Manama : As part of government efforts to enhance and re-engineer the quality of services, the Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Waqf has developed the services of the Zakat Fund, which allows the submission and updating of applications in accordance with Sharia provisions and approved standards.
Under these enhanced services, the processing time for application submission has been reduced from 20 working days to 5 working days, and the processing time for data updates has been reduced from 20 working days to 3 working days. The service level agreement has been reduced by at least 25%, the number of required documents has been reduced by 50%, and the application steps have been reduced to a maximum of four steps. In addition, the user interface and user experience have been improved, and service information has been standardised across various official channels, contributing to greater transparency and ease of access to the service.
In this context, Judge Shaikh Omar bin Duaij Al Khalifa, Assistant Undersecretary for Islamic Affairs at the Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Waqf, affirmed that the development of the Zakat and charity fund services comes within a vision aimed at modernising procedures, accelerating case review, and ensuring the efficient delivery of assistance to beneficiaries, as the fund disburses aid received from donors to registered cases.
Judge Shaikh Omar bin Duaij explained that the development process included converting the beneficiary case form into an electronic form, and reorganising the case review process by reviewing documents through the service centre, reducing the duration of case study, and reducing the number of required documents, contributing to faster assessment and decision-making on cases.
Judge Shaikh Omar bin Duaij also affirmed the fund’s focus on developing linkage with official entities to support the efficiency of case review, based on a continuously updated database, in a way that enhances the role of the fund in delivering donor contributions and zakat funds to the most needy groups.
As part of ongoing government efforts to develop and re-engineer government services, more than 1,300 government services have been documented, translated, and published, with around 800 services undergoing development and re-engineering across various government sectors.
This is based on proposals and feedback received regarding government services through the National System for Suggestions and Complaints, Tawasul, investor feedback, and secret shopper reports evaluating government services, as well as the launch of guidance manuals and service level agreements.
These efforts contribute to improving procedural efficiency, enhancing service quality, strengthening beneficiary experience, and supporting the government’s digital transformation journey.
