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Inclusion Policies and Strategies

Welcome to Bahrain

The Kingdom of Bahrain is home to everyone. It is known for its overwhelming welcoming and very friendly multi-cultured individuals coming from diverse, backgrounds, faiths, and practices.

The Kingdom has created a legacy of diversity and acceptance. Bahraini people are known for their hospitality, warmth, and generosity with people irrespective of their color, class, or culture, which in turn created a healthy society where individuals feel valued and well respected. In Bahrain, you may easily find Buddhist temples, Christian churches, Jewish synagogues and Muslim mosques sitting side-by-side for years.

According to the 2018 InterNations Expat Survey  , Bahrain was also ranked number one for "ease of settling in" and "feeling at home". Bahrain also ranked 5th globally at the HSBC’s 2018 Expat Explorer Survey  for expat satisfaction, and is the only country in the MENA region to be featured in the top 5 best places to live, work, and raise a family.

Making a living

Working away from home can be an overwhelming, challenging, and yet an exciting experience. Many people choose the Kingdom of Bahrain as their working destination.

Bahrain was ranked as the number one place to live and work in the world, according to Expat Insider survey by InterNations for a study analyzing the top destinations for quality of life. The Kingdom offers an above-average quality of life and leads the way in the Quality of Education subcategory. Bahrain, being a family-oriented country offers respectively zero rated and exempt from VAT for education and residential contracts.

Moreover, Forbes magazine has ranked Bahrain as one of the top 10 working places for women to work abroad in 2018. According to the magazine, Bahrain scored in the 2nd place with a 66% satisfaction in career prospects versus a 62% for the male workforce, and a 72% satisfaction in Job security versus a 78% to their male counterparts.

Data for All - Open Government & Inclusion

Intending to achieve open government, transparency, and integrity; the Kingdom has come a long way in terms of providing government-related data and information to encourage the principles of participation, collaboration, and accountability. Hence, many government entities in the Kingdom have taken the initiative of providing their data online for easier access and use to the public aiming to encourage innovative ideas, activities, solutions, and strategies to better connect citizens and stakeholders to the government.

Open Data is gaining significant weight in several areas as they are produced and gathered by relevant authorities in order to make data available to the public without any classifications, restrictions on use, dissemination, or publication. Rights of privacy, security, and confidentiality are respected while being published by the Bahrain Open Data Portal ; thus, improving government transparency and public participation.

Bahrain's Open Data Portal  is the largest platform in the country providing open electronic data formats, as well as high-value data sets. The availability of this kind of data aims to increase knowledge sharing, improve transparency, efficiency, collaboration, and the participation of governments. The portal also aims towards enabling the development of better policies, decisions, programs, and services to ease data exploration and analysis by individuals or stakeholders. These data sets enable and assist stakeholders in creating new apps, websites, as well as solving observant issues for the common welfare and aims to provide meaningful opportunities for dialogue and collaboration between the government and the public. Moreover, in order for stakeholders to better understand the terminologies used within the datasets, a searchable metadata  list is available on the open data portal to further explain the terms in both Arabic and English. 

The Ministry of Finance and National Economy  has published its financial data in readable and editable formats of datasets related to Economic, free trade agreements, and Total State Budgeted Revenues & Expenditures. The ministry also publishes the yearly State Budget including information related to budgets allocated for citizens' welfare, government expenditures according to national priorities, diversifying public revenue sources, diversifying and maintaining the growth of National economy, as well as the state budget assumptions for the following year. It also publishes its archive for the previous years and also has the consolidated Final Accounts for each year. The Ministry of Education and the Supreme Council for Environment  have a good number of data sets available through their website.

Internet for All

Bahrain was ranked 3rd world-wide for the percentage of individual using internet in Bahrain. According to International Telecommunication Union, 98% of individuals in Bahrain are connected and using internet. Internet is widely available in Bahrain as there is “nobody left offline". Even in Bahrain’s public and private schools, internet access is available for students and teachers as part of the Digital Empowerment in Education project.

Bahrain is ranked 10th globally in mobile penetration rate (158.4%) and 5th globally in mobile broadband penetration (147.3%) according to the Global Competitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum in October 2018. In 2017, 84% of fixed broadband subscribers were provided with internet speeds equal to or more than 10 Mbps compared with only 10% in 2013. Moreover, the use of internet data has also doubled seven times between 2013 and 2018. According to the latest Telecommunications Market Survey in the Kingdom of Bahrain, 83% of respondents are satisfied with their overall mobile services in 2017, and 85% was satisfied with their overall broadband services in 2017. In Bahrain, the 4G internet service is expanded to be replaced by 5G internet service so that the internet can be more affordable, accessible, and flexible in use. The 5G internet service is used in most developed countries and Bahrain government is always leading the country towards better future and technological developments. In this sense, free Wi-Fi networks are available in Bahrain’s public areas such as public markets, Bahrain International Airport, and public transport. Bahrain is moving towards knowledge and digital economy. Bahrain has been connected to the internet since 1995 and considered as one of the most Internet-connected countries in the Middle East area. Companies in Bahrain are competing to offer the best services for all. Therefore, Bahrain continue to undertake further developments to take internet services to the next levels.

Inclusive Policies and Strategies

The Qudurat training program was launched based on the need for educating citizens on computer knowledge. The Information & eGovernment Authority  (iGA) has noted this as part of its eGovernment National Strategy - by taking the responsibility of providing free training classes for the citizens of the Kingdom. Launched in 2009 under the name 'eCitizen' and later renamed to Qudurat, the free-of-charge program was initiated to fill the computer literacy gap, and encourage citizens to benefit from the online services offered on Bahrain.bh.

Bahraini citizens starting from age seven are allowed to register without any restrictions. The training sessions are conducted by well-selected, highly-qualified and certified institutes. The classes are conducted in different timings and several governorates to cater to the need of all citizens.

As another initiative, the Ministry of Industry & Commerce, has developed a procedures guide for Establishment and Commercial Companies in Bahrain through Sijilat System .  The Business Licensing System (SIJILAT ) is advanced electronic system that is aimed towards the registration and licensing of commercial establishments in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The system is fully integrated with all related government entities to provide a One-Window solution for the customer. SIJILAT system is one of the main initiatives in Bahrain that enhances the inclusiveness and eParticipation levels of the Kingdom.