Mr. Abdulellah Ebrahim Al Qassimi, Tamkeen Chief Executive :

  • a9eel aims to make the Bahraini worker the perfect candidate for all the organisations in the kingdom.

  • a9eel represents a rich heritage of values inherited by Bahrainis over the years

  • We envision an innovative and competent work force with good work ethics

  • a9eel is a real opportunity to create awareness and a true invitation to participate in the movement for change 

Ms. Amal Al-Kooheji, Senior Manager, Human Capital Development:

  • a9eel targets Bahraini youth through several communication channels for wide coverage

  • a9eel.bh is an interactive opportunity to challenge and express yourself freely

  • 15 episodes of a9eel TV series has been produced in cooperation with innovative Bahraini writers

Mr. Faeq AlOlaiwat, Principal/Chief Brand Architect:

  • 60 professionals, most of them Bahrainis, have worked together as a creative team for the a9eel campaign

  • Change is a hard task, and therefore we chose to rely on clarity and simplicity

  • a9eel is launched to become a milestone of change and success in Bahrainis' memory 

Tamkeen's Chief Executive Mr. Abdulellah Ebrahim Al Qassimi, launched "a9eel", a campaign to promote positive work attitudes and principles that adhere to work ethics.

This campaign is in line with Tamkeen's strategy to develop and support Bahraini citizens to make them the perfect candidate for all public and private organisations in the kingdom. Tamkeen's objective is to develop the labour market and raise the productivity of individuals and institutions through developing many programmes. This includes adopting initiatives that conform to Bahrain's Vision 2030 and the National Strategy 2009-2014.  

Speaking at the launch, Mr. Qassimi stated, "a9eel is a major and unique project, and a complementary and fundamental part of Tamkeen's strategic vision. It aims to motivate change in Bahraini workers in the public and private sectors, taking inspiration from the rich legacy of authentic culture and refined values of Bahrainis over the years. It is based on the history and tradition of Bahrainis who are well known as hard-working citizens with diligence, dedication, and commitment to the values of work, and creativity in various areas and sectors.

He pointed out that "a9eel's goals complement other programmes and initiatives which are part of Tamkeen's strategic objective, creating an experienced and skilled Bahraini work force that is equipped with academic, practical and professional knowledge and high morals to compete in the labour market today. They meet the modern challenges of global competition, armed with scientific competence, strong determination and successful work ethics representing the genuine culture of Bahrainis."   

Referring to the choice of "a9eel" as the campaign's name, Mr. Qassimi, explained that a9eel connotes integrity and high values in relation to Bahrainis. These characteristics of principles and positive work attitudes have been associated uniquely with Bahrainis since time and has been represented through the cultural achievements of Bahrain.

"The strategic objective of the project is to promote public awareness of positive work attitudes among Bahraini employees. The aim is to create a culture of change to help the Bahraini employee succeed in the public and private sectors. This can be achieved through a concerted effort, creating incentives and personal application of effective administrative systems that are capable of creating a culture of commitment and production. These would help implement these concepts and positive attitudes to become a daily practice and a permanent and fixed culture in today's generation as well as in the future generations," he added.

Tamkeen's Chief Executive pointed out that "a9eel" campaign is unique in terms of adopting the interactive communication media to send messages. These channels, according to him, would ensure the desired level of awareness is created in the community about the current weaknesses and negative attitudes towards work. The campaign will integrate various multimedia options and set a benchmark for Bahraini employees.

On a prudent note, Mr. Qassimi observed that achieving this level of awareness and creating a permanent culture of change cannot be achieved directly, but will be based on tangible results of procedures for some time. The campaign will continue for a year, and will be closely monitored by Tamkeen who expects to learn from its interaction with citizens as well as the organisations and companies to continue till it achieves the desired results. This would be a crucial aspect for the development of the labour market.  

The need for an awareness campaign was brought up in the light of a study commissioned by Tamkeen to assess the level of employees from the perspective of domestic Bahraini companies. The study revealed the need to strengthen work ethics among employees. Some of the companies in the research emphasised the importance of a sequential training programmes to enhance work attitudes. Tamkeen's general bid for this project was met with an eager response by several agencies, and was ultimately won by DarOttakwin.

Ms. Amal Al-Kooheji, Senior Manager, Human Capital Development, Tamkeen spoke about "the efficient technologies and innovative ideas adopted by the campaign, especially since they are targeting young Bahrainis from 20 years of age and above, which makes the creative and persuasive element in the campaign and communication of its message a main and substantial basis".

Ms. Al-Kooheji provided an overview of the objectives of the awareness campaign which are anticipated to:  

  • Raise awareness about the problem of work ethics in Bahrain, especially among Bahraini-owned organisations and Bahraini employees, and demonstrate that change is needed urgently.

