Voluntary work in the Omani Society in the Pre-Renaissance era: A study from the perspective of social work

The dilemma of the current research is to identify the forms, patterns and nature of voluntarily activities in Omani society, especially in the pre-1970 era. This is, therefore, a scientific documentation of the heritage of Omani society in the field of volunteerism, which is an important part of the history and culture of the society. Moreover, one of the most important objectives of the current research is to identify the models of individual, collective and institutional voluntarily activities in the pre-1970 stage, as well as describe the participation of the various community groups in it. Regarding the scientific importance of the current research, it is clear that conducting the research at this point of time is a necessity to collect the heritage of voluntary work that is exposed to extinction, especially that correspondents who are familiar with this heritage mostly are elderly; unfortunately, it may be difficult to collect these data at later time. The current research is based on the descriptive research type that attempts to describe a historical situation related to a particular phenomenon; namely, the voluntary activities in Omani society at a previous stage of time. The descriptive approach and the historical approach will be combined to reach a precise and specific description of the reality of voluntary activities at this stage. Data will be collected through intensive interviews with a purposive sample of correspondents who lived at that time; systematic interviews with some Omani experts in the Ministries of Social development, Religious Affairs, and Heritage; Focus group discussion; and content analysis of documents and reports that recorded the state of Voluntarism before 1970 in Oman. The research will be applied in all governorates of the Sultanate of Oman, with some states selected from each governorate. It is expected that this research will reach its conclusion including the final report in two years.

The dilemma of the current research is to identify the forms, patterns and nature of voluntarily activities in Omani society, especially in the pre-1970 era. This is, therefore, a scientific documentation of the heritage of Omani society in the field of volunteerism, which is an important part of the history and culture of the society. Moreover, one of the most important objectives of the current research is to identify the models of individual, collective and institutional voluntarily activities in the pre-1970 stage, as well as describe the participation of the various community groups in it. Regarding the scientific importance of the current research, it is clear that conducting the research at this point of time is a necessity to collect the heritage of voluntary work that is exposed to extinction, especially that correspondents who are familiar with this heritage mostly are elderly; unfortunately, it may be difficult to collect these data at later time. The current research is based on the descriptive research type that attempts to describe a historical situation related to a particular phenomenon; namely, the voluntary activities in Omani society at a previous stage of time. The descriptive approach and the historical approach will be combined to reach a precise and specific description of the reality of voluntary activities at this stage. Data will be collected through intensive interviews with a purposive sample of correspondents who lived at that time; systematic interviews with some Omani experts in the Ministries of Social development, Religious Affairs, and Heritage; Focus group discussion; and content analysis of documents and reports that recorded the state of Voluntarism before 1970 in Oman. The research will be applied in all governorates of the Sultanate of Oman, with some states selected from each governorate. It is expected that this research will reach its conclusion including the final report in two years.