Muscat, Jan 12 - Since the onset of the blessed renaissance, His Majesty Sultan Qaboos had strongly emphasised on the need to focus on plans and programmes that enhanced the living conditions of Omani citizens. These directives paved the way for significant progress towards achieving most of the Millennium Development Goals at the time and enabled the Sultanate to move forward steadily and confidently.
This became possible thanks to the Sultan’s clear vision and a steadfast political will to defeat the fundamental causes of poverty through various programmes that successfully tackled them.
As a result, the Sultanate has been ranked today among high-level income countries and is an inspiring model for investment in human capital and infrastructure of the knowledge development necessary to deliver socio-economic sustainability.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) puts Oman in the high human development category (0.8-1.0), with a Human Development Index value of 0.821 in 2018 on a scale of 0 to 1, which positions it 5th among Arab countries and 48th out of 189 countries globally.
In light of these facts and developments, it becomes evident that the Sultanate has moved above the international poverty line, and is therefore not subject to the sustainable development goal’s poverty indicators as it is now far beyond that phase.
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 including the private sector.
These systems provide primarily protection against aging, disability (including work injuries), and death, together with other benefits.
Such insurance protection is extended to cover Omanis working in public and private institutions outside of the Sultanate.
Aside from these social insurance systems, the government has put in place other programmes that secure the right of all individuals to a proper level of justice and equity, particularly those in need.
These programmes include schemes against poverty aiming at enhancing living conditions such as the Social Security Programme that supports persons with difficult social situations, namely widows; orphans; divorced, unmarried, and abandoned females; incapacitated individuals; elderly; and families of prisoners.
The Social Security Programme disburses monthly cash assistance pursuant to the Social Security Law of 1984 and its amendments, which stipulate the allocation of monthly salaries to households and individuals in case of absence of a person to support them or a source of adequate income.
In addition to monthly cash assistance, beneficiary households and individuals are eligible to other benefits, including academic grants and scholarships in Oman and abroad, housing and financial assistance in the case of emergencies and disasters, and exemption from public utility charges.
Housing programmes have also been developed by the Sultanate in order to ensure adequate housing to society members, by building housing units for persons with limited income and providing them with housing assistance and concessional housing loans.
The primary aim is to ensure that these persons have access to decent livelihoods and appropriate housing in proximity to their villages to enable them to carry out their socio-economic activities and contribute to the development of local communities.
The governmental service units in collaboration with both private and civil sectors build housing units and provide housing assistance and housing loans and they ensure houses maintenance and rehabilitation services for the beneficiaries of the social security, persons with disabilities, elderlies and low-income individuals.
The Social Action Strategy 2016-2025 was devised by the Ministry of Social Development in order to address the challenges explained above. It brings a change in the prevailing perception of cash assistance as a hindrance to economic growth to one that views cash assistance as a catalyst of growth, by reducing inequalities and alleviating destitution.
The strategy perceives cash assistance provided for social protection and development purposes as a principal direct contributor to economic growth. In this spirit, it focuses on enhancing channels that affect economic growth by supporting the labour market and increasing the involvement of women, youth and other categories that face difficulties, preventing their contribution to the national economy.
Oman 2040 Vision lays down the necessary tenets and directions to build a comprehensive system of social protection linked with the macro-economy, while bringing about social integration and contributing to social stability.
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