Mohammed bin Rashid launches Afkari initiative to support and fund ideas of federal government employees

18/11/2015

Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, launched yesterday a government initiative at the federal level to support and fund innovative ideas of more than 90,000 federal government employees to develop work system in their institutions.

The initiative, Afkari, includes the establishment of a fund to finance the ideas, while a special dedicated team of experts will examine the nominations and outstanding ideas and support the implementation of winning ideas in government organisations within three months.

The fund will finance the best innovative ideas that will contribute to the development of government services in the ministries and entities, and will be evaluated by a committee of experts, innovators and pioneers of global business and representatives of the public and private sectors, who will be selected based on their experience and scientific and practical track record.

On this occasion, Sheikh Mohammed said, "We have launched the first government fund to support the innovative ideas of our employees to convey the message that we are personally interested in their ideas. Every employee who has the ambition to improve the government services will be encouraged and given the required support."

He added, "Changing the government system requires courage, ideas, and support for innovation, and we consider our employees as leaders."

Sheikh Mohammed said, "Nations are not built by wishes, but by the men and women who have the will to overcome challenges, and our job as leaders is to prepare leaders and provide an ideal environment for everyone to contribute to the process of building the future of their country."

To ease the process of submitting ideas, the UAE government has developed a dedicated website afkari.gov.ae, where applicants can send innovative ideas related to all sectors.

Afkari is a new initiative of The Mohammed bin Rashid Centre for Government Innovation, which aims to provide integrated tools to support government entities to develop their services and adopt the culture of innovation.