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The Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP) played a major role in the recently concluded Seminar-Workshop on Automated Government Service Management System for the Regulatory Agencies under the Department of Agriculture.
The five-day event, which kicked off on 8 November 2021, was held at The Bayleaf Cavite and was simultaneously broadcasted online via Webex. The workshop aimed to help the regulatory offices under the Department of Agriculture (DA) to streamline and harmonize government processes, procedures and requirements through digitalization and automation.
DAP President and CEO Atty. Engelbert C. Caronan, Jr., along with other distinguished officials of the bureaucracy, delivered their respective Welcome Messages during the kick-off event. President Caronan, in his message, expressed his warmest support to this very important undertaking of the DA as it embarks on capacitating DA personnel with new ideas, concepts, studies, and best practices to modernize the current agricultural services. He highlighted the need to be more creative and to think out-of-the-box in order for our lives and livelihoods to survive as we move to the “new normal.†Moving forward, he encouraged the participants to have the mindset of constantly improving in order to make things more efficient for the organization and become more responsive to the needs of our fellow citizens. He expressed his belief that mainstreaming innovations and regulatory reform initiatives largely depend on the manner by which regulatory bodies steer the direction of their regulated entities to adopt smart approaches in operations and policies that underpin these regulations.
DAP President Caronan delivered a Welcome Message during the Opening Program
As one of the main speakers, DAP Vice-President Arnel D. Abanto shared the results of the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries or PCAF-commissioned study on the “Review of Laws and Regulations to Enhance Policy Environment Towards Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization.†Prior to his presentation, he commended the DA management for gathering the whole agency to review its existing operations and policy issuances. He stressed the need to remove the burdensome regulations and requirements, including the existing flaws, inefficiencies, and “red tape†as the DA embarks on automation.
VP Abanto also highlighted that the results of the study as well as the ongoing study on the Full-blown Assessment on the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA) are good reference materials of the DA as it moves towards its goal of being “OneDA†in its quest for streamlining and service process improvement. It is high time that the DA management considers the recommendations of these studies.
The DA acknowledged this as the event host referred to the said studies, along with other DAP publications on “Enhancing Regulatory Management in the Agriculture and Fisheries Sector: A Benchmarking Study†as the “bible†or reference of the DA regulatory agencies in their regulatory streamlining initiatives to improve the delivery of service processes and ultimately promote economic growth for the agriculture sector.
Vice-President Arnel D. Abanto presents the results of a DAP study before the OneDA family | Development Academy of the Philippines
The five-day DA event is in support of the Republic Act 11032 or an Act Promoting Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Delivery of Government Services. The workshop was attended by more than 200 participants from OneDA family comprised of DA-Central regulatory offices, regional field offices, bureaus and attached agencies and corporations via in-person and virtual modalities. The workshop was concluded on 12 November 2021 as the DA launched its first-ever Digital Agriculture Command Center.
A person accomplishing the survey questionnaire about theimpact of the COVID-19 pandemic on MSMEs in Asia
Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in India have been a major contributor to the socio-economic development of their country, contributing 18.5% to its 2019 to 2020 Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The sector has also contributed immensely to entrepreneurship development, especially in the semi-urban and rural areas of India. However, the global pandemic has affected every sector in the world indiscriminately, albeit in varying degrees, and MSMEs have proven to be more vulnerable to income and asset losses than larger firms.
To better understand and address this issue, India’s National Productivity Council (NPC), in association with the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), decided to conduct an online survey to look into the pandemic’s size, aspects, incidence, and how it has impacted MSMEs in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, the Lao PDR, Mongolia, Vietnam, and Malaysia. They combined elements of qualitative and quantitative research approaches in their study design to ascertain the level of sectoral distress at the peak of the nationwide lockdown in May 2020. The results were concerning, as they showed that production levels fell from an average of 75% capacity to just 13%, firms retained only 44% of their workforce, and 69% of firms reported an inability to survive longer than three months.
