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Shura Council
Bahrain

The Problem

Shura Council has dedicated its efforts to provide the best service to its members, the civil society organizations and the website visitors through commitment to apply a methodology that focuses on the receiver. However, there are a lot of issues that are facing the Council on a day-to-day basis.
The council has to use an understandable language and robust policy information when communicating with the public. The parliamentary website should be user-friendly to the average visitor. Unfortunately, some visitors indicated that it was difficult to navigate the website without knowing in advance what to look for and where to find it.
Many Members of Parliament (MPs) felt that there was a time lag between Council sessions and publishing of meetings' Hansards. Some parliamentarians acknowledged that website's viewership is only representative of those who were already politically engaged. Researches confirmed that reliance on the traditional information pages was not sufficient in terms of making younger citizens aware of Parliament’s activities. Also, the bilingual communications were viewed as growing in importance by many MPs.
In addition, the work under the parliament had been an endless cycle of manual procedures, with a lot of unreliability in the way information was handled. For instance, the Meetings' Hansards, very lengthy reports, were printed and delivered weekly by-hand to MPs.
In short, the Shura Council website was a major opportunity for trust-building with the public in order to increase their engagement in the political process. Therefore, there was a need to enhance the website by using new media tools to improve the two-way communications, as well as strengthen its positioning as a repository for up-to-date, reliable parliamentary information.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The continuous efforts to enhance Shura Council's website was mainly to enable Shura Council to achieve efficiency, transparency and a shift from prevailing typical image. As well as to serve the legislative performance in the sense of providing premium quality services in terms of: efficient performance, accuracy, minimization of the time required to obtain information, attaining the highest degree of quality and integration and synergy with the various government agencies.
Currently, the website of Shura Council could be considered as the premier media and knowledge gateway for everyone interested in comprehending and understanding the legislative system of the Kingdom of Bahrain. The website offers miscellaneous information on the Council and its members and transmits the most recent news of the Council and its ongoing activities. All records available through the website are searchable.
The website aims to apply the evolving communication technologies to support a more effective Parliament and a more engaged public. Obviously these new technology tools has a major effect particularly on public, parliamentarians and the Council staff who also highlighted that such communication positively affected all of Parliament.
Shura Council was cautiously optimistic of the internet and mobile devices’ ability to positively affect democratic participation. Email notifications that alert parliamentarians and members of the public about new legislation, votes or amendments to bills are offered. Also, web survey tools are used to capture quantitative information and some qualitative feedback. Feedback received from visitors and MPs showed they found the information on the site valuable and reliable.
Social Media tools were engaged on the website. The website provides Blogs, twitter, FaceBook pages and other sites that encourage conversations to take place – getting more public to provide input, feedback and suggestions. Bilingual messages were nearly commonly viewed as crucial when communicating through social media.
The website is updated on a daily basis by virtue of its being the electronic medium which stimulates the communication and interaction between the legislative institution and the citizens by providing direct information on the achievements of the Council during its legislative cycles as well on the resolutions passed on the development plans in the Kingdom of Bahrain and on promoting the standards of the legislative activity. This will in turn serve the community by providing accurate information on the Council’s operations, the draft laws discussed, in addition to information on the history of the Council. The site also provides abundant information on the Council members, their CV’s and different ways and means to communicate with them.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
Based on the vision set by the legislative institution to create an electronic parliamentary institution on modern techniques, and Under the guidance of His Royal Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the information and technical management in Shura Council was assigned the task of creating a website to achieve this vision. the website of Shura Council was launched during the Legislative Term in 2004 to enable the citizens of Bahrain to remain connected and updated with the activities and decisions of Shura Council.
The Chairman of Shura Council, pushed that challenge even further by investing in the new technology behind the website, and involving all the parties responsible to make this the distinguished website among the government organizations. The website went into several enhancement stages; the latest, but not the last was in mid-2011.
The main goal of the website is to harness the power of technology to facilitate the way in which individuals, government organizations and various non-government bodies interact with Shura Council. In the spirit of full transparency, Shura Council's IT team was exerting every effort to keep pace with both technological development and e-government.
The team believes that the creation of this interactive medium enhances communication between the legislative body and the citizens of Bahrain. The website will directly highlight the achievements, the resolutions passed and issued by Shura Council with respect to development plans for the Kingdom. It will also act as an aid for the advancement of the Council’s activities.
Shura Council dedicates its effort to provide the best service to its members, the civil society organizations and the website browsers through commitment to apply a methodology that focuses on the receiver.

