Dubai: Dubai Municipality has won four awards at the Stevie International Business Awards 2020. The Municipality’s Sewage Treatment Plants and Networks Department has won the Stevie Awards in the gold category of Large Organisation Utilities.
Winning this global award, organized by the International Business Awards Organization, is a testament to the leadership achieved by Dubai Municipality in managing the sewage system of networks, pumping stations and treatment plants, including the expansion of the Jebel Ali plant – the second phase, which worked to raise the capacity of wastewater treatment from 300,000 cubic meters per day to 750,000 cubic meters per day. This is based on a triple treatment to produce high quality treated water, compliant with the approved environmental standards, as this treated water is reused for irrigation of crops and green areas. The solid waste (sludge) resulting from sewage water is treated and converted into organic fertilizer for use in agricultural work.
The Sewage Treatment Plants and Networks Department also won the bronze category award for the project using solar energy in drying solid wastes (sludge). This project aims to preserve the environment and achieve environmental sustainability by utilizing renewable energy to dry sludge and convert it into organic fertilizer for agricultural purposes instead of sending it to a landfill, which has negative effects on the environment. A total of 13,298 tons of sludge was drained in 2019 and converted into organic fertilizer, depending entirely on solar energy.
The Digital Transformation Initiative of Dubai Municipality won gold in the Achievement in Growth category. This initiative aims to keep pace with government trends in implementing the best technical solutions in the field of Procurement, Contracting And Facilitating Work Procedures in accordance with the National Agenda and strategic objectives of the Municipality towards providing quality and innovative solutions for contractual and procurement services by making optimal use of modern technology in the transformation and digitization of contractual procedures.
The project was used for converting operation paths into digital and smart paths in several areas, including investment contracts / specialized contracts / change orders / auctions / self-updating of supplier data / payment procedures, launching an automated system for monitoring the performance of operations and procedures and stimulating rapid intervention to proactively address obstacles, in addition to launching a system based on monitoring and measuring all performance indicators and all interactions in these indicators in a carefully thought-out manner to facilitate the decision-making process. It also helped to design the framework of operations and re-engineer the paths of procedures by activating smart and flexible business models, raising the productivity of work in contracts at a rate of approximately 1.9 per day, instead of 0.49 per day per day, accelerate project contract completion time from 210 days to 45 days, as well as increase internal customer satisfaction by 54% and external customer satisfaction by 29%.
Dubai Municipality’s Human Resources Department also participated in the 2020 edition of the Stevie International Business Awards in the category of Human Resource Department of the Year, where it won the silver category for the initiative, “HR Creates the Happiest Work Environment in Dubai Municipality.”
This honour came due to the pioneering achievements and contributions and the application of the highest international standards in human resources management in Dubai Municipality, such as ISO10015-2019, ISO 29993 and the specification of Investors in People, as well as due to the Department’s future-looking human resources in the Municipality, identifying many future jobs, and developing human resources through modern means such as Virtual Reality, use of gamification, career counseling, on-the-job training, etc. The skills and competencies of employees are also being developed through the availability of global training platforms such as LinkedIn e-learning. The Human Resources Department had won the Best Learning Entity in the Middle East and North Africa ward in LinkedIn e-learning awards in 2019.
The HR Department has been keen on dissemination of awareness among human resources about the Municipality’s values by preparing and publishing a guide explaining the role of the Municipality, the leadership and the employee in each of the values of the Municipality, preparing and implementing various programs to honour and appreciate human resources within different areas such as the organizational units and employees achieving concrete results in the strategic and operational plans, creativity and innovation of individuals and work teams, customer happiness, honesty, and so on.
The HR Department has been preparing and implementing innovative initiatives for the happiness of human resources in general and the assistive professions category in particular, and implementing internal communication and interaction through more than 30 channels such as the Happiness Meter, Knowledge and Innovation Portal, Suggestion Scheme, Complaints System, etc., as well as preparing and implementing distinct initiatives to empower and support women. This led to the number of female employees reaching 39% within the leadership category. In addition to that it has also been preparing and implementing excellent initiatives for People of Determination, such as providing equipment and devices that help this category to work easily, training employees on sign language and how to deal with People of Determination with various disabilities and providing training courses in sign language translation for employees with hearing disabilities.
