Oman captures four prestigious 2011 UN Public Service Awards
The winners will be honored at the 2011 UNPSA Awards Ceremony in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, in June 2011. The Information Technology Authority (ITA) was a first-place winner with its ‘Transforming the Society through the e.oman Communication Strategy’ in the category of ‘Advancing Knowledge Management in Government’. The Ministry of Education was another first-place winner in the category of ‘Improving the Delivery of Public Services’ with its ‘Education Portal’. And, yet another first-place finisher was the Ministry of Civil Services for the ‘Central Recruiting System’ in the ‘Preventing and combating corruption in the public service’ category. Finishing in second place was the National Association for Cancer Awareness for its ‘Mobile Mammography Unit’ in the category of ‘Promoting gender-responsive delivery of public services’.
The UN Public Service Award recognizes the creative achievements and contributions of public service institutions which lead to a more effective and responsive public service administration in countries worldwide. Through an annual competition, the UN Public Service Awards promote the role, professionalism, and visibility of public service. It is important to note that each year there are only five categories with two winners per category each year. Since the commencement of the UNPSA in 2003, few countries have won these prestigious awards. Oman has successfully won awards in 2003 (Muscat Municipality), 2009 (Royal Oman Police), 2010 (Ministry of Health), and now again, four awards in 2011. This achievement alone is testament to the sultanate’s unwavering desire to excel at providing exceptional public service.
When contacted for comment on the occasion, HE Eng. Ali bin Masoud Al Sunaidy, Minister of Sports Affairs and Chairman of ITA, said, “We are very proud of the accomplishments the sultanate has achieved at the international level. The United Nations Public Service Award (UNPSA) is the most prestigious award in the international arena which recognizes excellence in public service. For three government organizations and one NGO to have won these awards this year, signifies the great attention and importance the sultanate has given to focusing its efforts to improve the government eServices in the different sectors of society. Congratulations to everyone involved for making this happen!”
Dr. Salim Al Ruzaiqi, CEO of the Information Technology Authority (ITA), the national authority responsible for implementing the Digital Oman Strategy, offered this statement, “Winning four prestigious United Nations Public Service Awards in 2011 is an outstanding achievement for Oman. It is clear that government sectors are giving due care and attention to developing eServices and are continuing to excel in this area. On behalf of the ITA, I am especially proud to honor the successes ITA has had in raising awareness in the community about e.oman projects and initiatives. We hope that with this achievement, and the achievements of our fellow government organizations, other similar accomplishments in the development of eServices will soon prevail.”
ITA – Transforming the Society through the e.oman Communication Strategy
The Digital Oman Strategy, or e.oman Initiative for short, outlines the blueprint for several key IT initiatives in the Sultanate of Oman which aim to create an effective government-community-citizen infrastructure that provides better public services to its people. The most important challenge in building the infrastructure was ensuring public awareness about eServices. Through eServices, the government seeks new and innovative ways to better engage and interact with citizens in the delivery of public service. Without a clear understanding of the benefits and consequences of the e.oman Initiative and its related electronic services, the targeted user would not be able to appreciate the need to be IT literate and use those eServices.
Preparing Oman’s society to adopt the e.oman vision and be IT savvy to meet the demands of a knowledge-based economy was accomplished by effecting the following activities: embarking on numerous marketing & awareness campaigns – e.oman roadshows, COMEX conferences and exhibitions, e.oman presentations at key festivals in the country; creating challenging awards and competitions – Oman Web Awards, 1st eGov Services Award, and the Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in eGovernment; implementing strategic capacity building – Government IT Training & Certification, Community Knowledge Centers (CKCs), and Train-the-trainer workshops for disabled Associations; and lastly, observing annual celebrations of World Information Society Day. These achievements combined helped the ITA to win first place with its ‘Transforming the Society through the e.oman Communication Strategy’ in the category of ‘Advancing Knowledge Management in Government’.
Ministry of Education – Education Portal
HE Dr. Madeeha bint Ahmed bin Nassir al Shibaniyah, Minister of Education said, “The Ministry of Education gives priority and attention to using ICTs in education and we recognize that this is very important to supporting the development of Oman. The ministry has implemented many programs and the education portal initiative is one of the most important projects, as it serves the ministry’s objectives and links with the e.oman Initiative. Winning this important award proves the success of this portal. Looking forward, the ministry sees the education portal as a way that can only enhance the education processes.”
The Ministry of Education (MoE) also finished in first-place in the category of ‘Improving the Delivery of Public Services’ with its ‘Education Portal’. The MoE has around 1043 schools, 53000 teachers and administrators with 550,000 students spread all over the country in 11 educational zones. And with a land area of about 309,500 km2 and a population of just over 3 million, these zones are scattered far away from each other. With the large amount of information needing to be communicated on a daily basis between staff, students and parents, many challenges presented. Administration processes at schools, being mostly paper-based, were often duplicated. As well, the geographical distance also created a connectivity problem; poor connection to the internet meant schools could not interact with each other or with the Ministry head office online.
