The Ministry of Social Affairs is focusing to provide services and facilities to productive families in need.

Nora Al-Asheikh, a social consultant and former general director of social affairs at the ministry, suggested markets for such families and facilitated their tours in the region to help them display their products and access to a wider market.

She said that their products should be exempted from customs duties to raise the economic standard of productive families.

Asheikh said some societies do not accept the idea of women as salespersons even though they form 70 percent of productive families, which according to her is the biggest obstacle productive families face.

She said there should be training programs for such families offering wide range of subjects, including marketing, packaging, and product quality control.

Asheikh said the Ministry of Social Affairs should delegate some of its responsibilities to the private sector to achieve comprehensive progress and give civil-society institutions the chance to participate in social responsibility.

The ministry should transfer social-protection issues to the Ministry of Interior, including social, medical and psychological services, as modern countries in the world do, she said.

Asheikh said social work was confined to limited welfare organizations, but now these groups are gaining a bigger role.

Asheikh said productive families should be considered the same as those who specialize in handicrafts.

“We should differentiate between families on social security and productive families who carry out a vital and important role in society. We must all give these families the support they need and try to solve their problems, especially transport.”