Stemming from its belief in the importance of providing technical support and consultations and training to the public sector institutions and employees in knowing how to use social media tools, the Institute of Public Administration “BIPA” presented a training course within the preparation diploma program for the public sector (preparation), during which a focus is set on the importance of social media and how to use them in the development of government work and the improvement and enhancement of public services, the training course included a lecture delivered by the founder and president of the International-Middle East and North Africa Social Media Club Mr. Ali Sebkar, in which he discussed social media strategies, social media tools and ways to enhance the impact and the wider spread.
For his part, Senior Director of Basic Development and Creative Learning at BIPA Mohamed Al-Sabba’a stressed that social networking tools are of great importance in improving the performance and service excellence among public sector employees, because it is one of the most important means of communication for the current time, it offers many advantages that support the process of communication between government institutions and citizens, including increased connection with the citizens, and the development of the government communication process, also it is considered one of the tools of communication favored by many citizens which meet their expectations in regard to the organization of modern services and enhancing its reputation, and boosting government performance through focusing on and improving the process of communication, not to mention it works on increasing the effectiveness of the communication process compared to cost in the long term, and taking advantage of the effectiveness of non-governmental channels and reducing the reliance on the media in force, as it is characterized by quickly getting the reactions of citizens and their interventions, as well as it allows access to a certain class of citizens on specific issues in a specific time and at high speed.
Mr. Al-Sabba’a elucidated that this course is of particular importance in light of the emergence of social networks as an important and controversial actor in the political changes that have swept the Arab region during the last three years, pointing out that governments and commercial organizations alike began to notice and showing interest in the inherent capabilities provided by the increased penetration for the social networking tools in the Arab region; and the new patterns of government and ways of doing business.
Mr. Al-Sabba’a revealed that social networking is not limited to usage for the expression of opinion only, but it has also become important essential platforms used by companies for marketing their goods and services and to get in touch with customers in a timely, effective and low-cost manner, not to mention the multiple and influential uses in the educational process in schools, universities, libraries and distance learning.
It is worth mentioning that the preparation diploma program for the public sector (preparation) includes four main units concerning identifying working in the public sector in the Kingdom of Bahrain, working in teams, planning to carry out tasks and processes, and communication skills and customer service, thereof the total training hours during the last three years amounted to 2001 hours of training.