DUBAI // Volunteering to aid social welfare groups is abysmally low in Dubai, the Community Development Authority survey has shown.
Compared to highs of 47 per cent in Canada, 44 per cent in the UK, 36 per cent in Australia and 32.2 per cent in Singapore, Dubai registered only 2.9 per cent.
The 2013-14 survey used other OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries as a benchmark.
The findings showed that people need to be encouraged to contribute to society, said Khaled Al Kamda, director general of CDA.
“Being a good citizen does not mean only looking after your family and yourself, there is a responsibility to the country and to give back to society whether it is engineers or doctors,” he said.
“Culture and understanding of volunteering plays a big role. The Europeans are used to giving time to society, that is part of their culture. Although giving is embedded in our culture, volunteering is new. People can give time to help people with disability, help the elderly, work in campaigns.”
Youth should be the focus of attempts to raise interest in volunteering.
“Youth are the engine for change,” Mr Al Kamda said. “Volunteering is important for all ages but our focus at the CDA and through the Dubai Centre for Volunteering is to encourage youth. By 2020 we will need 30,000 volunteers to help the Government in hosting the Expo and that is something we are working on from now. It is an issue we have to address. Creating opportunity for people to volunteer and making them aware will be important.”
The survey was conducted from October to December last year covering 15,077 people including 1,328 Emirati households.
Dr Tarik Ibrahim, director of the CDA’s research and policy department, said it took each person more than an hour to answer a total of 700 questions in the survey.
The last survey was conducted in 2011 and the first in 2007.
rtalwar@thenational.ae
