The public has been assured that they will “soon notice tangible changes” resulting from the extensive training programs being given to staff from the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Hai'a) across the country. Khaled Al-Shamrani, Dean of the Hai'a's High Institute at Umm Al-Qura University, said that the programs were already producing “tangible results” and attributed performance improvements to improved coordination between the High Institute and the Hai'a presidency as well as the Hai'a's moves to developing it staff's performance and support from the leadership. “The Hai'a staff carry out work as per the frameworks set by the ruler, and not through attempting to be ‘guardians',” Al-Shamrani said. Courses given to staff are all approved by the Ministry of Civil Service, something which Al-Shamrani says is the “biggest incentive” for staff to enroll in them, “Next year we will be launching a Master's program in Hesba (work of the Hai'a),” he added. According to Al-Shamrani, High Institute courses are designed “as a matter of course” to produce results in the field, and he described them as “gauged in terms of content”. “The institute has enlisted a center to conduct a survey of 6,000 trainees to receive feedback and information on the training environment and training instructors,” he said. “The Institute has so far held 16 training courses, with 410 members having completed the preparatory course, meaning in 4,800 course hours with 144 trainers.” The institute holds courses on communication skills and “the Islamic approach towards wrongdoings”, strategic management, dialogue skills and Shariah rules related to the work of the Hai'a. The Commission has been conducting numerous courses for its staff across the country in recent times, and the President General of the Hai'a, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Humayyen Al-Humayyen, said earlier this month that “sixty percent of Hai'a staff have concluded training and qualification courses to help them perform their work to the required level”.
