Regional conference “Benefits of Quality Management in Public Administration” that was held in Sarajevo 17-18 November 2016 in organisation of the German GIZ, Public Administration Reform Coordinator’s Office (PARCO), and the Regional School for Public Administration (ReSPA) resulted in a series of high-quality proposals that will make quality management a simple tool for sustainable quality in the work of public administration and that will open public administration to the customers and citizens.
Regional networking in service quality management in the public administration is necessary for the sustainability of the quality of the functioning of the public administration, and its opening towards the customers and citizens is certainly the main conclusion of the two-day conference which brought together over hundred participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region.
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At the very beginning of the conference, doc. dr. Dragan Ćuzulan, Public Administration Reform Coordinator in BiH, pointed out that the inter-institutional working group for quality management prepared an operational plan to introduce the CAF model in public administration. “Following its adoption by the BiH Council of Ministers, we would officially begin the process of introducing the CAF quality management model in the BiH institutions.”
As noted by Goran Paštrović, Manager of the Project titled “Quality of Public Services”, the Regional School for Public Administration – ReSPA, based in Danilovgrad, Montenegro, the regional dimension of quality management in public administration is highly significant as it defines the possibilities relevant in the economic context through a number of solutions for the improvement of processes and services, as well as in the non-material segment reflected in the improvement of people’s relations and communication. „I believe that the standardization in the field of quality management in the region, as regards the exchange of experiences and practices, as well as the use of human resources available in the region, can help us make a step forward.“ The opening of the regional center for quality assurance in 2017 will play an important role in the process.
Nick Thijs, Senior Advisor at the European Institute of Public Administration, believes that it is necessary to make steps forward on the path of achieving EU standards in the field of quality management in public administration in the region. He addressed the participants through a video message: “One should always bear in mind that the public administration exists in order to work for the interests of customers and citizens – working for the public and with the public. To improve the provision of public services means that you have the information and understand the needs and expectations of beneficiaries. The information on customers’ and citizens’ satisfaction with the work of the public administration in the countries of the region either does not exist or is quite obscure. This field should be improved as soon as possible.”
Tihana Puzić, GIZ Thematic Area Manager for Quality Management within the Programme ofStrengthening of Public Institutions, pointed out that GIZ would continue providing support to improve the process of quality management in public administration as well as in regional networking. “In this context, the cooperation with the Regional School for Public Administration is highly important in order to establish a link between processes, visibility and products. I am convinced that with the help of the Public Administration Reform Coordinator’s Office, the Civil Service Agency and the Institute for Standardisation, we will achieve sustainability in quality management, make public administration open to its customers and citizens, and eventually succeed in having public services based on the real needs and expectations of citizens.”
During the regional conference presented were also the documents developed by the inter-institutional thematic working group for quality management in the previous period. These documents can be downloaded in official languages in Bosnia and Herzegovina below:
- Guidelines for the Implementation of ISO 9001:2008 in Public Administration Institutions of BiH (Smjernice za implementaciju ISO 9001:2008 u institucijama javne uprave BiH) in Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian language
- Guidelines for the Survey of Satisfaction of Users of Public Administration in of BiH (Smjernice za ispitivanje zadovoljstva korisnika javne uprave BiH) in Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian language
This was also an occasion to present the translations of significant documents in the area of quality management to the languages in BiH, such as, the translation of CAF guidelines for self-assessment “Unapređenje javnih organizacija kroz samoprocjenu” (original: “Improving Public Organisations through Self-Assessment”) and the European Primer on Customer Satisfaction Management (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian language; original in English here).
More on the measures of the Programme for Strengthening of Public Institutions in the area of quality management can be found here and an overview of some of the measures realised so far in this area cab be found here.