Participants in the first annual meeting of social security called on institutions and departments in the local, federal and private sectors at the state level to register and participate in the network or electronic connection of the Ministry of Social Development, with the aim of facilitating work in the field of social security assistance, and providing the necessary data for groups eligible for social security, which is a network safety for them. They also called for the necessity of sustaining the resources that feed social security by entities and groups, and the participants focused in their discussion on the necessity of determining the percentages of the increase in the social security request by specific groups and studying the problem that led to changing the percentages and finding out its causes. This came during the first annual meeting of Social Security, which was called for by the Department of Social Services in Sharjah, at the Centro Hotel - Sharjah, with the participation of bodies and institutions concerned with social security and assistance at the Gulf level, with the aim of identifying the mechanisms of work of these agencies and learning about their experiences and benefiting from them, as well as to exchange Experiences and recommendations aimed at improving and developing social security services in light of the challenges resulting from social, economic and life changes in general. Afaf Ibrahim Al Marri, Head of the Social Services Department in Sharjah, Fatima Butti Al Muhairi, Director of the Financial Benefits Department of the Community Development Authority, Salem bin Ali bin Khamis Al Owaisi, Director of the Social Security and Aids Department, General Directorate of Social Welfare at the Ministry of Social Development in the Sultanate of Oman, Counselor Suleiman Al Mazmi and Khawla participated in the meeting. Al Ali from Social Welfare Affairs at the Ministry of Community Development, Dr. Jassim Al Hammadi, Director of Knowledge Management, and a number of managers at the Social Services Department in Sharjah. Merit Lines. By the way, Afaf Al-Marri thanked the parties participating in the meeting, expressing her hope that it will be held on an annual basis. She said that the meeting is for coordination between the department and the agencies that provide social security - social assistance - in the country and abroad, and to allow room for benchmarking and to identify points of improvement and development that contribute to improving The social security services provided by the department to the beneficiaries of its services. This meeting also helps, by identifying the experiences of the parties involved in drawing up policies, to know the eligibility lines, or as they are called globally, the poverty lines, which mean the estimated amount of a person’s income. It is used to decide the extent of his entitlement to obtain social assistance if his income decreases. And it changes according to statistical studies related to aspects of spending in society, how to adjust the value of assistance to those who are entitled to social assistance. Social assistance in the department At the outset of the meeting, Dr. Jassim Al-Hammadi reviewed the objectives of the Social Aid Department, which is represented in carrying out social studies for cases applying for social assistance and people with social conditions, providing specialized opinion and recommendations about it, and providing support and social assistance to those who deserve it in various groups, such as widows, orphans, the elderly, the homeless and the disabled. And others in accordance with the regulations and controls issued by the Executive Council in the Emirate, and the implementation of supportive empowerment programs for beneficiaries of social security to the extent that they are able to make their own fateful decisions that give them the power to control their lives and own resources, benefit from them and manage them in order to achieve special goals, and it also aims to provide recovery services Social services for those afflicted by relief and emergency and urgent intervention by providing temporary shelter, clothing and foodstuffs, and coordinating services and subsidies with the competent authorities. The department aims, according to the amended law issued by the Executive Council of the Government of Sharjah, issued in 2023, to work to provide social welfare and a decent life for individuals and families in society, to contain, protect and support the groups most vulnerable to harm in society and enable them to obtain their rights and to promote and organize social work in Sharjah and to enhance social cohesion And cohesion between individuals, families and institutions of society, and empowering members of society to face social challenges and achieve social stability and improve their conditions. Presentation of the challenges Al-Hammadi also presented the challenges facing this sector, namely, the lack of support and benefits provided to the beneficiaries of aid or the ineffectiveness of some of them, the rapid change in society and the emergence of new categories of aid financing. As it is, the customs and traditions of not calculating the wife’s income, the delay in updating official data and papers, which affects the eligibility for assistance, the unwillingness of some partners in the electronic connection and the unwillingness to work in the private sector and relying on assistance and funding aid, changing the home address or phone without informing the department about it . As for the types of assistance provided by the department, they are assistance for the dependent elderly, assistance for the bedridden (for the elderly and the disabled), monthly social assistance for citizens, social support for the consumption of electricity, water and gas services, supplementary grant for retirees of the Emirate of Sharjah, assistance for the head of the house. The categories included in the subsidy are those with low incomes (affairs - retirement support wages - multiple sources), the unemployed breadwinner, the breadwinner without income, the single without income over 45 years, disability, health disability (ill, psychological, harmful use), the custodial widow, The custodial divorcee, the custodial divorcee for the children of those who lack the role of the breadwinner, the custodial divorcee for orphans, the mother of children outside the custody, marriage to a non-Emirati, the abandoned, the orphan, the fostered son, the orphaned adult, the family of the imprisoned, the one who came out of prison, the family that lacks the role of the breadwinner.