Best practices keep happiness factor up

Dubai - Ohoud bint Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister of State for Happiness, delivered inaugural speech at the forum.

The National Programme for Happiness and Positivity (NPHP) on Tuesday organised  the Government Best Practices in Happiness and Wellbeing Forum, that saw a footfall of over 800 people from government and federal entities.
Ohoud bint Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister of State for Happiness, delivered inaugural speech at the forum. Over 80 entities submitted about 350 innovative happiness practices they had adopted. Out of these, the NPHP shortlisted 32 entities that showcased more than 50 best practices they had implemented and also shared the outcome of those practices.
"The event aimed at celebrating the innovative practices by all government and federal entities to ensure happiness and wellbeing of the country. It was also an effort to bring all together in order to share knowledge, inspire and get inspired, learn from each other; exchange experiences and showcase the positive results achieved," said an official from the NPHP.
Every entity gave a 10-minute presentation of their innovative idea of happiness and how they are creating happiness by implementing it.
Hessa Al Balooshi, director of smart services department at Smart Dubai, told Khaleej Times: "We showcased two strategic initiatives related to happiness of the Dubai. The first one is Dubai Now, a unified application where residents can find all services on one platform. Instead of downloading different apps for different services, we developed one app that will give people access to most common city services. The second initiative is called Happy To Pay, in collaboration with the Dubai Police, to help people feel positive and not dejected when they pay their fines. So to convert the negative feeling to positive while paying fines, Smart Dubai added one step to the fine payment procedure of the Dubai Police where whenever the individual pays his fine, he will be told where (which sector) his money will be invested."
Representing Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA), project manager Suaad Al Shamsi, said: "We talked about our unique service called Mabrook Ma Yak that aims to provide all the identity documents for a newborn - such as birth certificate, passport, Emirates ID, registering them in the population census. The service is currently only for Emiratis, who can register their baby through this link and get all their identity documents from just one visit to the immigration department. The service is available at 24 UAE hospitals and 2,700 babies have been registered so far. At today's forum, we will showcase the happiness and convenience this initiative has created among the people."
The Happiness Patrol branch manager at the Abu Dhabi Police, Salem Al Menhali, gave a presentation on the happiness traffic control car that doesn't give fines but an appreciation certificate to those who abide by traffic laws. However, if you violated a law, the police will not fine you, but only give a colourful card that warns you not to repeat the error. "We also give away prizes such as phones and other gifts to law abiding drivers. Our aim is not to scare people but to encourage them to be good and make them happy," he said.
saman@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai