A new plan endorsed by the King Abdul Aziz National Dialogue Center aims to make the culture of dialogue and discussion a part of the national culture. In order to achieve this aim the Center will launch an awareness campaign which will reach 45,000 citizens within six months. The purpose of the campaign will be to embed the concept and behavior of dialogue in Saudi society, and enable it to become part of the lifestyle of the society. Three categories of people will be selected for the study. Each category will consist of 15,000 individuals and will include mosque Imams, elementary school teachers, university professors and parents. Another goal is to promote and embed a national unity within the context of Islamic faith along with meaningful intellectual dialogue. A further goal is to activate the institutions of the community to proliferate the culture of dialogue, tolerance and moderation. This is in addition to enhancing responsible freedom of expression according to firm national and Shariah principles and spreading the concepts of national dialogue through cooperation with concerned institutions. The educational objectives of the King Abdul Aziz National Dialogue Center include identifying the effectiveness of direct interaction to serve the purposes of the dialogue, drawing on this experience to upgrade and build on it upon expanding the scope of work and creating grounds for involvement of patronizing agencies. A memorandum of understanding was signed between Faisal Bin Muammar, Secretary General of King Abdul Aziz National Dialogue Center and Yousef Hamiduldin from Shaher Company. Based on the memorandum, Shaher Company has the obligation of implementing the plan without financial consideration and will submit a proposal for the implementation of a five-year awareness plan within four months. Shaher will also make the necessary contacts with prospective trial subjects and will cooperate with the Center to create the partnerships necessary for the awareness plan to succeed. One example would be the implementation of a modern database. The Center will have an obligation towards Shaher to participate in a strategic committee for review of the plan and follow-up on its implementation, oversee the assessment of findings, assessing presentation of the fifth awareness plan, and prepare and send out official letters to concerned agencies to carry out the plan. The memorandum will enable the targeted public to receive messages showing statistics on the dialogue, the message of the Center and the mechanisms used to interact with it, how to participate, and the available means of contact. The messages will convey the importance of social responsibility and the positive interaction between members of the community. – Alsharq Al
