Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Development Ahmed Al-Humaidan

A team of 1,000 volunteers was inducted at the inauguration of the forum on “Developing the nonprofit sector,” which kicked off in Riyadh on Saturday.

Some 900 delegates and 14 speakers from abroad are participating in the four-day forum that is being jointly organized by the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, the MiSK Foundation and the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals to discuss the role of the nonprofit sector in the implementation of Vision 2030.

After the induction ceremony of the new volunteers who will engage in social service throughout the Kingdom, the Ministry of Labor and Social Development called for more volunteers to bolster the present team.

The ceremony also witnessed the signing of two agreements, worth SR2.05 billion, between the Ministry of Labor and Social Development and private charitable bodies that are prepared to fund deserving nonprofit projects.

The first agreement was signed between the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF), the bank of the Social Development Foundation and the Suleiman bin Abdul Aziz Al-Rajhi Charity to create an “empowerment” program and to fund an amount of SR1 billion, and also the grant of a nonrefundable amount of SR150 million for capacity-building and operational support.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Development also signed a strategic partnership with the Social Development Bank and the Suleiman bin Abdul Aziz Al-Rajhi Charity to create a “financial sustainability” program with SR900 million funding to finance nonprofit associations, institutions and committees.

Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Development Ahmed Al-Humaidan said the ministry is committed to the National Transformation Program 2020 to build a strong nonprofit sector and to make it an influential contributor to the achievement of development goals of the vision of the Kingdom.

Speaking to Arab News during a break, Deputy Minister of Social Development Salem Aidini said it is a timely event which is being held in the capital when much is talked about Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Program (NTP). He also said that social investment is one of the topics taken up for discussion and this will identify the areas of operations to be implemented within the framework of the NTP and Vision 2030.

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