Within its immense efforts to enhance the e-presence of the federal government, the UAE mGovernment – the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has launched, in coordination with the federal government entities, a comprehensive plan to activate the e-participation portal (Sharik.ae). The portal currently includes dozens of e-consultations that have been launched by government entities to communicate with the public in order to develop the services and policies, which would reflect on the customer happiness and achieve the higher objectives of the government.

This effort is part of the work of the executive team of the e- services indicator, which is one of the national agenda indicators for the UAE vision 2021. The e-participation is considered a sub-indicator of the main e-services indicator according to the UN survey for e-governments development.

The e-participation is based on three main components: providing the information electronically, launching public consultations, and decision-making based on the results of these consultations.

Commenting on this issue, H.E. Eng. Majed Sultan AL Mesmar Acting TRA Director General, said: “The subject of e-participation is not new to the UAE, as the concerned people have always opened the doors, listened to the public and worked to solve their problems. In the Internet era, the UAE leadership has been proactive in opening to the people through social media channels to involve them in improving policies, strategies, and services. H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai was the first to open this door on regional level by asking the public’s views on government strategies and encouraging them to present ideas for development in the fields of education, health, and others. “

The e-participation portal currently includes many consultations, some of which are available for the public’s participation, and others are listed for future dates. Furthermore, the expired consultation would be transferred to the archive. The consultation consists of three previous phases: information, survey and the expected or issued decision based on the survey results.

The TRA e-participation team coordinates with the federal government entities to ensure the publication of posts on the portal and to develop surveys, then publishing the decisions that have been issued based on these surveys.

In addition to the consultations, the e-participation portal includes several channels of communication with the public, such as the governmental blog, the e-discussion forum, links to government accounts on social media channels, a page for creative ideas, polls, and a link for feedback and suggestions.

The plan of activating e-participation includes several aspects, such as providing consultations, exchanging of experiences, workshops and success stories of government entities. It also includes regular meetings to develop the work on the portal and to establish a culture of e-participation between government entities.