The study had some notable findings on the state of MSMEs since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. First, they found out that MSMEs in developing Asian countries experienced considerably reduced employment and sales revenues in the first few months after the outbreak. The reduction in employment was, of course, more severe for the employment of non-permanent employees, but the employment of permanent or regular employees was also significant. Although there are considerable differences among countries, one-fourth to one-half of the sample MSMEs experienced a temporary close down during this period and one-third to two-thirds were facing a cash shortage at the time of the survey. Thus, the impacts of the pandemic on employment and the sustainability of business were quite severe.
Figure 1: Percentage of Firms that Reduced the number of Permanent Employees after the Outbreak of the Pandemic
Figure 2: Percentage of Firms that Reduced the Number of Temporary Employees after the Outbreak of the Pandemic
Second, some enterprises were earning from online sales before the pandemic, many of them were either 1) young firms, 2) export-oriented firms, 3) even firms facing a cash shortage, and 4) those who have already been using online sales. Moreover, these firms are also planning to increase their utilization of online sales amid the pandemic.
Figure 3: Percentage of Firms that Reduced Sales in the First Half of 2020 in a Year-to-Year Comparison (Data Are Available Only for the Six Countries)
Figure 4: Percentage of Firms that Experienced a Cash Shortage and Temporary Exit
Third, the share of online sales has a nonlinear relationship with employment. As the share increases until it reaches about 40% of the total sales, its relationship with employment is negative, suggesting that the use of online sales displaces labor input. Fourth, MSMEs tend to prefer tax payment deferral, tax rate reduction, and loan repayment deferral to many other possible forms of government support for MSMEs, even though considerable differences exist among countries and among firms regarding which type of support they prefer
Figure 5: Percentage of Firms that Expected Negative Growth in the 2020 Annual Sales
The lessons presented by these findings are of significant use to the public sector as well. The difficulties faced by MSMEs, as seen in the study’s overall findings of sectoral distress across the board during the height of the pandemic, should be taken into consideration by the public sector in its development of interventions to drive recovery from COVID-19. Especially concerning is the widespread layoffs among MSMEs, which could have widespread ramifications that the public sector will have to address.
As the Philippines makes the transition to digital government, a delegation of senior public sector officials participated in the Individual-country Observational Study Mission (IOSM) on 18 to 19 October 2021 via Zoom. The delegates learned about digital innovation in Taiwan through the initiatives of the New Taipei City-Amazon Web Services (NTPC-AWS) Joint Innovation Center and the Public Digital Innovation Space (PDIS). The study mission was a joint effort between the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), the China Productivity Center (CPC), and the Asian Productivity Organization (APO), and attended by officials from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Civil Service Commission (CSC), and Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
Participants from the Philippines and Taiwan during the culminating activity of IOSM 2021
The shift to digital transformation
Nicole Chan of the Joint Innovation Center opened the first day of IOSM with the benefits of digital transformation. She explained that when information and communications technology (ICT) is used to optimize services, resources are maximized and the productivity of human and capital resources is increased. This results in improved public satisfaction, which leads to increased patronage and a higher net profit margin.
Nicole Chan of the NTPC-AWS Joint Innovation Centerexplains the benefits of digital transformation.
However, it is not enough to simply go digital, as public sector organizations with limited resources should think twice about transforming from one system to another. Chan explained that digital transformation needs to be anchored on three important keys: identifying the problem, upgrading to digital technologies, and changing the culture. While the first two are critical for improving public services and establishing a data-driven environment in the public sector, Chan highlighted that the “real challenge is the change of mindset†in shaping a culture of digital innovation, which would entail a shift from traditional values to new innovative thinking.
Nicole Chan explains three keys of digital transformation to guide organizationsin the journey to going digital.
Senior Vice-President Magdalena Mendoza of the DAP asked about the social impacts of this digital transformation. Chan replied that while legislation can be too slow in catching up with the speed of ICT development, there should be a mechanism for self-regulation in place.
After establishing the need for a paradigm shift, Chan then presented the work of the NTPC-AWS Joint Innovation Center, a public-private partnership between New Taipei City (NTPC) Government, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and First China Capital (FCC) Partners Inc. She explained that this partnership integrates government, industrial, and economic resources to create a world-class ecosystem with the goal of accelerating startup incubation and contributing to digital public solutions.
