Co-creation and designing of public services
Over the last few years, responsive governments have matured and evolved in the ways of improving their services. The trend now is to engage and collaborate with various segments of society to co-create and design public services. The UAE has been proactive in implementing this approach to fulfill its dual purpose of improved services and citizen engagement.
Co-creation and designing of public services
In the recent past, the UAE held multiple workshops and brainstorming sessions to stimulate customer thought process and get their involvement in terms of feedback and suggestions to enhance government customer service experience.
Government Service Factory
The Government Service Factory (Website in Arabic) was launched with the aim of training the government entities on service designing tools, and taking into account, customer experience. It consisted of a series of workshops, in which government and public raised and developed ideas and then launched a prototype of the services. At each stage, customers were engaged. Focus was given to services in the areas of:
Services for new-borns
Jobs
Scholarships for getting education abroad
Pensions
Getting married
Arriving in the UAE to work
Running a business
Dealing with emergencies
Justice
Environment
Similar efforts
Read about similar efforts which include:
1. Capacity building in government services –it includes training programmes to build and improve the capabilities of government employees involved in designing, developing and delivering government services.
2. The UAE Mystery Shopper app– customers of UAE government can rate their services, their performance and the efficiency of their services.
3. UAE Government Services Council –it enhances coordination between government entities to develop services jointly to promote customer happiness.
Government Experience (GX)
Another noteworthy effort is Government Experience (GX). It is a new global framework for government service excellence from the UAE. The UAE Government is optimising government service experiences and going upstream to serve customers with intuitive, intelligent and delightful services, while collaborating with global practitioners and innovators to do so.
GX aims to unite government decision-makers, global practitioners and renowned innovators to re-examine and re-define Government Experience for the present and the future. It stands for the following and more:
- A one-stop platform to enable interaction and share best practices globally with specific focus on government services
- Single pre-eminent destination for learning, knowledge and consolidation of experiences and practical research stories from around the world
- A forum for idea exchange and resource collaboration for stakeholders that can potentially connect startups and companies with government entities seeking solutions.
The MOHAP UX Lab
Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHaP) established a User Experience (UX) Lab to engage customers in every stage of digital services development, to ensure their satisfaction with MoHaP’s digital services and systems.
Participating customers provided their recommendations and feedback to improve current and to-be digital systems.
The UX Lab uses a human-centred approach to focus on key areas such as:
- interface design
- usability
- quality of information within digital service or system being tested.
During the session, an eye-tracking device is used which generates heat maps and glaze plots. These are analysed to study customer behaviour with the system and work on areas of improvement.
Google analytics and CRM logs are studied to provide useful data in the information gathering phase of service re-design.
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Department of Proactive Services in Ministry of Possibilities
Department of Proactive Services in Ministry of Possibilities aims to redefine customer experience with public services by anticipating needs and initiating service offerings before they are demanded.
It explores various types of customers and their service needs through every phase of life and works with them to redesign their experience to ease and enrich their lives. The department was led by H. E. Ohood bint Khalfan Al Roumi, the then Minister of State for Happiness and Wellbeing and Director General of the Prime Minister's Office.
As a result of the workshops, the UAE Government came up with the following:
1- Services 1
Services 1 and its checkout co-creation workspace– this was built with the vision to be number one globally in government services. Its pillars are:
- One Stop Shop - delivering integrated government services as ‘bundles’ based on life events without the need for customers to visit other government service centres.
- Innovation Platform for Government Services - utilising Artificial Intelligence technology, the centre presents a glimpse of the future for government service delivery.
- Co-Creation of Government Services - collaborating with customers and partners to co-design and re-engineer government services using a range of service design techniques and behavioural science methods.
2- Basher
Basher is an integrated eService, which enables investors to establish their businesses in the UAE within 15 minutes through a unified online platform. Through Basher, the investor can get the following bundle services:
- a quota for the new employee
- an initial approval/a job offer
- a work permit
- a bank guarantee for the new employee after paying permit fees
- a labour contract for the employee.
