BATHO PELE LEARNING NETWORK

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BATHO PELE LEARNING NETWORK

• 23rd NOV 2005
• REPORT FROM COMMISSION 2 CASE STUDY 2

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1. DEFINITION OF A CITIZENS CHARTER

• Broad statement of commitment outlining
  governments promises to citizens.
• Its an agreement between the government and
  citizens.
• Defines the commitment of a particular government
  department to provide services to its clients,
  nature of services to be provided, how they will
  be provided, time frames for doing this, and
  the recourse that citizens have, if there is no
  delivery on the promises made.
• Citizens should be informed of their rights to
  enable them to hold government accountable
• Consultation is essential and should happen early
  on in the process

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1. DEFINITION OF A CITIZENS CHARTER (CONT.)

• CC needs to be based on an environmental analysis
  
• Capacity of a government to deliver on the
  commitments made should be assessed
• Commitments made should be realistic
• CC should be comprehensive and factor in needs of
  diverse community members (e.g. the disabled)
• CC should build on the best practices of a
  particular government department

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2. USING A CITIZENS CHARTER AS A BENCHMARK
FOR SERVICE DELIVERY

• Strategic and Operational Plans should reflect
  strategies for implementing commitments made in
  the CC
• Time frames for implementation should be clearly
  outlined
• Implementation plans should be integrated and
  reflect intersectoral strategies.
• Monitoring and evaluation mechanisms should be in
  
• place for tracking progress towards
  commitments made
• Best practices should be recognized (e.g. through
  service excellence awards)
• Public servants need to be committed to the
  principles implementation of the CC

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3. LINKING A CITIZENS CHARTER TO SERVICE
STANDARDS

• CC has to include both generic and domain
  specific standards
• Service standards should be clearly defined and
  communicated
• Information about CC should be disseminated to
  both senior management and frontline personnel
• Buy-in should be solicited from both senior
  management and frontline personnel (including
  security guards)
• CC should be used to improve service delivery
  processes (e.g reduction in waiting times
  overcoming red tape etc.)
• Should be used to improve performance standards

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4. CONCLUSION

• CC depends on the mindset of the public servants
  who are supposed to implement it
• Improved service delivery cannot happen without
  necessary resources, support systems tools