Oman triumphs as a finalist in the UN Public Service Award

This award is the most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service. It rewards the creative achievements and contributions of public service institutions that lead to a more effective and responsive public administration in countries worldwide.

Through an annual competition, the UN Public Service Awards promotes the role, professionalism and visibility of public service.

The honours are to be conferred upon the ROP team lead by Col. Abdullah bin Mohammed al Jabri, Acting Director General of Civil Services, at the United Nations Public Service Award Ceremony to be held in the United Nation's campus in New York on the 23rd June 2009.

Several international dignitaries including the UN Secretary General, heads of state and government, and Ministers will be attend this award ceremony and the parallel conference under the title, "Overcoming Emerging Challenges: The Critical Role of Governance and Public Administration".

The Omani team to walk the podium to receive the UN Certificate of Recognition are comprises of Col. Abdullah bin Mohammed al Jabri, Acting Director General of Civil Services, First Lieutnenat Yahya Al Hamimi, Head of Public Relation Department at the Directorate General of Civil Status - Royal Oman Police and they are accompanies by Talal Al Rahbi, Chief and Shariffa Al Meskary, Manager, International Relations at the Information & Awareness Division of the Information Technology Authority.

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs facilitates the search for innovations in governance and public administration through the Public Service Awards Programme.

This year, eight winners are awarded with the most prestigious recognition of excellence in the public service on 23 June, during the United Nations Public Service Day.

The winners are public organizations from: Egypt, India, Poland, Republic of Korea, Slovenia, Sweden, Thailand and Zambia. The finalists are public organizations from: Canada, Oman, Republic of Korea and South Africa.

In 2009, the United Nations Public Service Awards will be given in the following four categories:
• Category 1: Improving transparency, accountability, and responsiveness in the Public Service.
• Category 2: Improving the delivery of services
• Category 3: Fostering participation in policy-making decisions through innovative mechanisms.
• Category 4: Advancing knowledge management in government
• Special Category: UNPAN Member Excellence Award on Knowledge Sharing

The NRS system came through successfully out of three competitive rounds into the elite list of finalists who will be presenting their system to worldwide audience through this award ceremony. They will be explaining what the initiative is about, the main steps involved, challenges faced and the lessons learned in implementing their initiative.

The Civil Status project launched in 2004 intends to maintain the nation's civil register using modern technologies to record birth, death, marriages and divorces in the Sultanate and also manage the electronic identity cards for all citizens and residents of Oman.

Over 12 civil status centres are electronically linked throughout the country through a secure and reliable connectivity to process data in real time with the required level of accuracy and privacy.

The Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Manpower, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Civil Services are all stakeholder in this comprehensive integrated system. In order to enhance the systems the ROP conducted the Customer Satisfaction & Service Quality Survey in 2007.

Oman entered this prestigious UN Public Service Award competition for the very first time this year with ITA nominating 7 entries from various government organisations of Oman including the Civil Status System of ROP.

After various levels of tough jury evaluations, Oman's Civil Status System has finally reached the highest level of selected worldwide systems. Oman's entry winning this highest global honour for public service exemplifies the excellence the country has achieved in harnessing technology to serve the community at large and this is truly a coveted international recognition.