Tanfeedh, the national programme for enhancing economic diversification starts today at the Institute of Public Administration in Al Khuwair.

With the blessing of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the second phase of the Tanfeedh project will bring together ministers, undersecretaries, representatives of the private sector, academia and civil society who will take part in full-time workshops or ‘Labs’ for a period of six weeks.

Tanfeedh is a national initiative, which is part of the 9th Five-Year Development Plan (2016-2020), and has been launched in collaboration with the Malaysian government’s “Performance Management and Delivery Unit (PEMANDU)” in order to build upon the achievements of the previous plans, with a focus on targeted sectors.

Smart Digital had the honor to serve the cause by providing the attendance system and hardware necessary to complete the project. The system deployed by SD allowed flexibility in keeping track of the attendees in the event. Advanced event management system through the use of badges and barcode readers throughout the event made it easier for participants to sign in and proceed to their designated labs.

SD provided technical support to the Tanfeedh staff, cooperation was essential as managing the records solely depended on the combination of event and technical expertise. SD provided troubleshooting service to any issues that the staff faced and made sure that it was resolved as soon as possible. The event management system was the key in identifying statistics of the participants. SD also helped in registering many new participants who wanted to take part in the event.

Believing in the importance of defining priorities for the next phase and building on the efforts already exerted by different authorities, the role of Tanfeedh is to link the different strategies of the targeted sectors together, and provide a platform for sustainable partnership between the public and private sectors to best serve society.

From September 18 to October 26, the executive framework of the programme will be identified, outlining priorities and encouraging investments, such as zoning sites for tourism investment and formulating steps required to promote and support these sectors.

The discussions will aim to establish mechanisms for financing projects through the syndicates of private investors, developing criteria for assessment to better allocate projects to appropriate groups of investors, provide feasibility studies and evaluate the attractiveness of projects for the private sector.

The Sultanate seeks to diversify sources of national income, create more opportunities for job seekers, find alternatives to promote the national economy, and reduce dependence on oil, especially amidst the current crisis. It also intends to adopt a mechanism for job classification to define the requirements, specifications and qualifications required for each strategic sector.