Advisor to Custodian of Two Holy Mosques, Emire of Makkah HRH Prince Khalid Al-Faisal witnessed signing of cooperation agreement between Umm Al-Qura University and the Social Development Committee of Makkah region council inked by UQU President Dr. Bakri bin M'atooq Assas and the member of the committee Dr. Hashim bin Bakr Hariri. The agreement aimed at taking advantage of university's scientific and research capacities.

At the sideline of the signing ceremony, Prince Khalid Al-Faisal who serves also as the Chairman of Board of Directors of Makkah Council, launched the workshop of “Setting the social needs of the region, issues and solutions, in light of the Kingdom Vision 2030", organized by social development committee in Makkah council in the presence of 60 specialist participants from all relevant authorities.

For his part, the Advisor to the Emir of Makkah Region and Secretary-General of the Makkah Region Development Authority Dr. Hisham bin Abdulrahman Al-Faleh; praised the significant concern attached by Prince Khalid Al-Faisal to development in the region and the boundless support provided by his excellency to the efforts exerted by different parties endeavoring to contribute to the development in the region. He also lauded the significant role played by the non-profit sectors organizations in boosting development wheel and contributing to addressing social challenges and phenomena in Makkah. He then referred to the importance of holding the workshop of "Setting the social needs of the region, issues and solutions, in light of the Kingdom Vision 2030", at this time to figure out the main needs and negative phenomena at the level of the region.

Within the same vein, UQU President Dr. Bakri Assas valued support and directives of the Advisor to Custodian of Two Holy Mosques Prince Khalid Al-Faisal to achieve comprehensive development in Makkah region, labeling the agreement as part of the social resistibility undertaken by the university to serve Makkah and its community. He added that the agreement is intended to take advantage of the university's scientific capacity, cooperate in setting studies and conducting research, design and providing training programs, workshops and developmental courses.

The workshop of "Setting the social needs of the region, issues and solutions, in light of the Kingdom Vision 2030", which was held in the presence of the UQU Vice President for Development and Entrepreneurship Dr. Hani bin Osman Ghazi, came as part of the Makkah region strategy based on two pillars of human building and place development and adopted its visions and objectives within the Kingdom Vision 2030. To that effect, the social development committee was fashioned in its new session to achieve three main goals including; finding solutions for negative social phenomena in the region, contributing to institutionalizing social work in the region and achieving sustainable development.

The workshop witnessed participation of more than 60 experts specialized in the fields of thought, culture and knowledge according to the relevant specialties. Those participants have contributed with their proposals and ideas in the following streams: (social security, life pattern, social welfare, community empowerment). Each stream includes several issues and their practical solutions. These solutions were presented by each participating member in his submitted paper so as to reach the results which will be studied by the committee in the coming period and then to be added to the achievements of Makkah emirate in the field of human building and place development.

The participants in the workshop put classification for 16 problems representing the most common social practices in the region. These problems were discussed in the four streams of the workshop including; social security, social welfare, community empowerment, life pattern”. Each stream witnessed participation of 14 members in addition to heads and managers of the sessions. A methodology was set to manage sessions of the workshops by rolling out significant secondary data of each social issue. This issue was classified and analyzed then solutions and means of treatment were set to come out with specific results. To that end, the workshop adopted Bottom-Top-Approach which is reckoned the most successful in the developmental planning of domestic communities.

The session of the first stream titled “Social security” was headed by former president of the Islamic University in Al-Madinah Dr. Mohamed Ali Al-Aqla. In this session, the participant tackled the issues of traffic safety, Narcotics, harassment, violence and terrorism.

While the consultant and associate professor in the College of Computer and Information Technology at King Abdul-Aziz University in Jeddah Dr. Adnan bin Mustafa Al-Bar headed the second stream of life pattern which discussed the issue of lack of exercising, entertainment, community needs, improper nutrition and e-addiction. In the session of the third stream titled “social welfare”, headed by former Minister of Education Dr. Mohamed Al-Osiami, the participants tackled four main issues including financial illiteracy, proper housing, family disintegration, and self-happiness.

While the participants in the 4th stream “community empowerment”, headed by member of Jeddah Chamber of Commerce Mrs. Sara Baghdadi, tackled the issues of activating role of domestic communities, community volunteering, community assets, and women empowerment.

The workshop endeavored to achieve four main objectives including; defining gaps in establishing new societies in Makkah region, define its social projects and program’s needs, creating negative social phenomena database, documenting rules and government procedures with private sector for the integration of social development and care projects and the field of providing care for people with special needs,