Municipalities and Water Resources Month: A National Epic of True Partnership between Citizens, Government and the Private Sector

The Municipalities and Water Resources Month is a natural result of a mature experience witnessed in the field of Municipal work in the Sultanate of Oman since the start of the blessed renaissance, beginning with the establishment of Regional Municipalities in every Wilaya nationwide, a promise made by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said on the Second National Day in November 1971: " Municipalities will be established in main towns until we ultimately cover every town and every village and God be with us ".                                      

Development of Municipal Work

Municipal work is developing day by day as a reflection of how civilized and well-educated the Omani society is, and the Municipalities and Water Resources Month is a live example of the spirit of participation and cooperation between government and citizens in fields of enhancing infrastructure in the Regions, improving Municipal services, developing Municipal work and preserving water resources to keep abreast with the socio-economic development of the society. Among the prominent activities of this Month are His Majesty's Environmental Award for the best industrial institution that complies with environmental standards and specifications along with the Environmental Research Competition for individuals.                                                                                                                           

The idea of designating an annual date for evaluating honest competition among Regional Municipalities in fields of service work, public cleanness, environmental conservation and preservation of natural resources emerged in the late seventies. The First Municipalities Week actually started in 1979, and in 1980 the Ministerial Decision No. (31/1980) was issued to designate the second week of November of every year as the Municipalities Week to encourage honest competition, social solidarity and joint responsibility between citizens and Municipalities to serve and improve the society. Over two decades, this honest competition achieved several goals and contributed in the development of Municipal work and participation and interaction of all society members with Municipal authorities in serving the society each year.                                                                                                                 

Partnership between Citizens and Government

In order to enable both Municipal authorities and citizens to establish constructive collaboration that encourages further participation from citizens and enhances their role and effort, a decision was made to extend the Municipalities Week to be a Municipalities Month starting from 1985. The Month took another turn in 1992 when competition broadened not only among the Regional Municipalities but also between industrial institutions and companies and citizens and expatriates.                                                                                                       

A number of objectives that achieve the purpose of organizing the Municipalities Month were set up, most prominent of which are: establishing group partnership and cooperation between the Municipality and the citizen, raising awareness among citizens on the vital role they play in serving their society and environment, spreading environmental knowledge among citizens and involving them in the implementation of service projects, developing practical experiences among the different society sectors through actual practice of activities of public cleanness, afforestation, removing unsightly objects , beautifying towns and villages, protecting falajs and water resources, conserving the environment and last but not least enhancing coordination and collaboration between the Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources and Government and Private institutions concerned with serving the society.                                                                                                                                 

Toward Stronger Social Solidarity 

Since the start of the Municipalities Month for the first time in 1985, a different slogan is designed every year, reflecting the Ministry's concern for directing the efforts of both Regional Municipalities and citizens toward achieving certain goals in accordance with the objectives of development plans and aspects of public interest. It was only natural that the slogans of the first three Municipalities Months were designed to establish awareness and practice in the field of public cleanness. The slogan of the First Municipal Month of 1985 was " Cleanliness in Next to Godliness " and in 1986 " Clean Cities Mean Clean Civilizations ", as such the slogans changed annually with the latest being " Toward Stronger Social Solidarity ", which directed the efforts of the 18^th Municipalities Month of 2002 and which is the same slogan for 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.                                                                                    

The Municipalities and Water Resources Month is an absolute cultural leap that helped create a developmental wave throughout the Wilayat by implementing projects that mainly aim at supporting Municipal capabilities to enhance major Municipal service projects and environmental and water resources conservation programs and activities as well as to strengthen the spirit of partnership and cooperation between Municipalities and their citizens to improve, develop and enhance Municipal services in a state of collaboration, enthusiasm, group association and volunteer work.