Dubai Smart Government has officially activated “Happiness Meter” in 14 government entities so far

UAE, April 21, 2015 - In a practical step to implement the Happiness Meter initiative launched in October 2014 by HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Dubai Smart Government Department (DSG) announced that it has officially activated the Happiness Meter for 14 government entities. From April first week onwards, customers can rate their happiness experience while using the government websites, apps or in person. 

The 14 Dubai government entities who have so far activated the Happiness Meter service on their websites and affiliated service centres include: DEWA, Dubai Municipality, Dubai Police, Dubai Courts, RTA, Dubai Culture, Dubai Airport Free Zone, Dubai Statistics, AMAF, Finance Department, DSG, Islamic Affairs, KHDA and Dubai Civil Aviation Authority.

H.E. Ahmad Bin Humaidan, DSG Director General, said: “This step for actual implementation of the Happiness Meter initiative, which HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, launched and HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, instructed to be promptly implemented in government entities; is taken to interactively measure the happiness of Dubai's residents, visitors and tourists as well as their satisfaction with the government services on a daily basis that takes into consideration the rapid changes and the people's rapidly changing expectations. The measurements will be done via smart and electronic devices installed in the headquarters of government entities and connected to a central network that monitors this meter and sends daily reports to decision-makers to identify the geographical and government zones that are the happiest about and most satisfied with government services with the aim of developing them and improving the happiness of the public about the services provided to them." 

Bin Humaidan added: “This service is activated based on the importance of combining the efforts of Dubai’s government entities to ensure the fulfillment of the leadership’s vision of meeting all the necessary requirements that will contribute to bringing happiness to all by raising the efficiency of government entities in terms of providing their services to the public and strengthening the necessary infrastructure. I am confident that this new service will effectively contribute to promoting Dubai’s competitiveness globally, enabling Dubai government to become the smartest government regionally and globally.  Additionally, the service will help the UAE maintain its top position regionally on the ‘International Happiness Index’, which it secured in 2014 and also its top position globally on the 2015 Edelman Trust Barometer in terms of people's trust in government, trust in the economy and the government's ability to stimulate innovation.”

Earlier, DSG organized a workshop attended by 90 employees representing 26 governmental entities in order to publicize the ‘Happiness Meter  Initiative’ and arrange for implementing it with the aim of providing a smart, interactive and easy to use the software development kit connected with centralized electronic network to daily measure the happiness of the public and their satisfaction with the government services provided to them, making this kit a common centralized service to be added to the bouquet of shared services provided by DSG to all Dubai government entities.

The dedicated teams at DSG have already worked on the technological mechanisms necessary to connect the systems of Dubai government entities with the central database of the Happiness Meter. DSG has provided the technical support for the project and will complete the first phase in the upcoming days by providing the government entities with an interactive dashboard to monitor the result and ensure successful fulfillment of the leadership’s vision towards cementing the steps taken to achieve smart government and make Dubai the smartest city globally and the first city in the world that interactively measures the happiness of its inhabitants, visitors and tourists on a daily basis.

Posted on www.godubai.com