Egypt Showcases Excellence Initiatives at World Government Summit in Dubai

Ambassador Hisham Badr, Assistant Minister of Planning and Economic Development for Strategic Partnerships, Excellence, and Initiatives, and Supervisor of the Egypt Government Excellence Award, participated in a panel discussion titled "Investing in Quality Programs" as part of the exchange forum at the World Government Summit held in the UAE under the theme "Envisioning Future Governments" from February 12-14.

During the session, Ambassador Hisham Badr outlined Egypt's key initiatives to embed a culture of excellence and quality in the state's administrative apparatus and educational institutions, represented by government universities, as a comprehensive investment in continuous development and sustainability of government services and improvement of government employees' performance. He explained that this includes capacity building by focusing on training and developing government personnel to enhance their skills and efficiency, digitization through national projects implemented by the state to build a digital Egypt and support the digital transformation of government services, in addition to honoring distinguished models in the state through the Egypt Government Excellence Award, which aims to encourage positive competition and establish principles and values of excellence in all state sectors, reflecting on the quality of citizens' lives and enhancing the competitiveness of the Egyptian state. He also pointed out the development of the higher education sector through the availability of quality assurance programs in government universities and their alignment with international standards.

Badr emphasized the main standards of excellence and quality, including effective leadership and clear vision, continuous training and capacity building, focusing on stakeholders to enhance their satisfaction with the services provided, as well as encouraging a culture of innovation and creative solutions to improve service levels, and implementing regular and continuous evaluation mechanisms while ensuring the availability of resources to support quality and excellence initiatives.

Regarding the main challenges facing governments in terms of quality, Ambassador Hisham Badr indicated that they include limited financial and human resources, balancing between meeting urgent needs and long-term goals, resistance to change, keeping pace with rapid technological developments, as well as ensuring the transparency of operations and accountability.

Badr affirmed that quality programs will remain an integral part of government success by working to build effective institutions that promote a culture of continuous improvement, innovation, and commitment to quality and excellence standards, explaining that investing in quality programs is an investment in a better future for future generations.

Raid Ibrahim, Director of Government Development Affairs in Qatar, and the session was moderated by Maini Jay, Assistant Secretary-General, Ministry of Public Administration and Transformation in Senegal.