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
This initiative has clearly articulated targets/goals and has an overall strategy, Which is part of the overall strategy of the Shura Council directed to strengthen the channels of communication with citizens, in accordance with the principles of transparency and public participation in decision-making, which is the basis of the democratic system in Bahrain, which is also mentioned in the Constitution of Bahrain in the section on powers and functions of the legislative authority, and the national strategy of Bahrain (2030 vision).
Another important point is that societies do not develop only at the official level but also at the public level. Based on the theory of democracy, the political action which does not target improvement of the peoples’ lot is subject to criticism and auditing.
However, it must be reiterated that all these concepts are contingent on a veritable and truthful political will for the support and transparency of the information flow.
The main objective of the website is to enable Shura Council to achieve efficiency, transparency and a shift from prevailing typical image. It also serves the legislative performance in the sense of providing premium quality services in terms of: efficient performance, accuracy, minimization of the time required to obtain information, attaining the highest degree of quality and integration and synergy with the various government agencies.
The website displays the Council’s programs and projects of top priority, coupled with demonstration of Committee reports and the Council’s participation in the international circles in order to facilitate the processes which involve following up on implementation, monitoring of performance and determining the accountability of all concerned agencies.
The website also designates special communication links for the member’s interaction with the people which may reduce the time wasted from the member’s parliamentarian activity time to listen to the citizens’ complaints through the members’ private office. Consequently, the Council’s electronic website serves as a tool for receiving the citizens’ suggestions and by extension acquainting the member with the daily problems of concern to the people. (Where these complaints are taken into account during the legislative process once the legislation under discussion associated with one of these complaints, or be put - in order of importance - as a question to the minister concerned with the subject of the complaint.(Please refer to the member communication page, the communication center page, the blog page, Shura Council Website membership form page, Smart Phone services page and Social Networking page(.

Any citizen or visitor will be in a position to attend the Council’s sessions after filling the website registration form (Please see the visitor registration form for attending Shura Council Sessions). The website of Shura Council will also enable the citizens to track the direct radio transmission of the Council sessions. During this monitoring of the sessions, the citizens may transmit any comments via email , then these comments are forwarded to the concerned agencies or members for follow up and direct response. The website also accommodates the direct visual transmission to the authorized agencies which will accelerate and facilitate follow up (Please refer to the direct televised transmission page and the direct radio transmission page).

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The Shura Council website was launched during the Legislative Term in 2004 to enable the citizens of Bahrain to remain connected and updated with the activities and decisions of Shura Council.
The Chairman of Shura Council pushed that challenge even further by investing in the new technology behind the website, and involving all the parties responsible to make this the distinguished website among the government organizations. Therefore, Microsoft SharePoint 2010 was selected as the framework to build the solution. A secured and scalable infrastructure was built to host the Shura Council website. The features of content management and workflows were implemented. World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) accessibility standards were adopted, and continued efforts are made to ensure compliance to these standards.
The website went into several enhancement stages; the latest, but not the last was in mid-2011. The development of the project consisted of several phases, as listed below:
• Envisioning Phase:
o Preparation of Vision/Scope Document
• Planning Phase:
o Prepare Content Migration Plan
o Prepare Navigation Specifications
o Prepare Workflow Specifications
o Page Template Specifications
o Prepare Functional Specifications
• Development Phase:
o User Interface
 Develop website navigation structure
 Develop website HTML design
o CMS Implementation
 Mapping the website design into the CMS engine
 Building website Navigation Specifications
 Building Workflow Specifications
 Building Page Template Specifications
o Custom Features Implementation
 Services for the MPs
o Stabilizing Phase
 Review modular code
 Test site features to business requirement
o Deployment Phase
 Deploy Solution
 Conduct Training
The website appreciates the value of the contribution of parliamentary related issues pertaining to dialogue important issues through giving everyone the opportunity to communicate with the council as well as submitting their ideas and suggestions in a civilized and professional manner aiming to reach together to a constructive and feasible participation. Therefore, the council has decided to reactivate the electronic participation through its website using several methods: E-services for visitors, login facilities and e-services for MPs, Email lists, newsletters, Blogs, Smart phone services and Connect channels: Flicker, Twitter, YouTube & Facebook.
The Website is fundamentally designed to work for all people, no matter of any differences such as their hardware, software, language, culture, location, or physical or mental ability. When the website meets this goal, it is accessible to people with a diverse range of hearing, movement, sight, and cognitive ability. W3C standards for Web Design and Applications made the website more accessible for people with disabilities and improve user experience for all types of users. Providing a text record makes the audio information accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as to search engines and other technologies that can't hear. Also the website has a facility to publish all the reading materials in Braille script for the benefit of the visually-challenged individuals.
The website is appealed to universal audience – multilingual (Arabic/English), compatible with different Internet browsers: Internet Explorer and Firefox.
The website ensures security for all sensitive data & back end systems, provides easy, reliable access to a variety of disparate information services, and deliver relevant and up-to-date information through user-defined filters. This enhances the professionalism in achieving website goals which is reflected in the website traffic & statistics.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
One of the most important goals is to reach the largest segment of the citizens, and there was fear of the site's ability to achieve this. Also the operation of supplying the required information to the website, was one of the things that were subject of study, in order to contain the website all the information needed by the visitor and that the legislative authority should be provided.
In order to overcome these difficulties The council keen that the website contains all the requirements to give everyone the opportunity to communicate with the council as well as submitting their ideas and suggestions in a civilized and professional manner aiming to reach together to a constructive and feasible participation. Therefore, the council has decided to reactivate the electronic participation through its website using several methods: E-services for visitors, login facilities and e-services for MPs, Email lists, newsletters, Blogs, Smart phone services and Connect channels: Flicker, Twitter, YouTube & Facebook.
With regards of ensuring that all the information needed by the visitor and that should be provided by any legislative authority, it has been allocated a team of content editors from various departments of the General Secretariat of the Shura Council. They are responsible for updating the website with the latest developments and information, whether media or related to the work of the Council such as provision of sessions' agendas, committees meetings, parliamentary related researches, laws governing the work of the Council, etc..
The Website is fundamentally designed to work for all people, no matter of any differences such as their hardware, software, language, culture, location, or physical or mental ability. When the website meets this goal, it is accessible to people with a diverse range of hearing, movement, sight, and cognitive ability. W3C standards for Web Design and Applications made the website more accessible for people with disabilities and improve user experience for all types of users. Providing a text record makes the audio information accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as to search engines and other technologies that can't hear. Also the website has a facility to publish all the reading materials in Braille script for the benefit of the visually-challenged individuals.
The website ensures security for all sensitive data & back end systems, provides easy, reliable access to a variety of disparate information services, and deliver relevant and up-to-date information through user-defined filters. This enhances the professionalism in achieving website goals which is reflected in the website traffic & statistics.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
The overall cost of implementing the Shura Council website was around $ 18,000. The costs of this initiative are relatively low compared to the positive outcomes. Following the strategy of Bahrain government for reducing government spending, the network saved on huge operational costs on paper and enhanced the communications between the parliament and the citizins.
Such endeavor and response to the modern technology will minimize the costs and save time since the cost of information at the present time is not measured by the material cost represented by what is offered in them but the important factor now lies in the cost of time and how accessible is the information.
The website is updated on a regular basis by virtue of its being the electronic medium which stimulates the communication and interaction between the legislative institution and the citizens.
The main benefits of the website can be summarized by the following:
 Support the operations of the Council members
­ effectiveness of the legislative performance
­ effectiveness of the supervisory performance
­ effectiveness of the public policy formulation

