When you have to go to public agencies in many Arab countries, you just dream of having your time not wasted, let alone receiving a good treatment there.
I remembered this when I was looking at how to achieve happiness standards in the UAE. There is a difficulty in discovering new steps that could bring happiness to government work, as long as the procedures are running smoothly and in record times, not to mention some other luxuries such as the availability of comfortable waiting seats and perhaps the availability of other accessories such as water and sometimes Arabic coffee and so on.
Just as some governments are exhausting their people through complicated procedures, our government is creating new services to both citizens and residents. The Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development opened on May 1st a ‘Happiness Café’. The aim of the ministry is to transform the workplace into an attractive environment that allows all employees to unleash their energies and efforts to attain achievements that are reflected on society. The goal is to delight the employee in an innovative way, and then imagine how this happy employee can deal with us.
The Happiness Cafe is the employee’s outlet during the working hours and includes a variety of sessions for reading, listening and electronic games, along with green spaces and a small fountain. There is a so-called Group for Employees’ Happiness and another innovation team. There is also a CEO of happiness and positivity and time is dedicated to happiness activities and a model is implemented to ensure the standards of happiness and positivity.
The competition is fierce between the ministries and government agencies in the UAE to win the hearts of the citizens after the government has launched the national program of happiness and positivity, which includes a number of initiatives, including the implication of happiness in the policies, programs and services of all government agencies and working environment. Happiness is one of the criteria for working in the provision of government services, namely the happiness of employees and customers alike.
Happiness in the UAE is not a slogan to make the government look good but a lifestyle linked to positive thinking and behavior. A positive person should help himself and others around him. There are developed standards to monitor indicators of happiness in the country, as well as performance-centered governance to ensure quality and sustainability.
The interest in happiness in the UAE is an aspect of the country’s global competitiveness and a resource of soft power. The UAE is now ranked first in the 2016 World Happiness Index for Arab countries and 28th internationally, but it seeks to reach the top five happiest countries in the world.
The focus on happiness is not just in the culture sector. The Abu Dhabi Police has developed the ‘happiness police patrols’. The ADP is interested in implementing the country’s strategies on the ground, by providing all the potential and human resources qualified to provide security services at the hands of the experienced and efficient staff to serve the people. Officials confirmed that the development of services and initiatives to enhance happiness and a sense of positive community members became a plan of action for Abu Dhabi Police.
Police and happiness might seem like completely unrelated words. Some people in our Arab countries are afraid to visit police offices. But through will and good intentions this could be changed. The happiness patrol aims to provide various security services to the public in order to save time and effort and ensure maximum safety by minimizing the use of transportation. That is, citizens can have access to police services wherever they are.
It is worth mentioning that this patrol provides all security services, not only formal work but also a number of services including renewal and issuance of car ownership, driving licenses, payment of traffic violations, opening criminal communications of all kinds, traffic investigation and all smart services in addition to crisis management. This police station can manage these tasks 24 hours a week and in different places.
These are positive indicators of a better future in the Arab world and more respect for the human being, of course in addition to the basic human rights. Instead of showing the world scenes of slaughter, killing, violence and bloodshed, we can show positive scenes.
The UAE is sending messages of hope amidst the darkness of extremism and violence that besets our Arab region. The culture of happiness and positivity can dispel the atmosphere of despair and frustration that destroys most of the Arab youth.
