What the UAE wants: Positivity, happiness in all walks of life
March 26 will go down in the annals of UAE history as the day the country decided to announce its its commitment to happiness. The country announced to the world its happiness and positivity Charter.
Simply put, the National Happiness Agenda aims to make UAE the happiest of all countries, so that its citizens can feel proud of being part of such a nation.
But even before the announcing the charter, the UAE laid the foundation of this initiative by appointing the world’s first Happiness Minister in February 2016. Ohood bint Khalfan Al Roumi was named the Minister of State for Happiness in the new UAE Cabinet on February 10, 2016, heading the new ministry that aims to promote the UAE’s plans, programmes and policies to promote the happiness of the UAE society.
Explaining the charter, His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said: “Happiness and positivity in the UAE are a lifestyle, a government commitment and a spirit uniting the UAE community. The government system is evolving to realise the goals that every human seeks: happiness for him and his family.”
And as per the directives of the Dubai Ruler, the UAE began its journey to achieve goodness and happiness for the individual on a day-to-day basis. The National Agenda of Happiness spelled the UAE Government’s commitment — through its higher policies, plans, projects and services — to establish an environment that ensures the happiness and well-being of society. Now in order to create the world’s happiest government, the UAE Cabinet endorsed a number of initiatives and projects in line with the National happiness and Positivity Programme submitted by Ohood Al Roumi. Know your ‘National Happiness and Positivity Programme’ This included the appointment of CEO for Happiness and Positivity in all entities, setting up happiness and positivity councils in all entities as well. It also includes allocating hours for happiness programmes and activities in federal government as well as setup happy and positive offices. This aims at creating a happy and positive work environment continuously through implementing activities and initiatives in an innovate, efficient and effective manner.
The happiness programme also included transforming customer service centres to customer happiness centres as well as culturechange programmes for customer service to make customers happy. It also set indicators, conducted surveys and prepared annual reports to measure happiness levels in all sectors.
Al Roumi, first publically spoke about her role and what she would try to achieve during her time in office on March 20, 2016 — the International Day of Happiness. She said: “Happiness is a serious job for governments… In 2011, the UN encouraged the member countries to look at happiness for a holistic approach for development.
“The role of the government is to create an environment where people can flourish — can reach their potential — and choose to be happy. For us in the UAE, happiness is very important,” she said. Happiness Agenda Timeline • February 2015 — Ohood Al Roumi named Minister of State for Happiness. • March 2015 — The National Happiness and Positivity Charter is announced. The Cabinet also endorses initiatives and projects in line with the National Happiness and Positivity Programme. • October 2015 — The #100DaysOfPositivity initiative is launched to help schools impart positive education to students and parents. • December 2015 — The National Survey for Happiness and Positivity is announced and launched. More than 14,000 people are polled across the country and asked about subjects including quality of life, education, learning, healthcare, society, culture, environment, infrastructure, government services, living standards and work. The results are expected in mid-2017. • February 2017— Before the World Government Summit, the Ministry of Happiness announced UAE will spearhead the creation of a unified guidebook for governments to help raise standards of happiness around the world. • March 2017 — His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, establishes the first World Happiness Council, on International Happiness Day (March 20), to send a positive message from the UAE to the world. The council will launch a yearly Global Happiness Report.