RIYADH — Tawakkalna has won the United Nations Public Service Award 2022 in the category of institutional resilience and innovative responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, which comes as a new confirmation of Saudi Arabia's leadership in the technological and digital fields.

The award ceremony was held virtually within the annual forum that honors distinguished figures in public service in support of achieving sustainable development goals.

President of Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) Dr. Abdullah bin Sharaf Alghamdi explained that receiving this award shows the unlimited support from the leadership, as well as the empowerment and guidance of the Crown Prince and Chairman of SDAIA's Board of Directors, and his unlimited support for the various initiatives launched by SDAIA to enhance government collaboration to make the most of data and AI.

Dr. Alghamdi stressed that SDAIA was able to accomplish many achievements at the national and global levels with the efforts of highly qualified national capabilities that put the Kingdom at the forefront of the countries of the world where it should always be.

Dr. Alghamdi pointed out that this achievement is an affirmation of the Kingdom's leadership globally and its determination to attain the goals of the Saudi Vision 2030, and reflects the advanced and reliable infrastructure that SDAIA has. Furthermore, Dr. Alghamdi noted that the experience of Tawakkalna, through all the stages it has gone through, proves the professionalism of the young national cadres who stand behind all the success achieved by Tawakkalna.

SDAIA has launched Tawakkalna to support government efforts to confront Covid-19 as an application aimed to manage the process of granting permits electronically during the curfew for government and private sector employees, as well as individuals, which helped limit the spread of the virus. During the stage of cautious return, the application launched important services that contributed to achieving a safe return, most notably displaying the health status of users with the highest levels of safety and privacy. Afterward, Tawakkalna started to include pandemic-related services such as verifying users' health conditions and health passports, providing Covid-19 test and vaccine services, reviewing health travel requirements, and managing the necessary permits during travel.

In an effort to harness advanced technologies, enhance digital transformation, and achieve Vision 2030 goals, SDAIA has recently launched Tawakkalna Services, which is a reliable and secure digitally-enabled application to facilitate all aspects of the daily life of citizens, residents, and visitors by providing various e-services in one app.

The United Nations launched its Public Service Award in 2003 with an annual forum to encourage and support distinguished global innovations in the field of public service. — SPA