Editor's Notes

The Need for a National Umbrella for Retirees

Today, more than half a million retirees and those out of work live in the Kingdom; they represent a broad segment carrying experience accumulated over decades, yet they still lack a professional umbrella to unite them or invest their capabilities in a manner befitting them. Despite the existence of a retirees' association that still operates and makes appreciated efforts, the need has become urgent to develop and expand this role to include organized cooperative work.

International experiences reinforce this trend; several countries have successful models in creating national umbrellas for retirees, most notably the United States through the AARP organization, which is the largest global umbrella and provides professional, health, and legal services to retirees. In Canada, the National Council of Seniors operates as a government-civil umbrella that provides advice to the state and participates in policymaking related to retirees.

As for Singapore, it adopts the model of retired expert committees that invest their expertise in state and private sector projects through specialized electronic platforms. In Germany, Seniorenbüro offices are widespread, offering social and professional services and enabling retirees to participate in municipal work, while Japan is among the most successful experiences through silver human resource centers that provide part-time job opportunities and paid services based on retirees' expertise.

Establishing a cooperative association for retirees is not just an idea, but a national necessity. The proposed association – as put forward by Dr. Othman bin Abdulaziz Al-Othman – could be a national expertise house that includes specialists from various fields and provides consulting and professional services to the three sectors. Any studies or consultations issued by the association or its members will be for a financial fee agreed upon mutually between the association and the expert, creating a sustainable income source and reactivating retirees' expertise in serving the nation.

This vision is not entirely new; it was previously welcomed by His Excellency Dr. Mohammed Al-Rasheed – may God have mercy on him – when he was Minister of Education, but it did not launch despite its great benefit. Today, with the existence of an Experts Association for Empowering the Third Sector that works for free within a limited scope, the need appears greater for creating a more comprehensive umbrella that serves all sectors and invests national expertise instead of relying on foreign expertise.

The cooperative association for retirees can be marketed as a national information bank or a Saudi expertise authority that provides professional services to government, private, and non-profit entities. An electronic platform can also be launched to accommodate retired talents willing to work and provide consultations, according to a clear model that includes resume, specialization, professional controls, and the contracting mechanism between the expert, the association, and the benefiting entity.

Establishing this umbrella will restore the retiree's true role, invest his experience, time, and relationships, and fulfill a national dream of replacing the foreign expert with the citizen expert, in service of the nation, society, and economy.