She detailed that the Joint Innovation Center has an intensive program for startups and traditional enterprises on step-by-step digital transformation. AWS provides digital services and technology expertise while the NTPC provides government support through the National Development Fund. Finally, partners from the FCC offer business courses and consultation on fundraising initiatives. The Center also holds social activities where startups exchange experiences and create business opportunities.
Nicole Chan explains the collaboration of parties making up the Joint Innovation Center.
Chan shared that currently, the Center houses 70 startups, including Heroic Faith Medical Science and VEYOND Reality Technology, that help build niche solutions in various sectors such as manufacturing, retail, healthcare, education, and tourism.
Nicole Chan presents innovations from Heroic Faith Medical Scienceand VEYOND Reality Technology.
PPP for public service
On the second day of IOSM, Zach Huang and Yi-Wen Chan discussed the origins and activities of PDIS, which was itself established in 2016 as a PPP with the goal of introducing digital innovation in the public sphere. Huang emphasized that digital innovation is “not only the responsibility of the government but also the responsibility of the private sector,†and this requires that everyone is involved in the process through Open Government, Social Innovation, and Youth Engagement. Chan further expanded this by discussing her organization’s new approach to public-private partnership, which seeks to involve stakeholders in the earliest stages of government planning in order to garner wider acceptance and support from citizens.
Yi-Wen Chan discusses innovations in thePublic-Private Partnership process.
Chan then proceeded to further discuss the collaborative approach that PDIS employs, which promotes open dialogue between the government and the public on social problems requiring government attention. Through the JOIN platform, a mobile application developed by the National Development Council (NDC) of Taiwan, a citizen can voice out their opinion publicly or initiate a proposal. A Participation Officer from the government will then find competent public sector authorities that will respond to the topics raised by the public. PDIS ensures that the public is well-informed before attending by publishing major facts relevant to the topic for discussion. At present, over a hundred of these collaborative meetings with citizens have been conducted.
Yi-Wen Chan explains how collaborative meetings work in theearly stages of government policymaking.
Another example of PDIS’ collaborative efforts is the creation of the Mask Map, a mobile application that details the location and current face mask inventories of pharmacies throughout Taiwan. This addresses supply chain issues and the possibility of cluster infections created when agitated citizens begin panic buying during shortages, thus ensuring the equitable and safe distribution of face masks. The app even has an option to reserve face masks for purchase, allowing otherwise busy citizens to be able to ensure their personal supply.
Yi-Wen Chan presents the features of Mask Map and its use in helping people find nearby pharmacies with available face masks.
To close the IOSM, Huang discussed Taiwan’s road map towards digital transformation and how it could relate to the Philippines’ own ongoing transition. He emphasized that while Taiwan’s approach was far from perfect, they quickly learned that the only way it could work was if there is true partnership between the public and the private sectors. He reminded the delegation that “the Philippines, as a developing country, would not be in any disadvantaged position when it comes to social innovation as long as everyone feels that they can do something to make a difference, as long as everyone believes they can be part of the solution.â€
The Development Academy of the Philippines’ (DAP) Modernizing Government Regulations (MGR) Program formally launched its 2021 Regulatory Review on 6 October 2021 via Zoom. The event was attended by 56 members and officers of private organizations/associations and officials from regulatory agencies involved in the prioritized government-to-government/agency-to-agency (G2G/A2A) and government-to-business (G2B) transactions.
This year, the MGR Program is focusing on the following transactions that are supportive of reviving the industries that were heavily affected by the current pandemic: a) G2G/A2A regulations affecting the streamlining of service processes; b) G2B regulations covering the digital economy; and c) G2B regulations covering food logistics.
DAP Study Team and participants during the 2021 MGR Regulatory Review Launch
During the Launch, the study team research fellows presented the sectoral background, initial regulatory issues and research questions of their respective industries through breakout groups. After the presentation, participants shared their comments and experiences on what regulations/processes contribute to the difficulty in compliance and high transaction cost. The activity also brought to fore initial recommendations on how to address said issues. Among the key issues that were validated and gathered during the activity were as follows:
a. G2G/A2A Regulations Affecting the Streamlining of Service Processes Non-submission of Citizen’s Charter compliance report of about 2,000 agencies, despite the existence of streamlining law – ARTA report
Regulations on procurement, PBB guidelines, financial and audit regulations, pandemic-related requirements of LGUs, regulations related to Data Privacy Act, and tax payment are perceived to hinder process performance and efficient delivery of services – DAP perception survey initial results
Inconsistent enforcement of regulations and unreasonable delays in the release of requested documents.
