in the Sultanate of Oman; in order to promote the objectives of social responsibility through the “Be With Us For Them” initiative to support and empower persons with disabilities.
In its first year, the “Be With Us For Them” initiative aims to train 100 people with mental, visual, simple and moderate hearing disabilities, ranging in age from 18 to 40 years, for 36 weeks. The training will be in a number of jobs that are commensurate with their abilities in a number of private sector institutions in the areas of customer service, office management, document printing and photocopying, and electronic archiving.
This comes to achieve a number of the objectives, including participating in the realisation of the “Oman Vision 2040” , encouraging the main sectors in the Sultanate of Oman to actively participate in achieving the strategic goals of the national priorities concerning with strengthening support for social responsibility, investing in creative ideas of the human resources and competencies that the Sultanate of Oman abounds in.
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