Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment For Young Business Leaders Highlights Governmental Support For Small And Medium Enterprises

The Government Purchase Programme at Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment for Young Business Leaders organized a debate on the role of the government sector in supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The session aimed at clarifying the relation between the government sector and Program’s members and the role of government departments in developing the SME sector.

Mrs Ibtihal Naji, Manager – Government Procurement Programme; Mr Osama Al Muharam, Assistant Manager, Mr Yousef Lootah, Senior Executive, and Mr. Essam Disi, Manager – Policy Formulation attended the session in addition to a number of directors and team members from the purchasing and contracting governmental departments.

Mrs Ibtihal Naji said: “This initiative comes in line with the directions of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President & Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, focusing on supporting nationals and to enhance their role in the development process through SMEs. This session is the result of several meetings arranged by the institution with government departments. We are looking forward to launch new initiatives aimed at enriching debate about legislations and laws on the relations between government departments and national SMEs.”

The session highlighted the success stories of the national SMEs and also showcased examples and case studies about the relationship between the government and SMEs.

Mr Yousef Lootah said: “Representatives from contracting and purchasing government departments discussed issues on their relations with Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment for Young Business Leaders. The purchasing law to offer 5 % from the government purchases for the welfare of the Establishment’s members formed a major part of the discussions. The session also presented a clear picture on the support provided by government departments to small and medium businesses.”

Mr. Osama Al Muharam also discussed the purchasing plans of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment for Young Business Leaders for the current year. This will further strengthen the relations with the government sector and enhance productivity and performance of the Establishment members.

The growth in the value of procurements from the Government Procurement Program (GPP) in Dubai over the last six years reached more AED 728 million till the end of 2008. The value of procurements made by governmental and semi-governmental sectors from members of the GPP for the year 2008 reached to AED 240 million, while it reached around AED 27 million from the private sector.

Hobbies Club Embarks On Preparations For ’Rashid Summer Camp 2009’

The Hobbies Club, organizer of the ‘Rashid Summer Camp’, has signed a joint venture agreement with SAHARA Communications, subsidiary of SAHARA Group, to embark on promotional activities for the Rashid Summer Camp in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

The agreement was signed by Mr Arif Al Abbar, Chairman of the Hobbies Club, and Mr Fahad Ahmed Al Deeb, Vice President of Sahara Group.

Established in 1996, the Hobbies Club is the region’s oldest educational and sporting club, and aims to support national youth and encourage young men and women to explore their hobbies by getting involved in sporting, recreational and educational activities through a range of educational courses, youth camps, awareness campaigns and joint programmes organized in collaboration with various ministries and government departments.

The Rashid Summer Camp 2009 is scheduled to take place this summer from 20 June to 20 July at the Hobbies Club’s Rashid Scouts Camp on Al Aweer Road in Dubai. Other subsidiary camps will be organized in Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah and Umm Al Quwain.

Commenting on the deal, Mr Al Abbar said, “A number of youth camps have been organized by the Hobbies Club over the past few years with resounding success. However, the Rashid Summer Camp, which is designed for students, is one of the largest youth camps in the GCC countries, as it attracts a broad participation and draws significant media coverage, particularly following the success achieved by the camp over the last few years”.

“The sports activities programme includes training in horse riding, shooting and swimming skills. Other programmes include cultural, educational and recreational activities aimed at keeping students busy during their summer vacation. We are seeking to capitalize on the leisure time of the summer vacation by exposing students to new skills, behavioural and physical development programmes in a fun and lovely environment”, Al Abbar added.

Mr Al Deeb said, “We are delighted to join hands with the Hobbies Club, as part of Sahara’s drive to play an active role in supporting community activities. Sahara has sponsored a number of community events over the last few years, as part of its belief in the important role of the private sector in supporting community initiatives. We call for private sector organizations to contribute to social and youth programmes and to serve the wider interests of the nation”.

