HE Dr. Abdulrahman Abdul Mannan Al Awar, Director General of the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources (FAHR), confirmed that "Maarif" initiative for the Federal Government’s preferred training partners was launched by the Authority in late 2013 in order to build partnerships and prepare a list of the best training providers in the UAE and make it available to the ministries and federal entities, so that they can take advantage of training programs at competitive prices. He added that Ma’arif has achieved remarkable success during a relatively short period of time, and contributed significantly to standardization of training system at the Federal Government level, and upgrading its outcome, reflecting positively on government efficiency, employee productivity, happiness and job satisfaction.
The Director General said: “The Authority, in cooperation with its partners the training providers accredited under Ma’arif initiative, held about 2017 joint training courses free of charge, from the date the the initiative was until the end of 2018. These coerces were attended by 27 thousand employees working in all ministries and federal entities.
“Maarif initiative for the Federal Government’s preferred training partners is one of the strategic initiatives of the Authority and the first of its kind at in the Federal Government. The idea of the initiative is to identify the best training providers in the UAE according to specific criteria, meet the training needs of the Federal Government employees, achieve a financial surplus from the training budgets of federal entities, serve the maximum number of employees and negotiating with key training providers to offer quality training programs at competitive prices.”
HE Laila Al Suwaidi, Executive Director of Programs and Human Resources Planning, said that the number training providers approved under Ma’arif initiative reached 157 by the end of 2018, and that the workshops and training courses held under the partnership dealt with many topics related to strategy, quality, leadership and management, communication, project management, public administration and information technology, accounting and legal affairs, and creative thinking. Other areas included application of excellence standards in government service centers, motivation and career development, media, finance and investment, institutional development, and human resources management.
106 thousand visitors to Ma’arif Electronic Portal
Executive Director of Programs and Human Resources Planning noted that Ma’arif Electronic Portal for the Federal Government’s preferred training partners received 106 thousand visitors since its launch until the end of last year, and that the Authority uses the portal as an ideal platform for announcing the future courses and training programs, which reached nearly 720 programs in total.
She stressed that the Portal allows employees of ministries and federal entities to view the training programs and workshops offered by the training providers selected under Ma’arif initiative, and also allows training officials in these entities to register their employees in the training courses announced by Ma’arif partners, noting that the portal also allows evaluation of training programs by linking them to the training and development system of Federal Government employees.