A unique initiative to measure the happiness and satisfaction of the public in government services on a daily basis using electronic devices connected to a central network has been launched in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The initiative, called the "Happiness Meter", will send daily reports to decision-makers that will enable them to monitor the types of government services that people are most happy about, and identify the geographical areas where these services are being provided as part of the sustained efforts to develop customer service and improve the happiness of the people.
"Preparing annual or quarterly reports to measure the happiness and satisfaction of the public does not meet our ambitions because today the world is transforming very fast and people's expectations too are changing rapidly. Therefore, government services must be monitored on a daily basis," Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, said while launching the initiative Saturday.
"Developing services is a daily task, and such an approach will have a real effect on people's happiness. For this reason, we have called this initiative 'Happiness Meter' which will monitor the reports from work sites on a daily basis," he added.
The new initiative comes as part of a range of programmes and strategies to shift towards smart government and smart city, aiming to use technology to increase the effectiveness of government performance in achieving happiness and public satisfaction in the society.
Sheikh Mohammed stressed that "the ultimate goal of all our initiatives is to make people happy and make their lives simpler by reducing the time taken for completing government services".
"It will also enable visitors to instantly assess the experience of their visit to Dubai," he stated.
Dubai is the first city to apply a daily measurement of the happiness and satisfaction of the public in the services provided to them across all its government centres through a smart system that offers daily reports to all decision-makers.
The results of the meter are based on qualitative data made available through smart application that gives service recipients three options to express their happiness and satisfaction about government services. This application will be available at service points or via smart virtual platforms that provide the services through the internet.
In the first phase of the 'Happiness Meter', it will be gradually extended to all government departments over the next year. In the second phase, the meter will apply to selected private sector companies to enrich the experience of visitors and tourists to Dubai and determine immediately their satisfaction levels across the points that offer services to them.
