Mohammed bin Rashid Issues Law for Community Development in Dubai

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, may God protect him, in his capacity as Ruler of the Emirate of Dubai, has issued Law No. (12) of 2026 concerning the Community Development Authority in Dubai.

The Law sets out the Authority's objectives of regulating the social sector in the Emirate of Dubai, developing and advancing it, in a manner that contributes to achieving sustainable community development, enhancing the quality of social services in the Emirate, organizing the provision of these services and making them available to the various segments of society, ensuring the protection of the groups most vulnerable to harm and contributing to their integration into society, achieving social and financial empowerment for the citizens of Dubai, and making the Emirate the best place to live and work, in addition to contributing to achieving social cohesion among the members and components of society, and promoting and encouraging the components of society to participate and bear community responsibility.

Mandate of the Authority

The Law also defines the competencies and tasks of the Community Development Authority as the government entity competent to regulate, develop, and oversee the social sector in the Emirate, its most prominent tasks including: preparing and developing the strategic plans and social policies relating to achieving sustainable community development and developing the social sector, and proposing legislation relating to community development and to the regulation and development of the social sector in the Emirate.

The Authority's competencies also include licensing public-benefit institutions in accordance with the applicable legislation and overseeing and supervising them, regulating and licensing practitioners of social professions, issuing the permits required for social-service providers, regulating volunteer work in the Emirate, ensuring the availability of social services for individuals and families, and the social and financial empowerment of the groups most vulnerable to harm among citizens and their families.

Pursuant to the Law, the Community Development Authority in Dubai undertakes to establish and develop an integrated system for protecting the groups most vulnerable to harm, particularly children and persons with disabilities, to put in place the programs and plans capable of enhancing social and family cohesion and community participation, to establish community centers and residential neighborhood councils, to conduct social research and studies, and to build partnerships with the private sector, public-benefit institutions, and government entities in a manner that contributes to the comprehensiveness and integration of social services and enhances their effectiveness and efficiency.

The Law also stipulates that the Authority shall have a director general, appointed by a decree issued by His Highness the Ruler of Dubai, with the director general undertaking the task of supervising the Authority and taking what is necessary to achieve its objectives and enable it to exercise the competencies entrusted to it.

Care for Minors and Persons Lacking or with Diminished Legal Capacity

The Law addressed the regulation of the care of minors and persons lacking or with diminished legal capacity, whereby the Community Development Authority in Dubai is considered the government entity competent in the Emirate in everything relating to providing social services to them, pursuant to a decision issued by the judicial authorities or the competent authorities. The Authority's tasks include taking the procedures and measures necessary to follow up on the living situation of the minor, verifying their receipt of care and the meeting of their living, social, health, educational, and recreational needs in a manner that achieves their best interest, verifying that persons lacking or with diminished legal capacity obtain the care and protection necessary for them, including alternative care, whether family or institutional care, representing minors and persons lacking or with diminished legal capacity in the field of protection and care before government and non-government entities and the competent judicial authorities, providing them with protection from any unlawful practices to which they may be exposed, in addition to placing those whom the Authority cares for in one of the social or health care homes in accordance with the conditions and controls approved in this regard.

Low-Income Groups

The Law addressed the regulation of the affairs of low-income persons, whereby the Community Development Authority undertakes, in accordance with the criteria approved by the Chairman of the Executive Council of the Emirate of Dubai, to define and determine the category of low-income persons, for the purposes of its exercise of the competencies entrusted to it under this Law, and also undertakes to carry out the periodic review of the low-income criteria in light of economic and social indicators, and to raise the appropriate recommendations thereon to the Executive Council for approval.

The Social Observatory

The Law also stipulated the establishment of a social observatory within the organizational structure of the Authority, in cooperation and coordination with the competent entities, to study the various social phenomena in the Emirate of Dubai, collect data on them, forecast them, and work on early intervention and confronting the negative ones among them, and on prevention and limiting their effects on society. The social observatory undertakes to study the discovered social phenomena, analyze them, identify their causes, and measure their impact on society, in addition to putting in place a system to build the social database that includes all segments of society, particularly the groups most vulnerable to harm, while the competent entities are obliged to provide the data and information necessary to enable the Authority to establish and manage the social observatory and achieve the purposes for which it was established.

The Unified System

The Law also stipulated the establishment of a unified system for managing the social cases and humanitarian cases that require social services at the level of the Emirate of Dubai, in coordination with the competent entities, to ensure the integration and comprehensiveness of the social services provided to these cases. Through the unified system, the Authority undertakes to study and assess the social cases and humanitarian cases that require social services and follow up on their affairs, in coordination with the competent entities and the providers of these services, to ensure that the holders of those cases obtain the social services they need, and their social empowerment.

The Law obliged the local government entities that provide services of a social nature to use the unified system and to provide the electronic linkage necessary with this system, and also obliged the local government entities and the social-service providers in the Emirate of Dubai to provide the Authority with all the data and information it requests, in order to establish, manage, and operate the unified system, in accordance with the criteria and mechanisms set by the Authority for managing and dealing with social cases and humanitarian cases.

The Law also stipulated the establishment of the "Community Development Fund" in the Authority, whose proceeds are allocated to providing financial support to the categories benefiting from it, and to financing social projects and services in the Emirate of Dubai. The Fund aims to contribute to achieving social development in Dubai and building a more cohesive and stable society, to contribute to securing social protection and care for the groups most vulnerable to harm, to provide cash and in-kind assistance to them, in addition to providing urgent assistance to those harmed in cases of disasters, crises, and emergency circumstances.

The Fund also aims to provide the financing necessary to support vocational training programs for unemployed individuals and prepare them for the labor market, to contribute to raising the quality of life for the benefiting categories, improving their standard of living, and enhancing their role in society, in addition to strengthening partnership with the private sector and incentivizing companies, institutions, and individuals to contribute to financing community development programs.

Issuance of Executive Resolutions

The Law stipulated that the director general of the Community Development Authority in Dubai shall issue the resolutions necessary to implement the provisions of the Law, with the exception of the resolutions that fall within the competence of the Chairman of the Executive Council in accordance with its provisions, provided that these resolutions are published in the Official Gazette of the Government of Dubai.

This Law replaces Law No. (8) of 2015 concerning the Community Development Authority in Dubai, and Law No. (15) of 2020 concerning the transfer of certain competencies established for the Awqaf and Minors Affairs Foundation to the Community Development Authority in Dubai is repealed, and any provision in any other legislation is repealed to the extent that it conflicts with the provisions of the new Law.

The resolutions and regulations issued in implementation of Law No. (8) of 2015 concerning the Community Development Authority in Dubai shall continue to be in force, to the extent that they do not conflict with the provisions of the new Law, until the issuance of the resolutions and regulations that replace them.

This Law shall be published in the Official Gazette and shall come into effect as of the date of its publication.