Dubai Courts introduces special manual to ensure better understanding of various court procedures

Dubai Courts has revealed that it is planning to distribute this week its updated manual of applications and services related to the courts, among all government and semi-government departments in Dubai, in addition to universities, law schools, concerned legal authorities and partners of Dubai Courts. The move is aimed at promoting knowledge about various legal aspects among citizens and residents of Dubai, and more specifically to inform them about the different services provided by Dubai Courts and the procedures of the first instance, appeal and cassation courts; and also procedures related to the notary public, personal status department and registration of cases.   The launch of the manual of judicial applications and services is one of the initiatives of Dubai Courts aimed at supporting Dubai’s vision of providing justice, security and stability to the various segments of society. It also aims to promote the efforts of the Courts to achieve the strategic goals and to enhance the level of service, streamline procedures, and ensure accuracy and speed in judgments and enforcement of sentences. For the preparation of this manual, a team comprising leading judges, consultants and personnel who have extensive legal and administrative experience and knowledge were formed. The team collated all the documents related to judicial applications and services, reviewed and updated the information and then brought out this bulletin in Arabic and English to cater to the largest possible segment of society. Before the final version of the manual was released, it was reviewed by legal specialists and various lawyers’ offices as per the procedures of Dubai Courts, and accordingly the manual was updated and modified to ensure accuracy of information and quality.Commenting on the move, Marwan Abdool, Head of Public Relations and Customer Service at Dubai Courts, said, "This initiative reflects our vision to be a pioneer in courts work, while being in line with our Strategic Plan 2009 – 2011, which focuses on achieving accuracy, speed and transparency in judicial work in the emirate. Furthermore, the manual also provides an opportunity for the different government departments in Dubai to acquaint themselves with all the services provided by Dubai Courts, which will ultimately contribute to further improving the judicial system of the emirate.""The launch of this manual not only complements our efforts to promote knowledge of the judicial system among citizens and residents, but also our Strategic Plan 2009 – 2011 and the third annual report, which addresses the general administrative practices, systems and applications, activities, and projects and initiatives that aim to achieve the goals of judicial independence, service quality and automation of judicial procedures. In this regard, we reiterate our commitment to ensure transparency while providing all information related to judicial services," he added.The manual – which contains accurate and brief information – consists of 27 indexed bulletins to allow easy browsing between titles. Dedicated stands for these manuals have been placed at the Dubai Courts main building, while the manuals have also been distributed to the notary public branches in Al Twar, Al Barsha and the Dubai Economic Department.

First ’Dubai Statistics Center Award’ Announced

Dubai Statistics Center (DSC) yesterday (Tuesday, May 05, 2009) announced the winners of the first ‘Dubai Statistics Center Award’ during a ceremony held at the Dubai Police Officers’ Club. Awards were given in four categories – Government Institutions; Private Organisations; the Media; and Households – which have demonstrated their support towards statistical work.

Arif Obaid Al Muhairi, Executive Director of DSC, said that the award comes within the Center’s strategic framework which aims to activate the role of statistical work and raise awareness in different categories, and added that the award creates an environment of healthy competition. He pointed out that all levels of society, including the government departments and organisations, private institutions, individuals, families and the media have a role to play in supporting statistical work and enhance its direct contribution to planning activities and decision making.

Al Muhairi explained that organisations and individuals can contribute to statistical work, by providing timely, accurate and comprehensive data to the Center when it conducts census and statistical surveys. He said that accurate statistics are also important when issuing statistical indicators about Dubai, which form the basis for future estimates and forecasts, and for planning and decision making. Al Muhairi also revealed that the award will be presented annually as the Center continues its focus on developing the assessment standards of the candidates.

Winners of category 1 – Government institutions supporting statistical work:Five government departments and organisations won the ‘Dubai Statistics Center Award’ for the category ‘Government institutions supporting statistical work’ for the year 2008, these include: Dubai Naturalization and Residency Department (DNRD), Department of Economic Development (DED), Dubai Municipality, Department of Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities (DICD) and Dubai eGovernment.

Director of DNRD, Major General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri received the award on behalf of DNRD, which was recognised for its continuous focus on providing statistical data, despite the complexity of Dubai’s demographic profile. DNRD, whose statistics are regularly used by planners, decision makers and strategic committees, is also an active member of the Statistical Coordination Committee in Dubai.