Inadequate personnel to process a transaction, unclear requirements, and difficulty in accessing the concerned agencies.
Application of traditional policies which do not reflect rapid changes, innovations and technology advancements to digital businesses due to prolonged process of law-making
Difficulty to regulate online businesses due to Department of Trade and Industry’s limited manpower and increasing number of unregistered and unscrupulous businesses online
Need for coordination and discussion between government agencies to adapt to changes involving government digitization and the shift to online G2B transactions (e.g., recognition and use of electronic signatures)
Inadequacies in our current laws on the liability of online buying and selling platforms to protect consumers
Possible challenges on implementing regulatory sandbox framework for financial technology innovations
c. G2B Regulations Covering Food Logistics
Overregulation of food manufacturing sector and agriculture and LGU restrictions on the delivery of produce during pandemic resulted to wasted produce.
Low productivity in provinces that were traditionally centers of productivity or food baskets.
Absence of standards/guidelines/regulations on importation non-traditional products (e.g., rabbit) and stringent requirements of Good Animal Husbandry Practices
High price of fruits and vegetables due to logistics problem, food safety and other regulatory measures
Difficulty in implementing viable recommendations of various researches (e.g., DAP Benchmarking Study on Regulatory Management) to effect regulatory reform in the sector
Additional cost and potential operations delay caused by changes in documentary requirements (e.g., Bureau of Animal Industry’s Certificate of Analysis annual submission compared to previous process of every five years)
Tedious and unwieldy end-to-end process of online payment, i.e., the need for traditional hard copy of receipts instead of electronic receipt
Difficulty in obtaining permits to transport livestock and poultry due to sudden change of area condition that gives inconsistent information and entails additional costs to companies.
Following the launch, the next step will be for the study teams to take a deep dive and prioritize issues gathered from the activity by conducting separate focus group discussions and industry dialogues with the participants from the public and private sectors.
As the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) Center of Excellence on Public Sector Productivity, the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP) held a Webinar Series on Productivity and Quality Frameworks in the Public Sector last 13-15 October 2021.
The webisode was attended by over three thousand participants from various public and private sector agencies. Speakers included Engr. Charlie A. Marquez, DAP resource speaker; Dr. Ralph Sherwin A. Corpuz, director of Quality Assurance at the Technological University of the Philippines; and Dr. Juliet J. Balderas, head of Management Services Department at the Philippine Heart Center (PHC).
Webinar speakers answer questions from the participants during the program forum.
Lean Management
Engr. Marquez, who is a certified QMS Lead Auditor and a Lean Six Sigma practitioner, gave a general overview of Lean Management. It is a philosophy based on the Toyota Production System (TPS) that is focused on improving process performance. He explained, “when we say Lean, the objective is simply eliminating everything that does not add value to the customer’s eyes… Meaning, who defines quality is the customer, not us as service providers.â€
He briefly touched on the history of the TPS and Toyota’s 4P’s, namely Problem Solving, People and Patterns, Process, and Philosophy. Engr. Marquez also expounded on the Lean Management Framework.
Stability and standardization serve as the foundation of the Lean Framework. He added, “If there is no standardization, bawat office kanya-kanya [each office will vary in their ways of doing things]… We do not want that. We want standardization.â€
Engr. Marquez expounds on the Lean Management Framework.
Engr. Marquez underlined some principles of Lean and mainly discussed the eight (8) wastes in Lean Management, namely defects, overproduction, waiting, transport, inventory, motion, extra processing, and skills. He also highlighted a few benefits of Lean, which include an increase in sales and profits, improvement of quality and lowering of costs, optimal utilization of resources, and most importantly, improvement of customer satisfaction. As he pointed out, “in everything that we are doing—Total Quality Management, ISO 9000, Lean—at the top is ultimately customer satisfaction. That’s what we are here for.â€
In his conclusion, Engr. Marquez recommended that participants perform an 8-Waste Analysis, using the Check Sheet that he shared in the talk. He also gave other practical suggestions such as the creation of Value Stream Maps (VSM), Root-Cause-Analysis (RCA), and formulation of solutions and prioritization of projects or activities.
