The Coordinating Committee of autism Associations launched the” first autism associations forum 2023 ” in Riyadh under the patronage of its Honorary Chairman, His Highness Prince Saud bin Abdulaziz bin Farhan Al Saud, where the forum witnessed the attendance of more than 30 autism associations from around the kingdom, in addition to important leaders from the Council of NGOs and entities interested in autism.

The first forum aims to introduce the Coordinating Committee of autism associations, which is the first autism committee in the country, and also aims to bring about the sustainable renaissance of autism associations in the sector through the development of services provided to people with autism through support and support for specialized associations and benefit from the experiences of distinguished associations and enable associations to keep abreast of technical developments and promote digital transformation, especially addressing ways to develop innovative financing tools to support financial sustainability.

The forum included a number of dialogue sessions and workshops accompanied by the presence of more than 12 speakers from the heads of associations, specialists and consultants in various fields such as autism, technology and financial sustainability.

His Highness Prince Saud bin Abdulaziz bin Farhan Al Saud, honorary chairman of the committee, said: “in the autism sector, we strive to harness all available possibilities to provide high-level services that achieve the Vision 2030 pursued by the kingdom with regard to the development sector, and our wise leadership had the greatest role in transforming the concept of institutional work in the non-profit sector from pastoral to developmental to ensure sustainability, and today we emulate them and make them a beacon for us in charitable and humanitarian work“.

As part of the series of objectives to upgrade the services provided to people with autism, the first forum allocated a signing platform for a number of important agreements, where the Coordinating Committee of autism associations signed a memorandum of understanding with Alaji Association, which aims to provide specialized therapeutic support to autism associations from around the Kingdom, and in order to develop public sector cadres the committee signed with Aafaq international company to support In terms of linking links between associations, non-profit institutions and consultants, the committee signed a memorandum of understanding with the competitive platform to provide technical support, qualification and training of associations in the field of procurement and more.the committee also concluded an agreement with forqod advertising company to provide Media Production Services and organize exhibitions and conferences at a discount of up to 50%.

According to the chairman of the Coordinating Committee of autism associations, Ms. Arij al-Moallem, “the Coordinating Committee of autism associations came to make a qualitative leap in the sector of services provided to people with autism through several projects and initiatives to enable NGOs to achieve outstanding results for beneficiaries by coordinating, unifying and mobilizing efforts to build an advanced and sustainable renaissance according to the highest standards and levels in order to ensure a better quality of life for thousands of people with autism and their families in various fields and at all levels “.

It is noteworthy that the first forum of its kind at the kingdom level is only the beginning of a series of upcoming forums and conferences that will develop the autism sector in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.