Crown Prince Award for Best Gov't Service Application launched

AMMAN — HRH Crown Prince Hussein on Tuesday attended the launch of the Crown Prince Award for Best Government Service Application.

The award, the first of its kind in the Kingdom, is part of the strategic cooperation plans between Jordan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the field of modernising government services. 

The award, which was officially launched at the King Hussein Business Park and attended by hundreds of university students and officials, will target some 300,000 higher education students in over 30 private and public education entities in the Kingdom.

A JD100,000 prize will be distributed for the top three ranking projects.

The annual award is designed to stimulate and encourage university students to provide creative solutions via smart phone applications for simplifying government services. 

The aim is to improve government services and provide simple, around-the-clock government services that are easy, efficient and transparent, organisers of the initiative said.

The award also aims to strengthen the relationship between students and government entities in Jordan and involve the youth in creating services and finding solutions that transform citizens’ experience with public institutions and improve their quality of life, according to the organisers.

The projects are allocated for six sectors — health, water, tourism, education,  transport and business environment — which students can choose from to design innovative tech solutions.

The main criteria the award will be focused on are ease of use, efficiency and effectiveness and innovation.

Crown Prince Hussein praised the award’s message and goals that aim to encourage innovation and creativity among university students, and use their ideas to improve and facilitate government services.

Prime Minister Omar Razzaz, who attended the launch alongside the UAE’s Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future Mohammad Al Gergawi, described the strong relationships between Jordan and the UAE as an “important and distinguished example that should be followed”.

“We are extremely proud with the strong cooperation between the wise leadership of both countries and we constantly work under their directives to strengthen the cooperation and partnership in various fields,” Razzaz told the gathering.

The premier stressed that the government took serious steps to “improve and develop the public sector’s performance and to strengthen the youth’s participation in decision making and the public sphere”.

“We constantly strive to achieve the proper environment for the youth to unleash their capabilities and release their potentials and innovation,” Razzaz said.

“The government has worked, based on the Royal vision, to launch this award to employ the youth’s potential in the field of government work and to provide the proper environment for the youth to become more creative and involved in developing government services,” Razzaz said.

The premier urged government institutions to “help students look for challenges and solutions and to provide all forms of support they need to succeed”.

Gergawi also addressed the gathering during the launch event, noting that the “historical relationship between Jordan and the UAE is deep and noble”.

“We strive to maintain and strengthen the long-term relationship between the two countries in the field of developing the government’s performance as part of the knowledge exchange agreement that aims for learning from each other’s successful experiences and practices,” Gergawi said.

Addressing the youth in the auditorium, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors at Edraak Bassem Saad said that the youth play a major role in boosting the aims and goals of Edraak’s online platform, launched by Her Majesty Queen Rania with the aim of revolutionising access and delivery of education in the Arab world by providing high-quality learning opportunities for both adults and school students.

Meanwhile, the managing director of the Jordan Tourism Board, Abed Al Razzaq Arabiyat, pointed out that recent Jordanian graduates contributed in developing a smart phone application, “Visit Jordan”, that is used by tourists who want to visit the Kingdom.

Both Saad and Arabiyat said they have “strong confidence in young Jordanians’ abilities and innovative ideas, as they will be the job creators, not the job seekers”.

The two also agreed that the award will hopefully help the youth in creating smart phone applications that will solve a lot of problems in the public sector and create more work opportunities for the youth in the near future.