The award for the Department of Economic Development (DED) was received by Khalid Al Kassim, Deputy Director General for Planning and Development at DED. The department was recognised for its support of statistical work as it is the first department to provide its statistics for electronic upload, which gave DSC access to latest statistical frameworks that are used as a basis for conducting economic surveys in the emirate and for the calculation of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The department is also an active member of the Statistical Coordination Committee in Dubai.

The award for Dubai Municipality was received by H.E. Eng. Issa Al Hajj Al Midor, Assistant General Manager, General Project Affairs at Dubai Municipality. Dubai Municipality is regarded as the pioneering government department to support statistical work in the emirate as it hosted DSC when it was set up and has continuously supported the Center ever since. Dubai Municipality is also an active member of the Statistical Coordination Committee in Dubai.

The award for the Department of Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities was received by H.E. Saeed Khamis Al Marhoumi, Assistant Director General of Technical Support at DICD. The department was honoured for its initiatives in collaborating with non-profit organisations and providing statistical data for these partner agencies of long standing. DICD provided data on financial resources quickly and accurately; the information was to be used in a specialised survey as part of the calculation of the GDP.

Dubai eGovernment was also a recipient, with Matar Saeed Al Humairi, Head of Application Management Unit, Government Information Resources Planning Department, receiving the award. Dubai eGovernment was recognized for its exceptional support in providing the technical infrastructure for electronic statistical linking. It was particularly cited for enabling departments and organisations of the Dubai Government such as the Dubai Statistics Center (DSC) to participate at GITEX 2008. DSC’s portal (www.dsc.gov.ae) was launched during the event by H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. Dubai eGovernment’s activities during GITEX helped the government save on related expenditures.

Winners of category 2 – Private institutions supporting statistical work: Majid Al Futtaim Group, Etisalat and Emaar Properties received the ‘Dubai Statistics Center Award’ under the category “Private institutions supporting statistical work.” The cooperation of the three organisations in the Center’s 2008 economic surveys was highly commended, as they provided their required data in an accurate and comprehensive manner in record time. The award was received by Obeid Mohammed Al Shared, Financial Director, Etisalat; Mohammed Malek, Vice President, Human Resources, Majid Al Futtaim Group; and Essam Galadari, CEO of Emaar Properties. It is worth noting that these surveys provide basic data that are included as inputs for assessing the GDP of the emirate and considered important economic indicators.

Winners of category 3 – Households supporting statistical work: ‘Dubai Statistics Center Award’ for “Households Supporting Statistical Work” is intended to motivate families and individuals to fully cooperate with the Center and respond quickly to censuses and statistical surveys that require accurate and comprehensive data on families. The two households that won the award were those of Mr. Rashed Masoud and Mr. Khalid Hussein Harb.

Winners of category 4 – Media supporting statistical work:Al Bayan Newspaper was chosen as the most supportive of statistical work in Dubai, winning under the category ‘Media supporting statistical work’. The award was received by Hamad Salmeen, Head of Local Affairs at Al Bayan. The TV channel and radio station of Noor Dubai was named the most exclusive and supportive channel/radio. The event honoured distinguished journalists who have achieved their goals with regard to statistical works in accordance with the highest levels of professionalism.

During the ceremony, Al Muhairi also gave tribute to exclusive suppliers in line with the Center’s efforts to build partnerships and promote mutual interests between them. The Center’s outstanding employees for 2008 were also recognized and commended for their efforts and achievements.

