The National Archives Discussed Its Strategic Plan, Happiness Indicators And Development Of Work Mechanisms

The National Archives Concludes Its Leadership Retreat shaping The UAE Archives’ Future

The National Archives of the United Arab Emirates concluded its Leadership Retreat, held for two days under the slogan “Shaping The UAE Archives’ Future” in which the National Archives’ current strategic plan 2016-2018 and a number of important issues related to the conduct of work in the National Archives, the development of its mechanisms and ways to excel at both Arab and global levels were discussed.

The retreat started with a speech by His Excellency Dr. Abdulla El Reyes, Director General of the National Archives in which he expressed his confidence in the success of the leadership retreat and its outcome, in which the Department Directors and all parties concerned with the National Archives' most important projects took part; All of which were determined to pursue excellence and creativity. He pointed out the importance of the current Strategic Plan 2016-2018, which paves the way to the following plan and keeps pace with the U.A.E.'s ambitions in its 2021 vision  to be one of the best countries in the world. The agenda of the leadership retreat included important items, notably: archival leadership, publications plan, knowledge services, excellence in the provision of archival services, development of domestic and international partnerships and building  of institutional capabilities.

In his speech, H.E. Dr. Abdulla El Reyes focused also on the importance of developing the archives’ holdings, and urged the concerned authorities to activate mechanisms and plans for collecting government archives in preparation for handing them over to the conservation and restoration center of the National Archives.

H.E. stressed the importance of Oral History in enriching archival collections and urged concerned parties to seize the opportunity and speed up in conducting interviews with elder narrators in the different emirates and regions in the UAE.

H.E. stressed the importance of providing the specialized “Emirates Library” with written and electronic sources, and with specialized academic research and studies on the history and heritage of the U.A.E. and the Gulf region. He added that the library now contains more than 85000 specialized books.

The participants in the leadership retreat of the National Archives discussed excellence in providing service, developing services directory, creating channels to facilitate access to services and marketing them electronically via smart applications. They also discussed the publication plan of books, periodicals, and electronic portals of the current strategic plan. The discussion focused on the importance of publications distinguished by being based on the National archives' historic documents.

In the field of developing institutional capabilities, the participants discussed the strategy of human and technical resources, the coordination among departments of the National Archives, the automation of business processes and procedures, and reviewing strategic and operational performance indicators.

The leadership retreat also revised the steps to apply for the certificates of “Recognized For Excellence”, and ISO Business continuity management, risk management, asset management, partnerships relation management and community responsibility.  Moreover, the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system which manages the National archives interaction with existing and potential customers- was reviewed along with the plan to develop partnerships and activate them locally and globally.

The National Archives concluded its leadership retreat with a discussion of the outcomes of happiness and linking that to happiness ratios of the employees, customers, suppliers and community.