Under the auspices of Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Supreme Chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation, President of the General Women's Union, and Chairwoman of Motherhood and Childhood Supreme Council, the Abu Dhabi City Municipality concluded events of Assematy initiative at Al Khatam.

Assematy campaign is a strategic initiative that had been on the go for five years starting mid-2010 and ending by mid-2015.

Events that took place from May 17 to 24, targeted students of public and private schools, residents and various spectrums of the community at Al Khatam area.

The initiative is part of the vision of the Capital's municipality that aims at improving the appearance of the city, combating negative practices in all metropolitan and suburban areas, and enhancing the ongoing efforts of municipalities to improve the health, safety and security of the community and the environment, and improve the appearance of cities and suburban areas.

The municipality explained the key factors underlining the campaign which were highlighted by the spread of distorting elements in the area in a way contrary to the government drive of maintaining the cleanliness of the city and ranking it among the top cities worldwide.

As many of these distorting elements are caused by community members, it was vital to launch an educative campaign with the aim of launching an effective community participation towards, removing all disfiguring aspects, raising the awareness about the harms and negative effects on residential areas, and nurturing a healthy and clean environment.

Previous events of Assematy were hugely popular and contributed to diffusing a sustainable culture of direct participation in maintaining the appearance and cleanliness, and fostering the values of combating negative attitudes and maintaining the appearance of the city.

Campaign in phases

The initiative is divided into time phases seeking to achieve objectives by engaging all community members. The ultimate objective is to make the public and government organisation work hand-in-hand to maintain the appearance of the city.

The current phase is the sixth phase of the campaign which moved from Al Muroor area to Al Mushriff, Al Karama, Al Bateen, Baniyas, Al Bahya and other areas leading up to Al Khatam now. The new aspect of the Assematy campaign is the focus on raising participation of public and private entities in the initiative.

The municipality is supporting and participating with government bodies who are key strategic partners that have a huge role in the success of this initiative and realising its objectives.

These include: the community police, Abu Dhabi Educational Council (Waste Management – Abu Dhabi), Health Authority, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development, Civil Defence, Emergency and Public Health, Zayed Humanitarian Foundation, General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments, Farmer Services Centre, Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority, and Emirates Heritage Club.

Programmes of Assematy at Al Khatam include a variety of events such as a workshop to maintain the beautiful appearance, removing graffiti, cleaning mosques, sorting and recycling waste, first aid workshop, handling accidents, safe house workshop, religious duty towards the capital, free drawing corner, contests and quizzes, women forum, women awareness workshop, open men's day, a visit to a model farm and awareness visits to houses. Through the initiative, the municipality is seeking to improve the general appearance of the Capital.