Citizens Talk Directly With Leaders Through Youtube
Google announced today the second episode of the Kingdom Dialogues will take place September 15th with His Excellency, Muhammad Bin Abdullah Al-Sharif President of the Saudi Anti-Corruption Commission. Kingdom Dialogues is a platform where citizens can engage directly with leaders in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through the power of video and YouTube.
Kingdom Dialogues is the first initiative of its kind in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Region with similar initiatives launched in Egypt and Tunisia during the past year. The Kingdom Dialogues demonstrates how both citizens and government can use technology tools to engage on a whole new level.
The initiative allows users to communicate directly with officials and decision-makers by submitting questions via text or video format after which users vote on the most important topics using Google Moderator which ranks the most popular questions. Those questions are then posed to the leader during an online interview featured on www.youtube.com/kingdomdialogues .
The Internet is playing an increasingly significant role, helping bolster civic engagement and has become a powerful mechanism for information sharing with citizens. KACND is leveraging the popularity of YouTube among Saudi’s to engage with its citizens on topics and issues important to them.
“Google is committed to supporting the Kingdom’s national dialogue initiatives through the power of technology and is proud to help facilitate the opportunity for citizens in Saudi to have their voices heard through platforms like YouTube on the Kingdom Dialogues,” according to AbdulRahman Tarabzouni, Head of Emerging Arabia for Google.
The King AbdulAziz Center for National Dialogue (KACDN) launched this strategic initiative utilizing Google’s Moderator and YouTube technologies earlier this year, when they held the first episode with the Minister of Education, HRH Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah.
During the first episode more than 3,000 questions were submitted covering areas such as health care in schools, curriculum development, teacher benefits and nutrition programs. Users than cast 30,000 votes for the top questions they wanted to ask the leader.
The Kingdom Dialogues is an initiative that further showcases Google’s commitment to debate, dialogue, and transparency as a component of national development in MENA.
