Dubai: The UAE Cabinet will focus on drawing up policies and services that will contribute to creating a positive and happy society.
The government will lay the foundation for an appropriate environment to ensure the happiness and well-being of the UAE society, said His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, as he approved the national programme for happiness and positivity on Monday.
“Our aim is to make happiness a lifestyle in the UAE community as well as the noble goal and supreme objective of the government,” said Shaikh Mohammad.
Shaikh Mohammad reviewed the programme presented by Ohoud Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister of State for Happiness, at his Executive Office in Dubai, in the presence of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince, Shaikh Maktoum Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, and Mohammad Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future.
Three areas
The programme features a host of initiatives in three major areas: The inclusion of happiness in the policies, programmes and services of all government bodies, as well as the work environment there.
Today we adopted the National Programme for happiness and positivity. Our ultimate goal as a government is for happiness as a way of life.— HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) March 7, 2016
During a meeting with the Minister of State for Happiness to present the 100 days plan moving forward pic.twitter.com/asedjtLSsk— HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) March 7, 2016
The second area will be consolidating the values of positivity and happiness as a lifestyle in the UAE community and, finally, developing tools and indexes to gauge happiness.
Al Roumi presented her plans during the first 100 days of being the first Minister of State for Happiness.
Measuring happiness
Shaikh Mohammad underlined the importance of accurately gauging happiness among all segments of society, in line with the aspirations of each segment and its current and future needs.
He reaffirmed the need to listen to the ideas, opinions and suggestions of all individuals and organisations on how to achieve happiness and positivity in the UAE.
Al Roumi outlined the most important components of the national programme for happiness, which aims to ensure that all state plans and legislation follow a unified approach to realise happiness and positivity, stimulate government and private bodies to launch initiatives to achieve this goal.
The national plan for happiness includes a host of initiatives to develop and adopt corporate models for happiness, launching a charter for happiness in all federal government bodies. It also features the development of a happiness guideline, as well as performance indices that ensure the compliance of the plans of establishments with those of the programme.
The plan proposes the transformation of government service centres into customer happiness centres, and allocating government employees to realise the happiness of customers. A range of initiatives will be launched in cooperation with national media to firmly establish the values of happiness and positivity. Other initiatives will be launched to encourage reading and publish books that focus on happiness in order to raise awareness about the importance of positivity and happiness as an integrated lifestyle.
