The Sultanate of Oman, represented by the Information Technology Authority (ITA), the Ministry of Civil Service, the Ministry of Education and the National Association for Cancer Awareness, recently received four 2011 United Nations Public Service Awards (UNPSA) at the conclusion of the United Nations and Africa Public Service Forum held in Dar es Salaam, the United Republic of Tanzania, from 20-23 June 2011. The theme of this year’s conference was ‘Transformative Leadership in Public Administration and Innovation in Governance: Creating a Better Life for All’. Alongside the conference, also held was the Global, African and Tanzanian Innovators’ Exhibition, of which ITA was a participant and a popular attraction.

The Information Technology Authority (ITA) was a first-place winner with its ‘Transforming the Society through the e.oman Communication Strategy’ in the category of ‘Advancing Knowledge Management in Government’. Dr. Salim Al Ruzaiqi, CEO of the Information Technology Authority (ITA), the national authority responsible for implementing the Digital Oman Strategy, offered this statement, “The achievement made in winning this international award is important to promote eGovernment services and thus achieve the strategic objectives of Oman’s Digital Society. The success of this national strategy depends primarily on the success of government institutions in the recruitment of IT and communication with various administrative units to provide their services electronically and at a high level of quality, to different segments of society to communicate with and benefit from them, which will enhance the ability of these institutions and will support efforts to achieve the objectives.”

The Ministry of Education was another first-place winner in the category of ‘Improving the Delivery of Public Services’ with its ‘Education Portal’. And, yet another first-place finisher was the Ministry of Civil Services for the ‘Central Recruiting System’ in the ‘Preventing and combating corruption in the public service’ category. Finishing in second place was the National Association for Cancer Awareness for its ‘Mobile Mammography Unit’ in the category of ‘Promoting gender-responsive delivery of public services’. Interesting to note, the Sultanate of Oman was the only country to have won three first-place awards in each of three separate categories. This achievement alone is testament to the sultanate’s unwavering desire to excel at providing exceptional public service.

The UN Public Service Award is the most prestigious international award in the realm of public service and recognizes the creative achievements and contributions of public service institutions which lead to a more effective and responsive public service administration in countries worldwide. Through an annual competition, the UN Public Service Awards promote the role, professionalism, and visibility of public service. It is important to note that each year there are only five categories with two winners per category each year. Since the commencement of the UNPSA in 2003, few countries have won these prestigious awards. Oman has successfully won awards in 2003 (Muscat Municipality), 2009 (Royal Oman Police), 2010 (Ministry of Health), and now again, four awards in 2011.

The Omani delegation participating in the 2011 UNPS Forum was the largest delegation in attendance, and comprised the following members: for ITA, Dr. Salim Sultan Al Ruzaiqi, CEO, Talal Sulaiman Al Rahbi, Deputy CEO for Operations, and Shariffa Mohammed Al-Meskary, Director for International Relations & Information; for Ministry of Civil Service, His Excellency Salim Musallam Ali Al-Busaidi, Under-Secretary of Administrative Affairs, Mr. Aimen Ahmed Sultan Al-Hosni, Director General of Information and Statistics, Mr. Saud Hamad Al-Hamouda, Director General of Recruitment, and Mr. Ahmed Ismail Suwaid, Director General of Development and Quality Assurance; for Ministry of Education, Mr. Khalid Sulaiman Al-Siyabi, Director General of Information Technology; and, for NACA, Dr. Wahid Al Kharusi, Secretary-General for NACA. Vice President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Dr. Mohammed Gharib Bilal, was on hand to present the 2011 United Nations Public Service Awards & Certificates to the esteemed recipients.

On the occasion, Mr. Vincenzo Aquaro, Chief, eGovernment Branch for the United Nations Division for Public Administration and Development Management, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and the highest-ranking UN official participating in the Forum offered the following statement about the Oman’s achievement: “This forum is a good opportunity to share what the Sultanate of Oman has achieved with respect to the 2011 United Nations Public Service Awards. The awards are an opportunity to share innovation and quality and we are very glad that Oman has received four awards for its public service and this is really a very important achievement because it is the result of the sultanate’s desire to provide good public service for its citizens. It is also important because for this forum, what we want from this forum is to facilitate a common framework for public service and also to give opportunities to other countries to learn from Oman and to replicate these projects in their own countries.”

With respect to whether the winning projects can be applied globally, Mr. Aquaro said, “Yes, of course. This is my hope and we will also try to facilitate more of this kind of exchange. Of course it is also very important that countries can learn to work bilaterally. From our perspective we will create a common framework to facilitate such partnership to give opportunity to other countries to take advantage of this access and to what is being offered.”

Over the course of the four-day conference, there were a number of capacity-building workshops with presentations about each of Oman’s winning projects were shared with forum participants, alongside presentations of other winning projects from around the world. Mr. Talal Sulaiman Al Rahbi, Deputy CEO of the Information Technology Authority (ITA), delivered a presentation on the experience of e.oman. He presented general information about the sultanate, followed by a brief about the e.oman Strategy outlining its seven pillars and the attentions accorded to each. Sheikh Aimen Ahmed Al Hosni, Director General, Ministry of Civil Service, also delivered a presentation about the Ministry of Civil Service’s Central Recruiting System, outlining the conditions that showed the need to improve the existing recruiting system. Sultan Said Al Wadhahi, Deputy Director of the Information Systems Department, Ministry of Education, also delivered a presentation and short film about the development of the Education Portal, noting the phases of development and implementation. Rounding out the presentations was Dr. Wahid Al Kharusi, Secretary-General of the National Association of Cancer Awareness Oman, who gave an informative presentation about the success and impact of the Mobile Mammography Unit in communities across the sultanate.

The award ceremony was organized by the Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC), the President’s Office of the United Republic of Tanzania, which will host the event, and in partnership with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), and with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Tanzania