The “Dammg with no restraints” initiative, which was launched by the two pioneers of social work in Egypt, Nessma Mohamed Youssef and Yasmin Jamal Abdulkhaliq, qualified to compete in the final evaluation of the fourth edition of the “Arab Ihsan” competition, which will be devoted this year to mental health initiatives. The competition will be held in the Omani capital, Muscat, from the 12th Until the 15th of October, 2022. The competition’s management invited Dammg to participate and present their initiative during the competition, in which delegations from Arab countries will participate for the first time after participation in the last edition was limited to the GCC countries.
The qualification of the “Dammg with no restraints” initiative to participate and compete in the fourth edition of the “Arab Ihsan” Competition for Voluntary Initiatives, comes after the success achieved by the initiative since its launch. This initiative aims to combat bullying against children with disabilities, psychologically rehabilitate their parents to deal with the pressures they face on their journey with their children, in addition to rehabilitating children with special needs psychologically, providing them with support in different ways, and working to integrate them into society in a safe manner that meets their needs and unlimited capabilities.
This year, “Arab Ihsan” will focus on mental health initiatives, which played an important role in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and its direct and indirect effects on people’s mental health. The competition aims to solidify Voluntary the Arab world and their role in the development of societies, and to exchange experiences among the youth of the Arab world.
Engineer Siham Ahmed Al Harthiya, chairperson of the competition’s organizing committee, confirmed: “Arab Ihsan competition has proven over the years the importance of creating a competition for innovative youth in the field of volunteer work, as well as the extent of the importance of these works in developing and motivating young people to think about volunteering in a different way. This led to highlighting different models of ideas and works that haven’t been previously worked on to improve on existing works.”
She stated: “The establishment of such forums enhances the value of volunteer work and its effective role in building nations and civilizations in the hearts of Arab youth,” noting that integrating innovation into volunteer work gives it a different formula to keep pace with society’s future needs, specifically the targetted groups. Adding: “we look with optimism for the sustainability and expansion of this competition internationally to put a clear imprint for the Sultanate in this specific field.
On her end, the pioneer of social work, Nessma Youssef, said: “We received a letter of qualification for our initiative “Dammg with no restraints” with great excitement.” Al-Arabi presented it in this pioneering social forum, and Nessma Youssef thanked and appreciated HE Eng. Siham Ahmed Al Harthiya, Chairperson of the Organizing Committee of the competition, as well as the “Innovators of Oman” campaign and everyone who contributed to launching, supporting and organizing this important social initiative.
She added, “We in Dammg, seek to achieve the societal integration of people with special needs in all fields, not only in Egypt, but in all Arab countries.” She stressed the importance of supporting the concerned authorities, especially the League of Arab States, for such initiatives aimed at integrating people with special needs into society.
In a statement on this occasion, the pioneer of social work, Yasmin Jamal, confirmed the participation of Dammg in the “We Can Differently for people with special needs” celebration, which was organized at Al-Manara Center for International Conferences in New Cairo and attended by the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi December last year, coinciding With the International Day of People with special needs, which has been celebrated by the United Nations since 1992. This event was held in order to support this group in societies and guarantee their rights, in addition to raising awareness among Arab societies of their inclusion in political, economic and cultural life, as well as working to connect them to an inclusive world. “This participation contributed to the success of the initiative. Especially after we had the opportunity to present a simplified presentation about the initiative and its objectives to President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi,” adding “President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s praise of the initiative motivated us to work with determination to launch new initiatives targeting this dear group to all of us, who have talents as well as special needs and we will give them all our support in order to integrate them into our societies.”
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