Recognising the region’s most inspirational and forward thinking leaders and initiatives from across government and public sector organizations, the prestigious GCC GOV HR Awards took place on 31st October at Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi
Held in conjunction with the 5thAnnual GOV HR Summit, the awards recognized the outstanding contributions and achievements of 18 governments, business organizations and individuals who have raised the benchmark of people performance in the region, across 15 categories at this high level, by- invitation-only gathering.
Ackash Jain, Director, QnA International, said, “The GCC is one of the most progressive region in terms of its initiatives directed  at nurturing human capital growth which in turn spurs economic development. The GCC GOV HR Awards recognizes those companies and leaders who go above and beyond to create and support real change. Year on year we have highlighted outstanding talent and path breaking initiatives across the GCC and this year was no different. In 2017 we truly saw the best of the best receive the honour and celebration they deserve for their phenomenal work.”
The winners of the GCC GOV HR Awards 2017, are:
Organization of the Year for Women Empowerment
Ministry of Health, Bahrain
Organization of the Year for Youth Empowerment
EXPO 2020 Dubai, UAE
Best Nationalization Initiative in the GCC
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, Bahrain
Best Nationalization Initiative in the Private Sector
Petrogas E&P, Oman
Innovation in Employee Engagement in the Private Sector
Chalhoub Group, UAE
Organization of the Year for the Best Happiness Initiative in the Private Sector
Al Fahim Group
Organization of the Year for the Best Happiness Initiative
Federal Authority of Government Human Resources (FAHR), UAE
"Happiness First" Leader Award
Haidar Ali Senior, Vice President - People Happiness & Innovation, Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority, UAE
"People First” Leader Award
Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General & Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), UAE
GOV HR Leader of the Year
Aysha Sulaiman, Group HR Director, Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone - Government of Ras Al Khaimah – RAKEZ, UAE
And
Othman Al Khoori, , Senior Vice President – Human Capital, Mubadala Petroleum
GCC GOV HR Team of the Year
Etisalat, UAE
Dubai Police, UAE
Excellence in Talent Management Award
Mobile Telecommunications Co. – Zain Kuwait
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, UAE
Most Distinctive Learning and Development Strategy  
Royal Commission at Yanbu, Saudi Arabia
Digital HR Award of the Year
Dubai Smart Government, UAE
Innovation in Employee Engagement
Abu Dhabi Distribution Company, UAE
Ackash Jain added, “The government and public sector faces a series of unprecedented and unique HR challenges in the coming years and, to be successful in navigating these, they must continue to innovate and champion change. QnA International is honoured to celebrate the organizations and people leading the development of public and government sector HR in the region and we wish all our winners the very best in their continued work to revolutionize how we nurture a workforce that is agile, dynamic and equipped with the skills necessary to excel in the knowledge economy.”
About the GOV HR Awards
Now in its 5thAnnual edition, the GOV HR Summit is undoubtedly, the biggest gathering of C- level Executives and human capital professionals from public and government sector organizations from across the GCC. This year the summit will  provide the perfect knowledge sharing platform to reimagine HR, benchmark employee experience, create tools and implement a sustainable HR model, while still walking away with effective solutions to the constant challenges of human capital management (HCM).