TQM and Business Excellence
On the second day of the webinar series, Dr. Corpuz presented an overview of Total Quality Management (TQM) and Business Excellence. His topic zeroed in on the application of the approaches in the public sector.
To start his talk, Dr. Corpuz outlined some of the needs and challenges faced by the public sector such as inconvenient and tedious government transaction processes and unsystematic queuing. He added that in order to meet the needs of the public, the Government must exert greater efforts to provide more citizen-focused services, invest in innovation and emerging technologies to improve services, push for a smart government through the integration of ICT with management systems to address red tape, provide seamless connection among processes and governments toward one-stop-shop services, and partnership with the private sector in the country and abroad.
Quality service is what public servants have sworn to deliver and hence should be the prime focus in all government endeavors, Dr. Corpuz pointed out. To realize this, the biggest hindrances to public sector productivity must be dealt with through a solid management solution such as TQM. These barriers include security of tenure which may result in the complacency of government employees, a culture of resistance to reforms in the organization, and a complex political environment.
The speaker discussed principles and tools of TQM such as cause-and-effect diagram, check sheet, control chart, histogram, Pareto chart, scatter diagram, and flow chart. He also explained business excellence approaches that evolved from TQM and its models, including the Malcolm Baldrige National for Performance Excellence and the European Foundation for Quality Management Excellence Model. Additionally, Dr. Corpuz described business excellence as more than a mere award but, more so, a journey of building a competitive nation.
Dr. Corpuz also shared his insights into other TQM tools, including Deming’s Seven Deadly Diseases that infect an organization’s culture, Ishikawa’s Diagram and Total Quality Control, and the Philippine Quality Award Framework.
Dr. Corpuz outlines Demings’s Seven Deadly Diseases of Management
Philippine Heart Center Best Practices
On the last day of the webinar series, Dr. Balderas presented the best practices of PHC to help flatten the curve amid the past COVID-19 surges. She also shared about the center’s quality journey in the new normal, which dates back to 2010 when the center was awarded the PhilHealth Center of Excellence. To improve its hospital processes, the PHC has also been undergoing multiple internal accreditations since 2011. In 2015, it received national recognition for good governance at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit. Dr. Balderas noted, “our history of quality is stronger than COVID. If we look back at the history in 10 years, we have improved ourselves so much that probably, what we evolved over the years could be something that we can use productively against COVID.â€
Dr. Balderas looks back at PHC’s excellence journey over the years.
Dr. Balderas discussed one of PHC best practices when the pandemic started—the creation of an Incident Command System, which is a standardized emergency response management structure comprising an incident commander, liaison officer, public information officer, safety/security officer, and operations, planning, logistics, and finance divisions. According to Dr. Balderas, the chain of command members meet every month to discuss all the operations in the hospital. They also hold multidisciplinary daily COVID-19 meetings to ensure that COVID-related problems are addressed as they happen. Additionally, new COVID-19 policies by ISO standards on patient admission and on the cohorting of COVID and non-COVID patients among other policies were implemented. These policies were also made accessible to the staff and the patients through its Intranet. The speaker also put forward other best practices of PHC such as stricter compliance to safety protocols, observance of ICP policies for healthcare workers in terms of daily symptoms monitoring and electronic health declaration every fourteen days, and expansion of GeneXpert PCR Testing.
Dr. Balderas also presented PHC’s Beyond Better Strategy Map for the year 2017 to 2022. The map outlines the center’s support and core processes, strategic position, and impact areas that are geared towards its change agenda, which are to become a leader in cardiovascular care that is at par with global benchmarks and to be a leading advocate in the prevention of cardiovascular disease in the country.
