Dubai - MENA Herald: The Prime Minister Office (PMO) organised two seminars on the importance of strategic foresight and scenarios planning as part of a series of seminars to develop innovative models of future services that achieve customer satisfaction.
The seminars, organised in cooperation with Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), were attended by about 200 senior ministry officials and experts from federal government agencies as well as representatives from the OECD.
Mariam Al Hammadi, Executive Director of Government Performance Sector in the Prime Minister Office, said the seminars were aimed at enabling the government sector to adopt a futuristic outlook by equipping them with a comprehensive set of tools to study global data and trends in decision-making process. The workshops helped identify the priorities in future operations that contribute to the development of government work systems in accordance with the objectives of the UAE National Agenda and UAE Vision 2021, Al Hammadi added.
“These workshops are an opportunity for government entities to unite their efforts in creating practical solutions to raise the efficiency levels of the government sector and support the decision-making process with accurate information and data on strategic foresight,” Al Hammadi said.
Atraf Shehab, Director of Strategic Projects, PMO, said: “The seminars on strategic foresight and scenarios planning highlighted their vital role in enabling governments to predict the potential challenges and opportunities in developing future plans.”
The first seminar included four main sessions focused on the concept of strategic foresight, explaining how government entities can utilise available data to enhance their planning process under UAE Vision 2021. It also underlined the leading international practices in strategic foresight and the experiences of the OECD members in drawing up strategic plans.
The second seminar titled ‘Planning scenarios as a tool to shape the future’ was attended by assistant undersecretaries and executive managers in federal agencies. Focusing on the importance of strategic planning in government excellence, the seminar explained the mechanisms of planning scenarios to achieve tangible strategic plans and stimulate collective innovative thinking.