Dubai: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, launched an initiative (Afkari) to support and fund innovative ideas proposed by 90,000 federal government employees to develop work systems in their organisations
The Afkari initiative involves the establishment of a fund to finance creative ideas, and a panel of experts to examine and select outstanding ideas and support the implementation of the winning ideas in the government bodies concerned within three months.
The fund will finance the best innovative ideas that would contribute to developing government services at ministries and government bodies. The ideas will be examined and evaluated by the panel composed of a group of experts, innovators and international entrepreneurs. The committee will also include representatives from the public and private sectors who will be chosen on the grounds of experience and academic and practical competence.
“We will have a team that will study the ideas and another team to support their implementation. Budgets will be allocated to support government employees with innovative and creative ideas to implement their ideas,” Shaikh Mohammad said.
The initiative, Afkari, includes the establishment of a fund to finance the ideas, while a special dedicated team of experts will examine the nominations and outstanding ideas and support the implementation of winning ideas in government organisations within three months.
The fund will finance the best innovative ideas that will contribute to the development of government services in ministries and entities, and will be evaluated by a committee of experts, innovators and pioneers of global business and representatives of the public and private sectors, who will be selected based on their experience and scientific and practical track record.
On this occasion, Shaikh Mohammad said: “We have launched the first government fund to support the innovative ideas of our employees to convey the message that we are personally interested in their ideas. Every employee who has the ambition to improve government services will be encouraged and given the required support.”
He added: “Changing the government system requires courage, ideas, and support for innovation, and we consider our employees as leaders.”
Shaikh Mohammad said: “Nations are not built by wishes, but by the men and women who have the will to overcome challenges, and our job as leaders is to prepare leaders and provide an ideal environment for everyone to contribute to the process of building the future of their country.”
To ease the process of submitting ideas, the UAE government has developed a dedicated website, afkari.gov.ae, where applicants can send innovative ideas related to all sectors.
Afkari is a new initiative of the Mohammad Bin Rashid Centre for Government Innovation which aims to provide integrated tools to support government entities to develop their services and adopt the culture of innovation.
