Applause for 'Sahl'

“Mawlood Journey” won the Excellence Award for the Best Digital Government Service across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, as part of the GCC Digital Government Awards, after the “Sahl” application secured the award for Best Comprehensive Government Application. Indeed, the “Sahl” application deserves all awards. Gratitude is extended to those who laid its foundations, those who completed it, and those who will continue to develop it; for no one living on this earth can fail to recognize and feel how “easy” it has made our lives and transactions in all fields.

For those unfamiliar with the seven facilitations and services provided by “Mawlood Journey,” I would say it documents the journey of any newborn in Kuwait from their first cry after being separated from their mother’s placenta. It begins with naming the child, followed by electronically registering and approving their name, issuing and assigning them a civil ID number, and issuing a birth certificate after completing the issuance of the official birth certificate. The newborn is then added to the nationality file, and the Kuwaiti child is registered within the nationality file.

“Mawlood Journey” continues its services by requesting a civil ID and submitting an application to issue this ID for the newborn, followed by adding the child to the ration card, which is an optional service for the family. Subsequently, an application for the newborn’s allowance is submitted, which is also an optional service for eligible recipients.

The question here is: What makes this service distinctive? We all know that excellence is not merely about converting paper transactions into electronic ones, but rather about linking all government entities within a single journey, where all data is transferred simultaneously between entities without any effort from the citizen or service user to issue and then re-enter the documents, or to bear the burden of submitting the same documents once, twice, or more.

In addition to all these services, plans have been announced for additional services to develop “Mawlood Journey,” including issuing passports and sending automatic advance notifications for vaccination schedules. This experience represents a significant shift in the concept of government service; it has facilitated citizens’ visits and movements among the 42 government ministries and entities involved in completing a single transaction.

The importance of these two awards extends beyond the symbolic value for Kuwait; they offer an opportunity to disseminate successful experiences and leverage them at the GCC and even Arab levels. Does winning mean the application has become perfect? Not necessarily, but its victory confirms it has received GCC recognition. It is worth noting that winning does not imply the absence of problems or that everyone is equally satisfied with it. This Kuwaiti achievement deserves applause and praise from all those involved, yet there is hope and aspiration that this success be fully generalized to other journeys. It would be wonderful if we witnessed such facilitations in completing marriage, retirement, death, and construction transactions, where citizens still face certain problems and hardships. Often, the greatest and most real success lies in transforming a successful experience into a permanent working method for government operations. I consider winning the award to be the first step toward that goal. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this success, with all the gratitude in the sky. Iqbal Al-Ahmad