Agenda set to preserve national identity — Executive Council

Dubai: Almost two years ago, the Dubai Government's Executive Council launched a strategic government initiative, the Dubai Partnership Agenda (DPA), which aimed to facilitate collaboration among different government entities and increasing synergy between the public and private sectors.

"It is an open dialogue and an interactive platform whose purpose is to ultimately produce policy recommendations that can support the Dubai Strategic Plan 2015," according to Abdullah Al Shaibani, Secretary-General of the Dubai Executive Council.

This week the General Secretariat of the council announced the completion of the second session of DPA held on preservation of National Identity in education and came up with a 13-point plan to strengthen it.

The following is Al Shaibani's interview with Gulf News.

GULF NEWS: You seem to have completed the DPA Education and National Identity Preservation session proceedings. Could you please explain what the next steps are?

AL SHAIBANI: When we launched Dubai Partnership Agenda (DPA) in 2010, we committed ourselves to produce results. Each session is dedicated to a crucial topic that touches upon the life of the people in Dubai.

With the participant of public and private sectors and members of the community in the sessions, a number of recommendations are being proposed to maintain the position of Dubai.

The measurement is not how many recommendations are being put into action, but rather the support of private sector that provides intelligence on recommendations already part of government plans.

Taking this opportunity, I would like to thank all our private and public sector stakeholders who took part at the second session, as well as those who were involved at post session proceedings.

Following the second session, we, at the General Secretariat of the Executive Council, as per DPA proceedings, compiled the summary report including session's recommendations. We, then, circulated the report among session participants and entities who in turn provided feedback on the recommendations concerning them and their plans for implementation. Results were positive as many recommendations were endorsed by concerned entities and implementation plans were developed.

Is it mandatory for the entities to act on those recommendations?

DPA is an open dialogue and interaction platform between public and private sectors and members of the community.

Private sector is our key stakeholder; we work closely together with shared ambitions and towards shared goals. It is imperative that we hear what they have to say and address their legitimate concerns and issues. DPA provides a structured channel not only for that purpose, but it also gives us, the government, and the opportunity to benefit from their opinions, expertise and experience.

We have put together a process to evaluate the appropriateness of those recommendations in terms of necessity, feasibility and timeliness with the input of the Executive Council, related sector committee and concerned entities.

DPA is a consultative initiative and its outcomes are carried out by consensus of all parties involved. Here, the measurement is not only the percentage of recommendations put into action, but also explanations and feedback provided by private sector.

How do you organise DPA, is there a procedure in place?

As the General Secretariat of the Executive Council, we lead and facilitate the whole process of the DPA; starting from getting the feedback on each session topic according to a set evaluation criteria, preliminary meetings with representatives of government and private entities on session topic specific discussion areas, conduct researches covering policies and strategies in place, analysis of media coverage on specific topics, communications with panellists, organisation of the session, compiling the session report along with our prioritisation and action points to presenting it to the Executive Council and the respective sector committee.

Guidebook to be shared with public and private schools

Local handicrafts and pieces from various museums in the UAE will be displayed in malls on a regular basis as part of Dubai Government's 13-point plan to preserve the national identity. The plan is the brainchild of the Dubai Partnership Agenda (DPA) concluded its session on the topic in this week.

The Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) said it is currently developing an implementation plan by setting out criteria to identify malls and pieces to be showcased. The project capitalises on educating the growing number of young students visiting malls, about the heritage and the history of the emirates, and strengthen links between youth and the national identity of the country.

Another recommendation involves the UAE Ministry of Education, which pledged to set up a committee to develop a guide for teachers to link national identity to all educational subjects to be implemented in the next academic year.

"A reference guide on national identity related publications and book will be shared with public and private schools. The Dubai Culture and Arts Authority will set a plan for the publication of the guidebook to be ready by the end of this year," the spokesman said.

Important policy

DPA emphasised the importance of developing a policy of teaching national identity subjects as of primary education stages in order to cultivate and deepen the values national identity among students at younger ages. The community of development authority (CDA) will liaise with concerned entities to implement the recommendation in cooperation with public and private schools in the emirate.

DPA highlighted the Hamdan Bin Mohammad Students' Personal Development Programme to engage emiratis from federal, local governments and private sector as role models to support personal skills development of students as well as cultivating national identity features.