Riyadh Municipality sets a Guinness World Record through its volunteer initiative

The Riyadh Municipality has achieved a new national and international milestone, adding to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's impressive record, by setting a Guinness World Record. This achievement came through the "Riyadh Volunteers" initiative, where the municipality managed to register the largest number of volunteers on an approved volunteering platform in just one week, reflecting the significant momentum and widespread community interest in participating in development projects.

Significance of achievement in the context of Vision 2030

This record number is not just a numerical statistic, but rather a practical translation of the objectives of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which placed volunteer work among its basic pillars, aspiring to reach one million volunteers by 2030. This achievement confirms the growing community awareness in the capital, Riyadh, of the importance of non-profit work and its role in sustainable development, as the residents of Riyadh showed an exceptional interaction that reflects the spirit of initiative and social responsibility rooted in Saudi society.

Details of the “Riyadh Volunteers” initiative

The capital city witnessed the launch of the “Riyadh Volunteers” initiative on December 8th, designed as a unified volunteer day bringing together thousands of male and female volunteers. The initiative primarily aims to implement a wide range of environmental and field projects covering various neighborhoods in Riyadh, striving to improve the urban landscape and address visual pollution, thus directly contributing to raising the quality of life for both residents and visitors.

Diverse paths to cover all needs

To ensure the initiative's comprehensiveness and effectiveness, the Riyadh Municipality distributed the work across several specialized tracks, including:

• Public volunteering: To participate in public field work.
• Skilled volunteering: which targets people with craft and technical skills.
• Professional volunteering: which attracts experts and specialists to provide quality services.

The scope of work was determined based on careful studies of environmental and visual needs priorities, with a focus on densely populated sites to maximize positive impact.

Broad community and institutional partnership

The initiative was distinguished by its broad participation, which extended beyond individuals to encompass a comprehensive network of partners. Government entities contributed across vital sectors such as education, health, the environment, transportation, and sports, alongside security and military agencies. The private and non-profit sectors also played a pivotal role, in addition to the participation of sports clubs and administrative leaders, demonstrating the concerted efforts of all sectors of the state and society to achieve a single goal.

Sustainable impact and quality of life

Through these initiatives, the Riyadh Municipality seeks to establish a culture of active municipal volunteering, ensuring it becomes not a fleeting event but a sustainable practice. The initiative focuses on achieving tangible and measurable results, such as the number of sites improved, the amount of waste removed, and the number of seedlings planted to increase green spaces. All these efforts ultimately contribute to improving the urban environment and making Riyadh a city that is both human-friendly and environmentally friendly, competing with the world's leading cities in terms of quality of life.