الدور التنموي للجمعيات ذات النفع العام في دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة : استطلاع رأي عينة من طلبة جامعة الإمارات

الملخص EN

Since the beginning of the nineties of the last century, the talk about the need for civil society institutions to participate with the state in the developmental process has increased, and this sparked a controversy among those interested in developmental issues; while some agreed to the participatory role of these civil society institutions and considered it a necessity, especially in the light of the globalization of economy, politics and culture, others disagreed, stressing that development process is the sole responsibility of the state.

The study attempts to address this controversial issue and raises some questions related to the participatory role of development between the state and civil society institutions.

These questions include: To what extent it can be said that the community need is what encourages voluntary work?; is active community participation linked to the presence of the non-profit organizations, or is it primarily linked to how entrenched the values of giving and volunteering in community culture?; to what extent it can be said that the non-profit organizations in the UAE are partners in bringing about development?; and what can be done to mobilize government and community efforts to push forward the development process?.

The study was based on a poll of a sample of a group of students and their parents, and the results of the questionnaire explained the need to highlight the important role of the non-profit organizations in the community in order to create a social culture, which embraces these associations.

In addition, the result also showed how educational curricula lacked materials related to voluntary work, therefore failed to introduce the young to the importance of community role of the non-profit organizations.

The study concluded that it is important to unite government and community efforts in order to strengthen the development partnership between the state and non-profit organizations, either through enhancing awareness efforts about the community developmental role of the non-profit organizations, or by reconsidering the relevance of these associations to the society including all age groups or by creating new ways to attract the youth to participate in voluntary work.