DUBAL Takes Top 2008 ITGAF Award For Second Time

In keeping with its positioning as a strong adherent to corporate governance, Dubai Aluminium Company Limited (“DUBAL”) – the world’s largest pre-bake aluminium smelter with a captive power station – has been named the joint winner of the 2008 Information Technology Governance Assurance Forum (“ITGAF”) award in the Commercial Category. The award, presented during the ITGAF Annual Conference 2008, held at the Park Hyatt Hotel, Dubai, is the second of its kind garnered by DUBAL, the company having received the inaugural 2006 ITGAF Award.Instituted by the government of Dubai’s Financial Audit Department, the aim of ITGAF is to aid and promote the development of I.T. Governance practices among government departments and state-owned enterprises, in accordance with leading international frameworks. The forum acknowledges that I.T. Governance is an integral part of Corporate Governance; and that truly effective I.T. Governance helps ensure that it supports business goals, maximizes business investment in technology, and appropriately manages I.T.-related opportunities and risks.Endorsing ITGAF’s objectives, the ITGAF Award encourages establishments to build and practice matured I.T. processes as a fundamental step towards effective I.T. Governance. Recipients of the award demonstrate the inherent potential of using technology as a business enabler, both locally and internationally, while simultaneously ensuring that electronically disseminated business information is protected and the privacy of users is secured.Said Ahmad Al Mulla (Vice President I.T. at DUBAL), “This award is a tribute to the visionary guidance of our management, coupled with the valuable contributions of our employees, towards our company’s commitment to reaching and maintaining the highest standards of corporate and I.T. governance. This combination ensures continuous support for DUBAL’s ongoing pursuit of excellence.”
 

Ahmed Butti Ahmed: Applicable Documented Methodologies Are Success Factors For Any Government Department

Mr. Ahmed Butti Ahmed, the Executive Chairman of Ports Customs and Free Zone Corporation and Director General of Dubai Customs opened Thursday 30 April 2009 a symposium on “Documented Methodologies ….. Are administrative burden or a corporate excellence”, which comes as part of Dubai Government Excellence Programme (DGEP) in cooperation with government human resources committee.The symposium was held at Dubai Police Officers Club with the attendance of Mr. Ahmed Nisarat, the General Coordinator of DGEP and about 250 officials as represented by Executive Directors, Directors of Excellence, Quality and Strategic Planning departments and Heads of Excellence sections at 21 government departments in Dubai.While delivering his presentation titled “Methodologies a tool for development or administrative obstacles”, Mr. Butti affirmed that: “the success of methodologies is the basis of prosperity of any department and its business”.Identifying the concept of methodology, he said: “it is a specific method followed by a department and documented to easily be followed by individuals whether being new or old employees.”Mr. Butti pointed out that documented methodologies at any department constitute the basis of business development, continuity and improvement in a way that does not rely upon individuals.“All business methodologies should be cascaded from within the organizational strategic plan and objectives, which in turn are aligned with Dubai government strategy. They should consistently operate with each other to ensure their efficiency,” he affirmed.Stressing on the importance of the element of transparency in connection with business processes and roles of each employee, he said: “there are many methodologies being adopted within Dubai Customs according to the requirements for ensuring business quality and excellence and achieving positive results.”“Methodologies are to be introduced and developed for attaining favorable outcomes that to be shown in clients satisfaction level or generating good customs revenue,” he pointed out.Mr. Butti went on to say that: “we should have aligned and consistent methodologies otherwise their desired objective would never be met.”“Methodologies should easily be implemented and understood by employees taking into account the particularity of both customs and the society including clients’ needs,” he added.“Dubai Customs always uses employees’ experiences constantly interacting with clients being the most qualified personnel for setting up a comprehensive and easy methodology when implemented,” he maintained.Quoting the Reform and Modernization Programme (RMP) at Dubai Customs as an example, he said: “We had good deliverables arisen out from the RMP in line with the World Customs Organization (WCO) requirements. WCO and other visiting European delegates praised our RMP affirming to be the best worldwide.”Mr. Butti urged that each government department had to rely upon its own employees in developing methodologies programmes since such employees deemed to be dedicated, loyal and well informed of clients needs indicating the necessity of having these methodologies assessed and continuously improved.The Director General of Dubai Customs emphasized that Dubai Customs should be capable of adaptation and changing its methodologies whenever required, a key factor of its success saying by example that,:” the global economic downturn forced us to change some of our business processes in a way providing more support to investors and clients.”“Methodologies should not be entirely connected to those who are in charge as their departure may result in gross failure,” he said.“They should be documented and well established for the benefit of business requirements,” he added.“Methodologies may be helpful for achieving the set objectives if found to be logic, flexible consistent and customer focus,” he explained.“playing a key role in contributing to Dubai` economic and social development, improving customers’ satisfaction and loyalty level, sharing best business practices and processes and providing best human resources and technology are the 4 key strategies identified by Dubai Customs to be considered when a methodology is developed,” he said.“in order to ensure success of any methodology, a number of factors are to be taken into consideration, mainly those in charge of methodologies are to be provided with specific processes and roles within a specific timeframe, develop criteria, standards and controls over the those in charge, assess and measure business processes and methodology efficiency through customer satisfaction. Methodologies are to be measurable to ensure continuous reform and modernization,” he maintained.Mr. Butti illustrated by example the consistency of Dubai Customs different methodologies with Mirsal 2, the e-clearance system, which has been aligned with customs internal and external customers training programmes.Against the foregoing methodology success factors, there are other elements, which may hamper the organizational business development.These include complexity and ambiguity of methodologies where employees would find them difficult to implement; initiators may be inexperienced in customs business environment or depending upon foreign methodologies based only on their success at another department or organization.Other factors hampering success and development may involve contradiction with other organizational methodologies, inconsistency with the organizational strategy, lack of training the respective manpower, absence of internal and external dissemination or no effective implementation follow-up.Mr. Butti underlined the necessity of continuous reviewing, implementing and assessing methodology effectiveness.Areas of weakness are to be identified with the objective of removing them and ensuring constant improvement and development.Answering the questions raised by the attendance at the end of his presentation, Mr. Butti underlined the necessity of transparent methodologies, clear empowerment of managers, head sections and the employee as well ass measurement and assessment indicators in place.“Dubai Customs implements a successful suggestion and reward scheme through which employees contribute to develop customs business,” he indicated.Mr. Ahmed Nisarat expressed DGEP gratitude to Mr. Ahmed Butti Ahmed for opening the symposium and delivering a valuable presentation.“It was a profound and simple presentation enhancing awareness about methodologies and success factors to be provided,” said Mr. Nisarat.Mr. Nisarat lauded Dubai Customs significant role in serving local economy and society.“It is the mother of departments in Dubai and the most ancient among them,” he said.
 