 Support the researchers and experts in the field of parliamentary work
­ Parliamentarian researches
­ Stimulus and development of parliamentarian performance

 Interaction with the public opinion and the civil society (at the public level)
 Interaction with the parliamentarian institution at the regional and global levels.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
Considering the local and regional environment, the design and implementation of this initiative may inspire others and be replicated through what its offers to Facilitates e-participation. Shura Council's website is regarded as the main gateway and local address of the parliament at the regional and global levels which reflects the degree of development attained by the representation life. Consequently, the website reflects the image of the parliament and the image of the Kingdom of Bahrain at the same time as well as a host of indications, including the democracy of the parliament's work, the extent of respect for the citizens’ rights and the extent of achievement of the good governance principles of transparency, accountability and supremacy of the law.
The attention given by the Kingdom of Bahrain at the moment to the modern technology and implementing of an e-government, allowed any visitor to their e-government site to browse the site of the Shura Council as well, giving the website of the Council the power of sustainability, in light of moral support suggesting that the Council's work appreciated. In addition to the financial support provided by the Council for any proposals that would develop the website. Also the website visitor's interaction reflects the capability of the website to achieve part of its objectives, which calls for the continuation of the work.
As such, the electronic website serves as a tool for supporting the Kingdom’s position at the international level as well as the parliamentarian cooperation and exchange of international parliamentarian experiences
The website can also serve as an effective tool for preparation of international and regional meetings: in other words activation of the performance at the diplomatic parliamentarian level, with the increase in the importance of the Arab Parliamentarian Union, especially in the light of the migration to the Unified Arab Parliament as is the case of the European Parliament.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
Shura Council website raises public awareness about the Bahraini Legislative System, offering a wide range of high-quality information resources, contents and services, representing diverse data collection on one single search platform. The website can be regarded as the premium reference for the Council members, civil society organizations and researchers. It successfully achieves its objectives by virtue of the abundant supply and display of contents in an interesting manner that is easy to browse.
The website always takes into consideration the visitors’ opinions and impressions which all contribute in giving the visitor as much as possible a pleasurable and beneficial experiment. Browsing the contents is easy and smooth and the information is easily accessible at the browsers’ finger tips
The website strives to attain excellence, quality control and ongoing improvement and aspires to meet the needs and expectations of the public and consequently earn their confidence, support and commitment for the success of the initiatives which aim at improving the performance of the legislative authority in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The website is fundamentally designed to work for all people, no matter of any differences such as their hardware, software, language, culture, location, or physical or mental ability. When the Web meets this goal, it is accessible to people with a diverse range of hearing, movement, sight, and cognitive ability.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Shura Council
Institution Type:   Government Agency  
Contact Person:   Abeer Al Obaidulli
Title:   Acting Director of IT  
Telephone/ Fax:   97317748886
Institution's / Project's Website:   www.shura.bh
E-mail:   anasr@ega.gov.bh  
Address:   P.O.Box 2291
Postal Code:   2291
City:   Manama
State/Province:   Bahrain
Country:   Bahrain

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