Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairperson of the Sharjah Baby-Friendly Office, SBFO, has issued an administrative order to form a steering committee to oversee the implementation of the emirate’s strategy to join the global ‘Child-Friendly Cities’ initiative, launched by the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF.

SBFO’s new steering committee comprises Sheikha Jameela bint Mohammad Al Qasimi, Director-General of Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services; Sheikh Mohammed bin Humaid Al Qasimi, Director of the Department of Statistics and Community Development; Mohammad Hassan Khalaf, Director-General of Sharjah Media Corporation; Tariq Saeed Allay, Director of Sharjah Government Media Bureau; Khalid Al Ali, Secretary-General of Sharjah Urban Planning Council, and Dr. Hessa Khalfan Al Ghazal, Executive-Director of the SBFO.

Other members of the committee include Ali Al Hosani, Secretary-General of Sharjah Education Council; Fatima Ali Al Muhairi, Member of Sharjah Consultative Council; Hanadi Saleh Al Yafei, Department Director of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs and Head of the Organising Committee of the Child Safety Campaign; Kahwla Sharif Al Haway, Projects Manager at Rubu’ Qarn Foundation, and Kholoud Al Nuaimi, Director of the Social Licenses Directorate at Sharjah Social Services Department.

SBFO’s steering committee will be tasked with ensuring cooperation and coordination between all directorates, departments and entities pertinent to children and young adults, as well as following-up on the implementation of Sharjah’s strategic plan, which forms part of its project to join the Child-Friendly Cities initiative. The committee’s purview is also to ensure that all guidelines and procedures relevant to the project are carried out in an optimum way, with the committee entitled to appoint representatives of other entities temporarily or permanently as needed.

With the aim of achieving its objectives, the committee will regularly meet once a month until the emirate’s successful accreditation by the UNICEF Gulf Area Office as a child-friendly city. After that, the committee will meet quarterly once every three months. It will also prepare a yearly report to outline the project’s progress with recommendations on how to improve the performance and the results to SBFO and the UNICEF Gulf Area Office.

"Our objective of providing a healthy and child-friendly environment aligns first and foremost with the efforts of H.H. Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, and the support of H.H. Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Chairperson of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs, and wife of H.H. the Ruler of Sharjah, to build the capabilities of new generations and to enhance the skills of young people with the aim of enabling them to contribute to building a better and brighter future.

"We are commencing the preparation of programmes and establishing the order of priorities needed to provide children and young adults in Sharjah with all forms of support. We emphasise that in the forthcoming phases of the project, the office will increase the number of the steering committee members to ensure that it comprises representatives of all entities and institutions concerned with children’s and young adults’ issues in the emirate of Sharjah," Dr. Al Ghazal said.