Dubai Customs Celebrates World IP Day

Director General of Dubai Customs His His Excellency Ahmed Butti Ahmed, opened the annual World Intellectual Property Day ceremony yesterday 26th April 2009.Organized by Dubai Customs at Monarch Hotel Dubai the event was attended by a number of Heads of government departments, customs administrations in UAE and GCC States, Federal Customs Authority, diplomatic missions representatives, senior personalities, customs officials and inspectors, Brand Owners Protection Group representatives and media correspondents.“Dubai customs believes in the rights of producers, creators and intellectuals whether in respect to industrial, commercial or literary areas’, said Mr. Butti while opening the event.“Dubai Customs has long taken the issue of IPR seriously. Stringent measures for encountering counterfeited and fake products including other items that are detrimental to public health, local community and UAE society or undermining producers and brand owners rights had been taken,” he added.“The aim of such measures is to maintain the legitimacy of international trade as well since Dubai is deemed to be a core hub linking both Eastern and Western parts of the world and serving a market populating of over a billion people by re-exportation to different countries”, Mr. Butti added.A number of achievements done by Dubai Customs over the past years in the area of IPR are commended and much-admired by the international community and major manufacturers worldwide.A dedicated IPR department to support the existing measures was established 4 years ago playing a major role in protecting the emirate’s 14 customs offices located at sea, air and land ports.“The IPR department made great efforts in the area of education and awareness about IPR emphasizing the risks and harms to public health as a result of counterfeited products. The efforts covered workshops for wider groups of the society, such as schools and universities across the country and complex areas like trade malls and clubs,” the Director General of Dubai Customs said.“Continuous workshops throughout the year are being organized as well for customs inspectors to develop their knowledge, understanding and job skills in connection with distinguishing between unique and counterfeited products and precisely differentiating between genuine and fake trade brands,” he maintained.Mr. Butti added that, “counterfeiting is an international phenomenon extended to cover man’s consumables including even human blood. Such matters annoy us all but we assure you that Dubai Customs would continue to make tireless efforts in combating such phenomenon.”“We are keen to develop, use and invest in best scanning and inspection equipment with improving our employees’ skills since we are concerned with maintaining the international community’s reliance on our ongoing measures and strengthening our country’s position as a secured destination attracting foreign investments,” Mr. Butti said.During the celebration, the winning projects taking part in “Dubai Customs IPR Award” contest were announced.The contest was organized by Dubai Customs in cooperation with the Ministry of Education as part of a comprehensive IPR awareness campaign by customs targeting all society groups including students.The representatives of the 3 winning schools and the students, owners of the winning projects, were honored by the Director General of Dubai Customs.The contest gains a special importance being a means of education enhancing the students’ appreciation for innovative thinking, developing their awareness about customs business from the economic and social perspectives and expanding their understandings in connection with risks of counterfeited products to public health.Dubai Customs World IPR Day celebrations would include holding a 4 days educational workshops for customs inspectors at the Monarch Hotel Dubai.The workshop, which is expected to gather representatives from the Brand Owners Protection Group, comes as part of Dubai Customs’ role in protecting intellectual property rights, combating counterfeiting and forgery, identifying problems facing inspectors and other competent parties in detecting fake products and disseminating awareness about negatives impacts arising from trading in counterfeited goods on both the local and international economies.
 