The creation of MoE’s Education Portal and implementation across three educational zones has changed the situation for the better. Now there is a web-based application tied to a centralized database. Designed to streamline administrative processes, it also allows administrators, teachers, students and even parents to carry out a variety of transactions online. To date, almost 190,000 students have used the Portal. As well, 112,000 parents have accessed the Portal, in an effort to be more involved in their child’s education. The School Management System has transformed all the administrative work in schools into electronic form. The Learning Management System application handles all educational aspects, publishing e-learning content like digital texts, audio and video materials to present the subject in an attractive way for teachers and students. The portal is also linked to the Documents Management System which tracks and archives electronic documents sent by users. In a nutshell, the Educational Portal provides transparency, accuracy, availability, speed and cost reduction to the Ministry.
Ministry of Civil Services – Central Recruiting System
HE Sheikh Khalid bin Omar bin Said Al Marhoon, Minister of Civil Service offered this statement: “Winning an UNPSA is a notable achievement. This international award reflects the high position of Oman in the global arena. This also reflects the level of transparency and trust in the process of the Central Recruiting System. The Ministry of Civil Services (MoCS) is constantly updating and developing the system in an effort to achieve justice and equality in recruiting new employees in all vacancies in the 30 government agencies that fall under the MoCS. This award makes us very proud, because this system has been produced by Omani technicians from within our ministry. As well, other government organizations have taken this system and have adapted for their own use, when implementing their processes for nominating new employees. On this occasion I would like to thank all employees who have worked on this system in our ministry. I would also like give thanks for the support and cooperation of the many others who have helped along the way.”
The Ministry of Civil Services (MoCS) won first-place for its ‘Central Recruiting System’ in the ‘Preventing and combating corruption in the public service’ category. The MoCS is responsible for recruiting Omani job seekers for the 35 ministries and government units under the Civil Service Law. The traditional paper-based recruitment process, which involved placing of advertisements, personal submission of CVs, administering written qualification exams, grading exams and selection for interviews, was tedious and time-consuming, often taking 11 months. There was also great concern that there was not enough transparency, leading to speculation that the recruitment process was not just or fair.
Development and implementation of the new Central Recruiting System using SMS improved the situation greatly. Job seekers can now apply for Civil Service jobs by sending an SMS with their Manpower Registration Number and the corresponding job identification number published in the advertisements. Through integration with the Ministry of Manpower’s National Manpower System, the system validates the applicant’s data in seconds. The job seekers can apply for jobs in the Civil Service at anytime, anywhere, eliminating the need to travel to the capital just to submit applications and sit for entrance exams. The system electronically verifies applicants’ qualifications; administers computer-based examinations; and, electronically grades exams, immediately producing results. From an initial 11-month time frame, the whole process is shortened to less than a month and, less than a week from testing to nomination. Apart from saving time, the frenzy of the recruitment exercise is totally eliminated and now HR departments in the respective units and in MoCS can focus on quality manpower planning and management.
National Association for Cancer Awareness – Mobile Mammography Unit (MMU)
Upon hearing the news of the win, Ms. Yuthar M. Al Rawahy, Founder & President of the National Association for Cancer Awareness (NACA) said, “We are extremely honored to be recognized by the UN for our work in launching and operating the NACA Mobile Mammography Unit. This award serves to endorse and motivate NACA to continue in our efforts to provide services which will promote early detection of cancer and improve the quality of life of all cancer patients in our community. We appreciate the support and encouragement that NACA has received from the ITA in nominating our project for this prestigious award and their guidance throughout the competitive process. Our objectives at NACA cannot be realized without the commitment and generous support from all sectors of the community and the inspiring dedication of all the volunteers.”
The cultural taboo and perception of “cancer” are deeply imbedded in society. To talk about cancer is not acceptable. This attitude resulted in many cancer patients being diagnosed with the disease at relatively advanced stages. More so, the notion that a woman would request or discuss a breast exam or mammogram ~ a special type of X-ray of the breasts ~ was something that was tragically closeted, especially given the medical profession was largely dominated by male physicians. Even as the Ministry of Health expanded its facilities for mammography or other cancer screening, long waitlists resulted which caused much frustration. The long wait time was not the only factor, as it was determined women, particularly those in the interior of Oman, had limited access to mammography facilities or private sector health care.
Following strong and effective public awareness campaigns, the National Association for Cancer Awareness (NACA) was formed and was officially registered as an NGO in April 2004. NACA has rapidly established its credibility for serving the community. Working tirelessly to raise awareness and funds to establish its headquarters, NACA embarked on it first major initiative to commission a Mobile Mammography Unit (MMU). The MMU offers state-of-the-art breast cancer screening to all the community at no charge. The MMU initiative has clearly benefitted the women of the community, thereby improving the quality of life for the entire community (male and females alike) by providing potentially life-saving healthcare/services to women. Thus, in recognition of all of NACA’s hard work and dedication, the National Association for Cancer Awareness (NACA) has finished in 2nd place in the UNPSA competition, for its ‘Mobile Mammography Unit’ in the category of ‘Promoting gender-responsive delivery of public services’.
Oman’s four awards will be handed out at the 2010 UNPS Awards Ceremony to be held 23 June, in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, to coincide with the United Nations Public Service Day, which happens every year. Oman’s winning entries for this award exemplifies the excellence the country has achieved in harnessing technology to serve the community at large. It is a great achievement for the sultanate as this award is the most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service.