11,000 volunteers and 2 million man-hours contribute to the successes of “Nashami Aseer”
The “Aseer Nashama” initiative is responsible for the development of volunteer services in the Aseer region, in addition to raising social awareness about volunteering.
The initiative was launched by the Corona Crisis Management Chamber under the aegis of His Highness Prince Turki bin Talal, Prince of Aseer. The Chamber took necessary measures to contain the Coronavirus outbreak by employing citizens and using their ideas and contributions to help those in need. These initiatives are in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, spearheaded by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.
The first phase of this program lasted for six months and received more than 11,000 registrations from volunteers contributing more than two million hours. This led to a financial benefit of more than 7,800,000 riyals across 11 projects.
This kickstarted the launch of the ”Technical Volunteer” project, which targeted 413 families in the region. 798 volunteers helped families maintain their homes during quarantine for free. Meanwhile, the “Stay Safe” initiative targeted communities residing in the Aseer region, by spreading awareness, offering health programs, and translating instructions issued by government agencies in multiple languages. 46 advocacy and guidance associations in the region participated in this initiative.
The projects that emerged from the Aseer Nashama initiative varied from “visual sorting”, “municipal support”, “medical manufacturing”, “rationalization”, “volunteer traveler” and “health hour”, to “community health awareness”, and hemodialysis which undertook dialysis costs for those affected financially by the pandemic.
Under the Births of Aser initiative, 98 local farmers exhibited their products in the ‘Aseer Summer’ event to recuperate financial losses incurred during the pandemic. It also gave them an opportunity to enroll and participate in many training and educational workshops in their fields.
The ‘Neighborhood Project’ brought together 6,500 volunteers from over 77 social development committees in the region, who implemented 12 initiatives, each representing a sample of the region’s strategic trends in the areas of land, people and economy. The volunteers in the initiative worked on 900 development projects, ranging from reviving heritage villages and opening old roads, to restoring and lighting mosques. Participations benefitted tremendously by working with experienced volunteers who developed strategic plans to restore heritage areas.
The “Nashami Aseer” initiative covered a diverse range of projects — health, environment, agriculture, economy, tourism, heritage, charitable and educational works. It went on to motivate Aseer’s youth to enrol for these initiatives and contribute to the society’s betterment. Several plans were put in place to define the region’s strategy in managing volunteer projects through practical methodology.