Cooperation Between Government Organizations, Dubai Customs Receives A Delegation From Al Ain Municipality

Dubai – A delegation from Al Ain Municipality visited on 2nd February 2009 Dubai Customs as part of a joint cooperation and an exchange of expertise between government departments.

Mr. Ahmed Bin Lahej, Director of Clients Management at Dubai Customs welcomed the visiting delegation underlining the importance of such meetings, which promote government business in a way that contributes to strengthen UAE national economy and deliver higher quality services.

Bin Lahej further affirmed Clients Management Department willingness to maintain all forms of cooperation with Al Ain Municipality for achieving the desired objectives.

A tour covering different Sections at the Clients Management was organized for the delegation where business systems and processes being used in dealing with the public, customs clients and services as well as e-complaints and customer care systems were recognized.

The visiting delegation learned about the Clients Relations Section business mechanism and methodology, objectives and roles and responsibilities, which include but not limited to; receipt and responding to clients inquiries and organizing regular meetings with clients.

A detailed brief was given to the delegation on the customer complaint system adopted by Dubai Customs, which contributed to the achievement of a great progress representing 100 per cent in tracking and handling customer complaints during the 4th quarter of 2008 whereas handling of a single complaint accounted for 2.8/day recording a considerable growth as compared to the 7 days recommended by the Executive Counsel of Dubai Government.

“Dubai Customs continues to deal with customer complaints as an opportunity for continuous improvement and development. It was the leading organization in designing a dedicated e-system for complaint system management seeking to achieve excellence and attain highest performance levels in handling complaints by adopting best practices. Dubai Customs was the first government organization in the Middle East and North Africa to earn ISO 1002 for customer complaints,” Bin Lahej said.

The delegation has become aware of service delivery standards at all 14 customs centers including benchmarking system (relative to standards , processes and results) that leading to achieve best customer satisfaction results by delivering higher quality service in line with serving national economy, local and international security and facilitating legitimate trade movement.

Worth mentioning, Dubai Customs started to implement focus group meetings methodology with different business sectors for communicating and developing partnership with key stakeholders through open discussion with each business category; this move led to greater successes at customer satisfaction level.

Dubai Customs HR Experience Discussed At “Tabadol” Programme

Dubai- In collaboration with the Dubai Committee for Government Human Resources and the Dubai Government Excellence Programme, Dubai Customs organized a presentation where customs experience in human recourses planning and development and promotion of job capabilities and skills that enable them to play an effective and more productive role in the industry were discussed.

The presentation, which was titled “Change Management”, came as part of a series of monthly presentations under “Tabadol” programme that launched by the Dubai Executive Council with the aim of exchanging expertise between government departments and disseminating best government successful human resources practices for the benefit of all government departments in a way that contribute to develop and enhance competency and productivity.

A large number of government human resources planning and development specialists representing more than 15 government departments attended the presentation.
Speaking at the presentation, Feryal Tawakul, the Executive Director of Human resources Division at Dubai Customs thanked the Executive Council for its prompt effort in taking due care of human resources at government departments, launching “Tabadol” programme and allowing Dubai Customs to bring forward its experience in the area of human resources development.

