DOHA:The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has achieved the 'Recognised for Excellence Five stars' awarded by the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) in Belgium, as an 'Outstanding Organisation', and for being the first governmental entity of this sort to achieve this recognition under the new improved 'EFQM 2020'.
This award emphasises Ashghal's ability to carry out project work and improve under different circumstances. This prestigious certification is granted only to a limited number of leading institutions internationally, and receiving it confirms Ashghal's excellence in continuous improvement, through the development of processes and capabilities, in addition to establishing strategies and various initiatives regarding sustainability and knowledge management.
It also reflects Ashghal's commitment to providing the best to its customers and the public of Qatar and its mandate to raise its operational efficiency. Ashghal also achieves its strategic objectives in a creative and sustainable manner.
In this context, HE President of Ashghal Dr. Eng. Saad bin Ahmad Al Muhannadi, expressed his pride in Ashghal for being the first governmental entity to achieve 'Recognised for Excellence Five Stars' award by (EFQM), and similarly, the first entity in the state to receive such recognition based on the new EFQM 2020 model, to be the leader and role model of institutional excellence in Qatar.
HE said: "Continuing diligence with unceasing institutional planning and development has resulted in the excellence that we seek and aspire to reach its highest levels; Thanks to our employees, unequivocal efforts and determination to be part of this huge success. And since 'Excellence' is a journey, not a destination, I urge Ashghal leaders and employees to continue to thrive and aim for higher excellence standards."
From his part, Eng. Jamal Sharida Al Kaabi, Manager of the Planning and Quality Department at Ashghal confirmed that the 'Journey to Excellence' in Ashghal was not at a spur of the moment, but it had evolved over the past few years, since the authority began developing and improving policies, procedures and compliance governance of an integrated enterprise-wide management system and received the first accreditation of ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 (ISO 18001 at that time) in 2019.
This is followed by the focus of the "J2Ex" excellence programme on customer satisfaction, stakeholder engagement, operational efficiency, and performance trends, with the aim to foster agility and change management through analysing the ecosystem and understanding our current capabilities and what we intend to be in the future."
Al Kaabi added: "To verify the authenticity of the "J2Ex programme" and to ensure that we achieve our goals, we have used the EFQM 2020 model which served us immensely as a tool for self-assessment and as a benchmark to measure our performance against other institutions, identify areas for improvement and implement best practices." The EFQM 2020 model builds on three themes through seven key criteria: purpose and strategic vision, institutional culture and leadership, stakeholders' engagement, building sustainable value, performance and transformation leadership, stakeholders' impressions, and the strategic and operational performance standard.
With the aim of qualifying Ashghal's employees for the Journey to Excellence, several types of training were developed, that have been designed for leaders, internal assessors, initiative teams and all staff.
The training range from awareness and specialised courses in the areas of EFQM and sustainability.
Ashghal's achievements continued through its Journey to Excellence. In 2016, we earned 'Committed to Excellence' recognition by the EFQM and continued to introduce new and challenging initiatives and strived to reach higher levels of excellence, followed by ISO credits in 2019, and then a Three-star rating recognized by the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) in 2021.
