Bahrain eGovernment Authority listens to citizens opinions through eGovernement blog "We Listen to Improve"

The blog is considered as one of most important pillars in the development of the eGovernment new strategy, especially since the previous strategy was based on a study of the needs of the public on different targets such as citizens, residents, businessmen and visitors.

Commenting on this, Mr. Mohammad Ziad Asfour, Assistant Director of Marketing and Awareness Directorate at the eGovernment Authority, said, "Measuring the public satisfaction is very important and by having the blog to view the public thoughts and observations will be very useful in preparing the new eGovernment strategy 2011-2014, to ensure all parties involvement."

He pointed out that Mr. Mohammed Ali Al Qaed, Chief Executive Officer of eGovernment Authority, will personally respond to the blog communications and proposals of the public. All proposals will be directed to the relevant parties to take the inputs into current and future plans and initiatives, especially that the eGovernment program is primarily intended to meet the needs of the public, and this blog is one of the means to draw this kind of response.

The "eGovernment blog" is one of the leading initiatives of the eGovernment program for direct communication between the citizens and officials of the ministries and governmental entities, with all transparency without any barriers. The initiative came after direct instructions from the Supreme Committee for Information Technology and Communications, chaired by HH Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, Deputy Prime Minister for the application of modern trends in the field of eGovernment technology, and direct interaction with the public through e-participation and social media such as blogs and other forms of direct communication.

The blog is also considered as one of the complementary channels on bahrain.bh in order for the eGovernment Authority to not the feedback of the various segments of the public in full transparency and accuracy.

Mr. Mohammad Ziad Asfoor confirmed that, since the inauguration of the eGovernment Authority the public is the considered as the main vein of all pillars of the eGovernment Program and that they play a huge role in enhancing our services and offerings.

Mr. Asfoor pointed out that the identification of these views and proposals through the blog is one of the most important channels of communication with the public in order to provide innovative eservices with easy access methods.

The dialogue between Mr. Mohammed Ali Al Qaed shall remain open to the public through the eGovernment blog from February 17 to March 17, 2010. It will address various topics including: public views and suggestions on the eGovernment new strategy (2011-2014), and the people's requests for Bahrain's future in this field for the coming years.

All those who wish to participate or express their views on the new strategy, shall have to visit www.bahrain.bh on Tuesday, February 17, 2010 click on the "eGovernment blog" and communicate directly with the CEO of the eGovernment Authority.

It is worth mentioning that the Kingdom of Bahrain has taken significant steps to develop a new strategy for eGovernment for the period (2011-2014), where the Supreme Committee for ICT decided to establish a committee of 11 members representing all segments of society and are working to review the eGovernment strategy to know the previous views of the public including citizens and residents, businessmen and visitors, in addition to the preparation of the tenders file for choosing a partner consultant who will draft the functions of the new strategy after considering all opinions and proposals.

The tender for the selection of the Consultative partner was recently launched, where more than 25 leading local, regional and global companies submitted their quotes. The deadline for submission of the tender is on the 4th of March 2010. The Committee is working to have the general framework of the new strategy for eGovernment 2011-2014 ready during May 2010, which will be announced at the third Bahrain International Forum for eGovernment.