“Exchange of expertise and learning about different practices and disseminating the best of them among different government departments would positively affect human resources development in general and greatly help to promote their technical skills and enabling them to play an effective role in line with Dubai strategy and Dubai government human resources strategic plan,” said Ms. Tawakul.

Dubai Customs is the first government department to present “Change Management” as a best international practice in the area of human resources management.

Ms. Tawakul pointed out that, “The Human Resources Division at Dubai Customs established a dedicated section for the organizational development and change management as a critical methodology helping customs employees to accept new strategies and techniques that to be adopted, as part of the reform and modernization programme, for contributing to mitigate change shock impact in connection with the organizational structure, job requirements and business processes. Performance at both individual and organizational levels would then be consolidated. Employees are being qualified and educated about change elements and objectives as to be able to understand it and develop their technical and behavioral skills.”

She added that, “the implementation of change management approach would assist the employee as well with understanding any changes that take place at the organizational level and directing him/her to accept and willingly implement them until he/she has the adequate courage to change his job behavior in consistence with these changes. Such an approach would play a significant role in achieving corporate development, creating conformity and integration of manpower processes and ensuring human resources efficiency and competency.”

Mr. Naser Al Hamley, member and coordinator of Dubai Committee for Government Human Resources said that, “the committee plan for 2009 includes a number of current and future programmes, which might contribute to develop and enhance competency of human resources officers at government departments and organizations and inciting to present creative ideas and innovative thinking helpful for delivering best programmes and practices benefiting the human reassures sector in particular and Dubai government in general.”

Dubai Public Prosecution Adopts Dubai eGovernment’s SMS Service

Dubai eGovernment Department has announced that Dubai Public Prosecution has recently adopted its SMS integrated service, which allows clients, including the transacting public, lawyers and prosecutors, to inquire about rulings on cases, times of sessions, resolutions, and the status of proposals and requests drafted by the Public Prosecution. Users can simply send an SMS containing data on the nature of the query, such as the case type, year and serial number, at a nominal cost of 60 fils per text.

The service is part of Dubai eGovernment’s strategy of providing information and online government services by supporting government departments with a range of advanced electronic systems and synergistic services such as ePay, eLearn, and eHost, among others. The SMS feature is among the innovative electronic solutions developed by the Department to improve the quality of electronic services. The new service is currently undergoing its initial phase, which is limited to the Judiciary and Public Prosecution areas, but is expected to expand to include many other government authorities in the near future.

“We continue our quest to provide innovative solutions and high-level services that complement the ongoing transformation of Dubai as a global economic hub. The provision of online service platforms, in a society where speed and efficiency are key elements to achieve success, is an important step to achieve sustainability and support the emirate’s development process,” said Ahmed Bin Humaidan, Director General, Dubai eGovernment Department.

Commenting on this step, Isam Isa Al Humaidan, Dubai’s Attorney General, said: “This move is the beginning of a new phase in the provision of judicial services in view of its role in facilitating legal procedures, reducing the time taken and minimizing general costs, which contribute to strengthening the national economy and promoting social development in Dubai and the UAE in general. We have also adopted this service to support our future plans to upgrade our services to the highest global standards, in line with Dubai’s march towards development and electronic transformation.”

“Through our online portal, www.dxbpp.gov.ae, we facilitate online inquiries on cases, registration applications and many other services that expedite and simplify procedures through the use of the latest technologies, swith the aim of achieving our goal of easing the lives of people and businesses interacting with the government,” he added.

Meanwhile, Thani Abdulla Al Zafeen, CEO, Dubai eGovernment Department said: “It is because Dubai is a regional pioneer in applying eGovernment systems that we are committed to further developing our services and adopting world-class standards to keep pace with the rate of growth and development in the region and throughout the world. The launch of this new service complements the e-transformation process, which we initiated when we began operating in 2001. We certainly will work in the coming period to expand the service to include various other areas.”

Dubai eGovernment’s comprehensive web portal, http://www.dubai.ae, allows citizens, residents, visitors and businesses access to electronic services which include among others payment of municipality fees, visa application for relatives, health card renewal, company registration, and payment of RTA fines.