Maintaining a high standard of quality is doubly difficult due to the ongoing health crisis, but PHC’s performance governance system, which includes unit scoreboards that help monitor the staff’s individual performance and breakthrough results, has made it possible. Dr. Balderas explained, “when there was little budget for the Heart Center, [our question was] how do we go towards development? We only know that we have to remain the best heart hospital and we are the heart hospital referral center. Our strategy was to improve the performance, so performance monitoring despite COVID was a PHC Culture.â€
Despite changes in leadership every five to six years, the center has achieved outstanding breakthrough accomplishments yearly until 2016. And even amid the ongoing COVID surge in 2021, the scoreboards guided the center in decreasing patient safety incidents and the number of healthcare workers diagnosed with COVID 19 by 50 percent.
Dr. Balderas shares the major institutional breakthroughs of PHC in 2020.
The use of scoreboards has been recognized as a best practice in all of PHC’s external audits. In 2019, the center was awarded by the Philippine Quality Award as the leader in upholding standards of cardiovascular care. PHC’s quality and performance excellence have also led the center to be recognized as a “Leader in Upholding Highest Standards of Cardiovascular Care†in 2018 at the 21st Cycle Philippine Quality Awards. Dr. Balderas noted that despite the hurdles brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, good governance and pursuit of excellence in quality improvements must continue.
The Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), through its Modernizing Government Regulations (MGR) Program, completed the Capability Development Assistance on Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) for the Intramuros Administration (IA) which commenced on 15 September with the conduct of a Basic Course on RIA and culminated with the conduct of an Advanced Course on RIA on 7 October 2021.
Basic Course on RIA for the Intramuros Administration conducted on 15-17 & 20-24 September 2021Advanced Course on RIA for the Intramuros Administration conducted on 28 September – 1&4-7 October 2021
With the primary objective of developing the capability of the IA key officers and technical staff to undertake RIA, the participants were able to perform RIA using various analytical methods and produce their agency’s Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) for the following identified regulations:
Amendment to an existing regulation: Efficiency of the Processing of Building Permit for Intramuros Constructions through the City of Manila
Amendment to an existing regulation: Issuance of the IA Development Clearance (PD No. 1616 as amended and its IRR: Rule III, Section 1.3 and Rule VIII, Sections 2 and 5)
Proposed regulation: Pedestrianization of General Luna Street
Amendment to an existing regulation: Proposed online application of permit for photography and video in Intramuros (Section 6 of PD No. 1616)
As part of the commitment and advocacy of the DAP MGR Program for wider application of good regulatory practices, the DAP Project Team is offering to provide a sponsored RIA Clinic/follow-up assistance to help the IA enhance further the RIS produced during the training. Upon enhancement of output, the IA is encouraged to present their revised RIS to a panel composed of IA senior official(s) and DAP representatives to solicit further feedback.
At the heart of public service is the citizens’ interest, and with resources in short supply, organizations must reassess their efficiency and productivity. The Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), as the Asian Productivity Organization Center of Excellence on Public Sector Productivity, trains public sector agencies through the Designing Citizen-Centered Public Service Improvements (DCCPSI) Program to evaluate government service delivery, identify inefficiencies, and developsolutions to adequately address clients’ needs and expectations using the approach on Service Design.
The second batch of the DCCPSI Program was conducted on September 13-15 for Phase I and on September 20-24 for Phase II. Participating agencies included the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Energy (DOE), National Wages Productivity Commission (NWPC), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP),Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). Participants could also avail of additional project incubation interventions to prepare for implementation.
First day plenary, Ms. Adona San Diego of DENR shares their agency’s criticalservice and the experience of citizens in service delivery.
Service delivery in the shoes of our citizens
The first phase, Citizen-Centered Service Design and Data Gathering, asks public sector agencies to consider their services from the perspective of a typical citizen. By having a picture of the client journey, agencies can empathize with the citizens on the end-to-end service experience. Mr. Peter Dan Baon, COE-PSP Program Manager, emphasizes the service design principle of human-centeredness because it gives “perspectives of the clients, their emotions and pain points when availing of the service.†As a result, agencies are able to evaluate the efficiency of their services and redesign areas for improvement according to clients’ insights.
