Abu Dhabi launches Emirati family support centre

Project is part of wider strategy to encourage young citizens to start families

Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, visits the Medeem Centre for Family Nurturing. Photo: Wam

A centre offering guidance and support for young Emirati couples about to get married has been launched in Abu Dhabi.

The Medeem Centre for Family Nurturing was approved by Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and is part of the Medeem initiative, launched in April by the Department of Community Development.

It will support engaged couples through educational courses, awareness and guidance programmes, and community initiatives, while promoting Emirati wedding celebration traditions.

Six primary services will be available at the centre – a rehabilitation programme for engaged couples, family counselling, family mediation, post-divorce counselling, child custody arrangements, and educational and awareness initiatives for parents, families and children.

It is the latest move to support the emirate’s strategy to encourage young Emiratis to start families. It is one of several efforts aimed at promoting marriage.

On Thursday, Sheikh Khaled was briefed on the Medeem initiative, as well as the centre’s services and facilities.

He emphasised the need to help engaged and newly married couples develop the necessary skills and knowledge to ensure they enjoy a successful married life.

It is hoped the project will help Emirati couples to build families, while enhancing social cohesion and contributing to the sustainable development and prosperity of society.

The Medeem Centre shows the government’s dedication to fostering a thriving Emirati society in Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khaled said.

During his visit, he was shown the functions of the Journey of a Lifetime Experience, a facility designed to support couples planning their wedding.

AI technology is used to make wedding planning interactive as couples decide on elements of the celebration, including themes, designs and scents. The facility also offers counselling sessions.

Authorities hope the initiatives, part of the Abu Dhabi Family Wellbeing Strategy, will foster stable and cohesive family units across the emirate.

Dr Mugheer Al Khaili, chairman of the Department of Community Development, said the centre was a significant enhancement to community services in Abu Dhabi.

Hamad Ali Al Dhaheri, undersecretary of the department, said the new facility would help newly-weds to build stable marriages.

"The Medeem Centre for Family Nurturing was established with a clear vision, which is to help Emiratis lead a successful marriage journey and a fulfilling family life," he said.

"The primary goal of the centre is to prepare engaged and newly married couples with a sense of responsibility towards forming lasting and blessed relationships.

"This is a goal that each member of a family is responsible for contributing towards, thereby creating a happier society in Abu Dhabi."

A programme encouraging Emiratis to marry was announced last month. Similar initiatives are in place in Dubai.

At the start of the year, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, launched a Dh208 billion ($56.63 billion) strategy to double the number of Emirati families in the emirate within a decade.

The move is aimed at “providing housing, improving living standards, identity, values, social cohesion, health care, and developing future skills in our upcoming generations", Sheikh Mohammed said at the time.

Dr Elizabeth Monier, an assistant professor in modern Arabic studies at the University of Cambridge, told The National that the strategy emphasised efforts to "increase the number of families, not just on the population".

“The family is the basic unit of society upon which the cohesion of the state as a whole rests," she said. "By prioritising the family unit, there is a clear emphasis on cohesion.”