  • Create the desire for change by illustrating a vision of the desired outcome and fostering personal and organisational incentives.

  • Educate the targets about how to change and lead them to useful resources that will help them with the process of change.

  • Sustain the process of change using continuous dissemination of information and interaction with targets.

Speaking about the various phases of the campaign Ms. Al-Kooheji informed that, "the campaign started on 28 February 2010 and will advance in several stages until mid-June. a9eel Comic strips are already being viewed in the dailies, and today we launch more components of the campaign that will be even more visible to the public. The most important part of the campaign is the launch of a9eel.bh web portal - a nationwide forum for individuals and organisations. This will present the "a9eel Challenge" an interactive way to strengthen work attitudes."  

The a9eel Challenge will be an online test to evaluate areas of improvement that are needed to develop good work ethics. Both individuals and organisations can participate in the a9eel Challenge by first registering on the website and taking a self-assessment test.

They can then invite others to rate them on their attitude and behaviour at work. The ratings will be based on various parameters of work attitudes and ethical practices. The participants then have the opportunity to improve themselves in clearly defined areas. The ratings can be reviewed every month based on the changes seen in the individual or company.

The "a9eel Challenge" is designed to help enhance work ethics and attitude-change for individuals and organisations. The website will record the progress of the participants on the home page and there will be a periodic update of who ranks on top as the most improved employee or company on the basis of the ratings.

a9eel.bh also will enable them to have access to the campaign's monthly electronic newsletter. This e-newsletter will provide the latest news about the campaign, relevant news articles, reports, and inspirational testimonials of Bahraini employees that will enhance the campaign's objectives and messages.

The innovative campaign includes advertising in the print media, cut-outs in prominent commercial office areas, lamp-posts, as well as interactive activities in the malls through mall installations. Additionally, the campaign's online presence will be carried on social media sites such as Facebook, You Tube and Twitter, besides others.  

Ms. Al-Kooheji informed that the third stage of the campaign would be the a9eel TV series. The comedy series will present the message of work attitudes in 15 episodes.

"We are proud that the a9eel TV series is the result of innovative thinking by a 100% Bahraini team with senior actors, administrative and technical support staff, and authorship provided by prominent Bahraini writers, " she added. 

To conclude the campaign, "The Week of Success" will be the last of the campaign's events in which Tamkeen will celebrate the success of positive work attitudes.

This will be based on the positive interaction of the target audience and provide
a platform of expression to achieve the desired objectives."

Ms. Amal Kooheji also shed light on another aspect of the project called "a9eel in the School". Presently, this project is applied through an interactive module in a number of secondary schools as a pilot phase. Elaborating on the project, she added, "it is one of new learning methods through which students will learn how to use the skills and positive work attitudes to develop their activities and promote learning methods. The interaction between them and other participating students and teachers from different schools will form collective and interactive efforts that will develop the teamwork efforts in order to renew and strengthen the authenticity of the Bahraini citizen, Bahrain and the Bahraini society as a whole".

Mr. Faeq AlOlaiwat, Principal/Chief Brand Architect and owner of DarOttakwin, the agency behind the creative and brand strategy of the campaign, stated, "the campaign would be launched in a wide spectrum of communication channels. More than 60 professional authors, designers, creators and technicians have contributed to realise the campaign. A majority of these are Bahrainis, who have combined their creativity and experience with an enthusiastic and youthful attitude for the campaign."

Mr. AlOlaiwat emphasised that the campaign's strategy is to make use of different media and multimedia channels in communicating its message through simplicity, clarity and logic, addressing directly the cultural values of the recipient. "We did not treat this campaign as an agency, but we truly believed in the campaign's superior objectives. We also believe that it is important not only for the present but also for the future of Bahrain.

Therefore, our aim is to create a high impact among Bahrainis. We are well aware that creating change is not an easy task. We have employed innovative means to ensure the success of this campaign, which is by all measures, a national and ambitious project that aims at creating a culture of change, achievement and productivity at both, personal and institutional levels for the benefit of citizens of Bahrain as an individual, and the Bahraini economy", he added.  

According to Mr. Alolaiwat, "the target audience will be able to spontaneously and simply relate to work attitude problems. The campaign will communicate a clear message, in the print media, the Bahrain satellite channel, the web site and in all areas and locations in which the campaign's events will be carried out. People will also notice the development and variety of presentation techniques and the use of advanced communication technologies to express the desire of different categories of Bahraini community to take part in the culture of change. Both, traditional as well as innovative means of communications will be utilised to communicate with people. The outcome will be creating a positive image of Bahraini workers who are indeed, the most important beneficiaries of this campaign".

-Ends-

Tamkeen

© Press Release 2010