Leadership in action

The Elite Programme gives young government leaders the chance to explore and improve Dubai's growth and sustainability. Maysam Ali reports.

As part of the Elite Programme designed by the Mohammad Bin Rashid Programme for Leadership Development (MBRPLD), young government employees were asked to apply their creativity in five projects. The projects involved Dubai's growth, quality of life, culture and traditions, women's participation and environmental stability. Participants were asked to define areas of weakness and provide recommendations on how to resolve those problems.

Twenty-five employees from the Executive Council, Prime Minister's Office, the Mohammad Bin Rashid Foundation, the Dubai School of Government, Dubai Women's Establishment and the Knowledge and Human Development Authority worked in five teams on the projects.

Winning projects

Two projects related to innovation and the strengthening of Dubai's culture made it to the top. The team is awaiting feedback from governmental institutions in the hope of implementing its recommendations.

Fatima Al Khouri, who works in the Competitiveness Department of the Prime Minister's Office, introduced her team's project.

"We need to develop creativity, innovation and out-of-the-box thinking in Dubai in order to meet the challenges of the future and sustain Dubai's economic growth," she said.

The project was evaluated by dignitaries from the Executive Office and ranked first.

National identity

The project that won second place examined the ways in which Dubai's heritage, culture and national identity could be maintained. "The major reasons that affect the loss of identity are the demographic composition of the population, the usage of the Arabic language and the lack of awareness about national identity by both UAE nationals and expatriates," said Shumous Bin Fares, who works at the Executive Office's Finance Department.

"We proposed the establishment of the Dubai National Identity Agency, which would take care of these issues by implementing positive policies," she said. "We want to spread awareness on national identity through the media, reform the curriculum and use the best of foreign labour."

The Community Development Authority expressed interest in adopting this project.

"Without the government, nothing can be implemented regarding national identity," she said.

Enhancing the quality of life

Mohammad Al Hawi, the Prime Minister's Office, shared the findings of a survey his team conducted that showed that people were dissatisfied with the quality of life, including traffic, healthcare and education.

"When we found out that Dubai ranked 83rd on the Mercer Quality of Life Index, we were shocked. We conducted a survey and found out that people here aren't satisfied either," he said. Mohammad represented a group of seven which worked on the project for eight months.

"We need to regulate and present this kind of information to people through an online website," he added.

Environmental sustainability

The fourth project focused on establishing an environmental authority and launching a campaign under the slogan "You" to urge people to take part in saving the environment.

"Dubai's fast growth has left the environment behind. There was no planning, budgeting or awareness of the importance of the environment, so we propsed this authority to tackle this issue on a national level," said Abdullah Bin Touq, who works at the Strategy and Policy Department at the Prime Minister's Office.

Women's participation

The last project emphasised including women at all levels of management.

Speaking on behalf of the group, Adel Al Shared, MBRPLD Director, said: "The participants suggested that certain decrees in the human resources law be issued so that the workplace becomes more flexible for working women and mothers," he said.

What they learnt

The participants said they learned a lot from working on the projects. "Firstly, I made good use of my networking skills as I met people from different organisations in Dubai," Shumous said.

Bin Touq said: "It was good training for leadership, especially when we did the Personal Development Plan and highlighted our weaknesses and ways to resolve them."

Al Hawi said: "We learned leadership skills, team dynamics, transferring skills to other people in the team and made sure everyone in the group has benefited."

New batch in March

The current batch is completing another leadership exercise before graduating in March.

"After measuring the satisfaction and the evaluation of participants on the programme, we can certainly say it was very beneficial. We have enhanced the content, duration and training modules for future batches of this programme," Al Shared said.