Ms. Jodellie Pacala of DSWD leads conversation of their agency’s Client Journey Map.
To further develop a citizen-centered design, agencies supplement their ideas with local examples of design initiatives. Agencies draw inspiration from concrete examples of local government units like Valenzuela’s Paspas Permit and Pasig City’s Ugnayan sa Pasig (UsaP) as good examples of public service despite the hindrances that come with battling the pandemic. They also look at design fails as caution for what to avoid when implementing citizen-centered services. With these observations on design initiatives, they paint together a picture of what citizen-centered design should look like.
Redesigning services to improve citizen satisfaction
Once agencies understand the principles of service design and use the same in empathizing with clients’ perspectives, they engage in an ideation process to brainstorm solutions to their clients’ pain points. The Design Sprints look into many angles of the problem and explore even the most radical ideas on how the agencies might resolve them. Using tools and strategies prepared by the program, agencies develop prototypes of potential solutions. Ms. Elizabeth Alladel of DOST appreciates the ideation process as “it is very useful especially when you want to modify or develop an improvement in the existing system or operations.â€
Mr. Mohammad Victor of OWWA shares their agency’s proposed approach to solving the observed problems in Balik Pinas, Balik Hanapbuhay Program for OFWs.
Following the development of their prototypes, agencies identify and invite users to test their solution. After days of analyzing problems and brainstorming solutions, they finally test their prototypes. Day 4 of the Design Sprints is an exciting stage for the agencies as they uncover hits and misses based on the experience and feedback of real live users.
One of BIR’s test participants, Mr. Jalandoni, appreciates the prototype since “somehow, personnel are focused on the system because face-to-face transaction consumes time and prolongs queuing.†He adds that “it’s a big step for BIR to improve the business registration process since less stress for the frontliners, and saved time is diverted to other office work.â€
Ms. Janette Cruz of BIR instructs test users on how to go about their prototype.
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Ms. Glenda Pua of NCIP demonstrates their prototype to the test users.
After their participation in the program, the agencies developed the following solutions:
OWWA – OFCs (Overseas Filipino Circles) as site inspectors of Balik Pinas, Balik Hanapbuhay Program for OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers)
NWPC – Revision of evaluation forms to cater to clients’ demands on learning sessions related to wages and productivity
NEDA – Web-based self-assessment tool on completeness of project proposal documents
DOST – User-friendly online submission of collaborative research proposals
BIR – Web-based system on end-to-end business registration process with collaborative interface with other government agencies
DOE – Online application of Notice To Proceed (NTP) for Downstream Natural Gas Facility
NCIP – Integration of an information system on the NCIP official website for tracking of application requests
DILG – Delegation of authority to regional offices in processing of multi-purpose vehicle requests
DMB – Tracking system for client agencies to access the status of requests
DENR – User-friendly online tree cutting permit application process
DSWD – Accessible online application of Minors Traveling Abroad (MTA)
Efficiency of iterative design
In a span of less than two weeks, agencies understand their unique inefficiencies, brainstorm possible solutions, develop prototypes, test their solutions with real users, and redesign their processes. The principles of service design help agencies respond to challenges in government service delivery with the least amount of time and least possible use of resources. The outcome is a noticeable improvement of critical government services. Ms. Yvette Batacandolo of NEDA said it best, “we have a tendency to create programs without asking users how it will affect them.†With the help of the DCCPSI Program, agencies know better how to improve efficiency in government service delivery.
In closing, agencies are strongly encouraged to join project incubation interventions. In this phase, agencies relish opportunities for focused coaching and guided implementation from beginning till end. Ms. Lucita dela Pena of DILG shares her realization, “this is the reason why there is alpha, beta, gamma in product testing, to keep on remodeling until we reach an ideal model where issues are resolved.â€
The Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), through its Modernizing Government Regulations Program, completes the Phase II: Capability Development Assistance on Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) for Priority Agencies of the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) which ran on 31 May 2021 and culminated with the conduct of ten-panel presentations on the results of the RIA on 19 July 2021.
