Dubai Government Excellence Program was established on September 8, 1997, under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to serve as the driving force for the development of the government sector in Dubai. The Program has helped transform the Dubai government’s performance, practices and administrative methods. The Program aims to enhance the government’s performance to become a global hub for government innovation and an exemplary model for customer happiness. 

The Program works to develop and continuously update Dubai’s government excellence and innovation system in accordance with international best practices and the directives of Dubai’s leadership. It conducts objective assessments of government entities through teams of certified assessors and international specialists in the fields of government work. The teams provide assessment reports to entities, where the Program recognizes and rewards the entities and employees who excel in every assessment cycle.  

The Program also plays an effective role as a global hub for exchanging knowledge in the field of government excellence and innovation. It facilitates the exchange of knowledge, success stories, and best practices within Government of Dubai and with international partners. These exchanges occur through activities, knowledge initiatives, and training programs involving a network of international experts in the field of government excellence. 

The Dubai Government Excellence Program plays a pivotal role in providing accurate and quality data to Dubai’s leadership, to support decision-making through reports based on evaluation processes and special studies. The program is the main catalyst for improving the competitiveness of the government excellence system. It is critical to accelerating innovation, driving development, and raising Dubai to the ranks of the world’s best and most innovative cities. 

Since 2019, the Program has adopted a framework for assessing and awarding government entities in Dubai according to three levels. These include: 1) the elite level, for entities excelling in excellence, 2) the excellence level, for entities showing significant improvement in their journey towards excellence, and 3) the basic level, for entities aiming to achieve excellence. 

Some of the Program’s main projects and initiatives include studies on customer and employee happiness. There are also daily mystery shopper initiatives and studies on innovation and future readiness. The Dubai Government Excellence Program also offers capability building programs, such as the Innovation Advisor Program, the Executive Benchmarking Program, the Government Excellence System Assessor Course, and a series of best practices and knowledge meetings. The Program has also developed a mechanism called the Leadership Partners Initiative to facilitate cooperation and partnership between the local entities to enhance mutual performance by transferring expertise and knowledge. 

For more information, please visit: Dubai Government Excellence