3- Usrati
Usrati, which means ‘my family’ in English, is a proactive and fully integrated government services platform designed to assist UAE citizens in establishing and supporting their families. The development of the platform was based on a participatory design - there were 7 interactive workshops with the community and more than 40 interactions between agencies and 32 work teams. The platform offers a wide range of government services to cover the various stages of family development and establishment. Stages include marriage, pregnancy, birth and child development and education. You do not need to submit any documents to apply for the service.
The following services are offered through Usrati:
- Marriage certificate – you can view and download your Marriage Certificate
- Family book – you can apply for an electronic Family Book post your marriage
- Marriage grant – you can apply for a Marriage Grant based on a certain eligibility criteria
- Housing assistance – you can apply for a Housing Assistance based on a certain eligibility criteria
- Pregnancy care – you can find useful resources on pregnancy and how to prepare for parenthood
- Mabrouk Ma Yak – you can apply for all of your child's documents and get them delivered to your home
- Paternity leave – you can apply for paternity leave on your child's birth
- Maternity leave – you can apply for maternity leave on your child's birth
- Child allowance – you can apply for child allowance on your child's birth
- Child development survey – you can check whether your child is meeting the developmental milestones by answering this simple survey
- Child education – you can book a seat for your newborn in government schools
- Child care – you can check your child's vaccination history and vaccination plan.
4- Employment bundle (Tawtheef)
Tawtheef is a bundle of services, which enable companies to complete all services related to hiring and employment in one visit only. By applying for Tawtheef, a company can get:
- a quota for the new employee
- an initial approval/a job offer
- a work permit
- a bank guarantee for the new employee after paying permit fees
- a labour contract for the employee.
5- Wedding bundle - Mabrook Ma Dabart
The wedding bundle offers a set of services related to getting married. It includes the issuance of the marriage certificate and a new Family Book in addition to the necessary attestations. The bundle is offered to Muslim UAE nationals and non-UAE nationals residing or visiting the emirate of Dubai. Bundle deliverables will be issued within 1-2 days.
6- The Mawroothna card
Ministry of Climate Change and Environment launched the Mawroothna card for UAE citizens working in the professions of fishing and agriculture. Cardholders can enjoy benefits in the form of discounts at various retail outlets. Through partnerships with various organisations, this initiative aims to promote fishing and agriculture as a profession in the local communities, as they are a central part of the heritage in the United Arab Emirates. Discounts and promotions aim to facilitate their fishing and agriculture requirements.
7- Sanad bundle
Sanad is a bundle service that enables citizens and residents to apply for and obtain a birth certificate and a health card for their newborns in a single transaction.This bundle is offered jointly by Ministry of Health and Prevention and Emirates Health Services.
Apply for Sanad bundle through the website of Ministry of Health and Prevention.
8- Ajr Wa Aafya bundle
Ajr Wa Aafya is a bundle service that enables federal government employees to attest sick leaves and medical reports, and apply for sick leaves on the Human Resources Management Information System ‘Bayanati’ in a single step. This bundle is offered jointly by Ministry of Health and Prevention and Federal Authority for Government Human Resources.
Apply for Ajr Wa Aafya bundle through the website of Ministry of Health and Prevention.
9 -The ‘Bait Amer’ service bundle
The ‘Bait Amer’ service bundle from Ajman Government streamlines the process of applying for approvals to construct a new house. It also reduces the number of steps required for approvals; from 14 to just 3.
Emiratis can apply for the ‘Bait Amer’ service by registering on the ‘Amar’ platform. The service was developed and redesigned after analysing the customer's journey.
This service is managed through an integrated system developed by Ajman Digital Department. It connects several entities including Etihad Water and Electricity, Etisalat, Municipality and Planning Department- MPDA and Ajman Sewerage.
Read about the
- Government Services Development Guide 2.0 (PDF, 3.2 MB)
- UAE Strategy for Government Services (PDF in Arabic, 2.41 MB).
