In the presence of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of the UAE, and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, awarded the inaugural edition of the Mohammed bin Rashid Leadership Medal to His Excellency Eng. Marwan bin Ghalita, Director General of Dubai Municipality.
Launched by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the medal is the highest accolade within the Government of Dubai.
His Highness Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of the UAE Olympic Committee; Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairperson of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority; and His Excellency Mohammad bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, Chairman of The Executive Office of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Chairman of the Mohammed bin Rashid Center for Leadership Development, attended the award ceremony.
The Medal was awarded in recognition of HE Bin Ghalita’s efforts to develop and empower second-tier leaders, promote a culture of institutional empowerment and drive government excellence.
The award ceremony took place during the Mohammed bin Rashid Leadership Forum, the premier annual gathering dedicated to management and leadership. Organised by the Mohammed bin Rashid Center for Leadership Development (MBRCLD), the event brought together 1,000 key government and private sector leaders in Dubai to discuss future transformation in leadership and management, while advancing the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to reinforce Dubai’s position as a global hub for excellence and innovation.
Empowering talent
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum stated: “Empowering second- and third-tier leaders is our guarantee to ensure the continuity of our institutions, and to safeguard our achievements.
“Our goal is to ensure that Dubai’s institutions and departments remain continuously revitalised through the vision of their leaders, the aspirations of their youth and the continuous development of their teams.”
His Highness added: “A true leader is not one who centres the institution around their person, but one who fosters a culture of teamwork, ensuring that even after their departure, the institution’s performance continues to grow stronger, greater and more sustainable.”
Comprehensive evaluation
The selection of HE Marwan bin Ghalita as recipient of the medal is the culmination of a comprehensive evaluation process involving 32 Directors General and second-tier leaders.
The Supervisory Committee of the Mohammed bin Rashid Leadership Medal implemented a multi-stage evaluation methodology based on objective indicators and specialised interviews to measure the sustainable leadership impact on developing and empowering leaders.
The evaluation process included a review of over 4,000 documents and pieces of evidence submitted by participating government entities, alongside more than 100 interviews with Directors General and second-tier leaders to verify leadership practices, assess their impact, and finalise evaluation files. The process engaged 10 independent global leadership experts as evaluators, ensuring the highest standards of objectivity and accuracy.
The evaluation focused on a number of key pillars measuring the tangible impact of leadership in preparing and empowering second-tier talent; mainly developing competencies, fostering trust within work teams, expanding authority and responsibilities, and involving promising leaders in decision-making.
HE Marwan bin Ghalita was awarded the Mohammed bin Rashid Leadership Medal in recognition of his role in empowering talent and cultivating second-tier leaders. The evaluation results highlighted his distinguished approach to promoting a culture of empowerment within the institutional framework, transforming it into a sustainable practice.
This approach helped foster a work environment that encourages initiative and accountability, reinforces learning and knowledge transfer, while offering talent genuine opportunities for growth and experience to support their professional and leadership development.
HE Bin Ghalita’s leadership practices demonstrated a strong commitment to empowering second-tier leaders by granting them expanded roles and responsibilities, as well as involving them in strategic matters, which enhances their readiness to navigate challenges and assume advanced leadership roles, while ensuring continuous knowledge transfer and accumulation of expertise within the entity.
Leadership empowerment ecosystem
The Mohammed bin Rashid Leadership Medal aims to establish a leadership empowerment ecosystem within every entity through clear plans and standards. This initiative enhances leadership development efforts and positions Dubai’s experience as a global benchmark in leadership development, measured against international best practices.
It also highlights success stories of entities that have significantly advanced leadership empowerment, making these examples known so that other organisations can replicate their success.
The medal is awarded annually to the Director General within the Government of Dubai who contributes most to developing, empowering, training, and championing second-tier leaders. This is achieved by fostering trust within work teams and institutions, inspiring employees to unlock their full potential to achieve high levels of performance and innovation and promoting a culture of institutional empowerment based on delegating authority, expanding responsibilities and advancing decentralisation.
