Balady: Giving residents a voice in city services

Active community participation is vital for successful municipal service delivery and sustainable urban enhancement. As we explore digital solutions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, we share the perspective of Eng. Musaed Al-Otaibi, Deputy Minister for Digital Transformation and Smart Cities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Tell us about your digital solution to accelerate progress on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Balady is a digital platform that provides over 200 digital services related to municipal operations, city infrastructure, and sustainable urban enhancement with the participation of the community. It regulates business activities and improves lives of residents by providing services and promoting activities that are innovative for business and empower the community.

It has 3.7 million users and involves over 1 million community contributions on infrastructure inspection, service, and landscape issues, with 98 per cent of those being resolved, and it enabled us to increase satisfaction with municipal services to 95 per cent.

Which organization or group is behind this digital solution?

It’s a project of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing (MOMRAH).

How can your digital solution help put the SDGs back on track?

Balady is a scalable and replicable digital solution with a blueprint that can be leveraged by other cities or governments to better integrate, manage, and promote their city services, engage with their communities to improve liveability, and improve the ease of doing business.

Current advancements with Balady include the recently launched Lifestyle App, which demonstrates how Balady’s resident-centric design aims to continuously introduce tailored services for more sustainable cities and communities.

Which SDGs does your project aim to address, and why?

First and foremost:

• Goal 11: Sustainable cities and human settlements. Balady has created a space where every resident can feel that they have a real voice and impact in their community.

But more broadly, it also serves:

• Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth. Balady enhances ease of doing business through instant business activities.
• Goal 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure. Balady innovates in the way the sector operates through creative and engaging products and solutions.
• Goal 3: Good health and well-being. Balady Lifestyle incentivizes residents to exercise and visit green spaces through its points system, contributing to a healthy nation.
• Goal 10: Reduced inequalities. Balady serves to facilitate permitting for affordable homes, allowing developers to build quickly and offer services at a reduced price.

What are the greatest challenges or risks you have faced in rolling out your digital solution for the SDGs?

The municipal sector has the largest number of services that must be provided digitally, with connected journeys that serve over 3 million users across Saudi Arabia, helping significantly to reduce the number of branch visits , which now account for less than 5 per cent of service provision.

Additionally, there was a need to overcome visual pollution issues nationwide, which was resolved through community engagement in capturing incidents using the Balady app. The user can raise an issue in less than 30 seconds. By utilizing various artificial intelligence (AI) engines developed in-house, we can now quickly resolve such incidents with a high success rate, closing over 3.3 million complaints to date.

What are the advantages of joining forces with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other partners to advance digital solutions for the SDGs?

Firstly, this gives us access to a global platform. It enables us to share Balady and its success with as many potential beneficiaries as possible.

Secondly, there’s networking and collaboration. This means access to a space where we can meet relevant stakeholders with similar ambitions to fulfil SDGs.

Thirdly, it enhances innovation and knowledge transfer, introducing cutting-edge digital solutions and technologies that can accelerate potential progress on SDGS while sharing potential pitfalls to avoid while building such digital solutions.

Assistant Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation and Smart Municipalities Sultan Alamri and Executive Director of Emerging Technologies and Digital Maturity Khaled Almutairi attended the SDG Digital event at UN Headquarters on 17 September as formal representatives from the Deputyship of Digital Transformation and Smart Cities, MOMRAH.

Balady is featured as a digital solution for SDG11 (sustainable cities and human settlements) in the SDG Digital Acceleration Agenda, prepared by ITU and UNDP with knowledge partner Boston Consulting Group and support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Photo credits: MOMRAH

(Updated 18/09/2023)