With the primary objective of developing the capability of selected regulatory agencies’ personnel to undertake RIA, the participants were able to produce their agencies’ Regulatory Impact Statements (RIS) that would help them analyze identified regulations. Twenty-three priority agencies presented their agencies’ RIS results to a panel of experts from the DAP, representatives from the ARTA, and officials from the respective beneficiary agencies. The panel presentations of the agencies aimed to enable further analysis of the following draft RIA to identify opportunities for improvement: proposed implementation of the electronic tracking system and automated processing of certificates/permits, as well as, amendment of guidelines on online registrations and streamlining application processes.
Panel Presentation of the Results of RIA
The next step would be for the agencies to integrate the feedback received during the panel presentations and finalize their respective RIS.
Times of crisis have emphasized the importance of the role of the public sector. Public sector employment and compensation are two fundamental government production functions that determine overall public sector productivity and service. With the government employing the majority of the workforce in most economies, it shapes the country’s fiscal sustainability, productivity, and labor market policies and standards.
Quality data are most useful to evaluate the performance of the public sector and formulate evidence-based reforms. On September 30, 2021, the World Bank launched the Worldwide Bureaucracy Indicators (WWBI) that covers 53 million high-quality microdata, 192 indicators, across 202 countries on demographic, size, compensation, and wage bill of the public sector to aid policy-making. Senior Public Sector Specialist of the World Bank, Mr. Zahid Hasnain, described the WWBI, its findings and potential applications. One of the WWBI findings across the globe determining that the public sector is the largest employer for most countries, especially for essential workers. He also shared how public sector workers have an average wage premium of 7.3% more than similar formal private-sector workers, however, this varies across gender, educational attainment, occupation, and industry. The public sector employs more women than the private sector with a concentration in select industries such as healthcare, education, and public administration. Women are also generally provided a higher wage premium in the public sector. This reflects a more gender-inclusive environment for women in the government although there is still a long way to go.
During the launch, Mari E. Pangetsu, World Bank Managing Director for Development Policy and Partnerships, expressed her excitement over the first unique cross-national dataset developed by World Bank Bureaucracy Lab to better understand the footprint of the public sector workforce.
Senior Vice President Magdalena L. Mendoza of the Development Academy of the Philippines applauded the WWBI for providing an impressive wealth of analytics to better understand public sector employment and compensation. This database of indicators enables productivity assessment using the WWBI proxy indicators to create data-driven policies and reforms in the civil service. She expounded how information on the demographic, psychographic, and behavioral attributes of public servants can enable the government to understand internal and external motivations for work discipline so that it develops a more effective incentives system and more responsive civil service reforms to improve performance and maximize productivity. According to SVP Mendoza, the Philippine civil service has gone through reforms such as rationalization, salary standardization, result-based performance management, performance-based incentives, and the dataset may be useful to evaluate if these reforms have resulted in productivity gains.
Other members of the panel shared their ideas on the potential of the WWBI in its application, growth, and expansion relative to pursuing public sector productivity. Tim Besley, W. Arthur Lewis Professor of Development Economics at London School of Economics, raised the value of looking into the bureaucracy as a whole system and not just through pockets of excellence whereby integrating different components of civil service can make waves of influence through global best practices. He also suggested collecting granular personnel data over career lifetimes to identify determinants in career progression, but a fundamental step needed today is to first work on proper codification and standardization of data to support analysis.
Ghana Head of Civil Service, Nana Kwasi Agyekum Dwamena, relayed how they put up systems in place to improve monitoring of human resource data analytics to develop more data-informed reforms in the public administration. Adil Zainulbhai, Chair of the Capacity Building Commission and the Chairman of the Quality Council of India, described how they have developed an Integrated Government Online Training (iGOT) Platform to provide access to learning materials from over 700 training institutions to all levels of civil servants. He continued to share their pursuit for more innovative ways in delivering these capability-building solutions amidst the heterogeneity of its 30 million public servants. He brings light to using data on what level of capability people are in, what they need to learn, what are they interested in, and letting the ecosystem work together to achieve the goal.
SVP Mendoza raised the value of the WWBI in relation to the work of DAP as the Center of Excellence on Public Sector Productivity and look forward to collaborating with the Bureaucracy Lab. In closing, Indermit S. Gill, Vice President of World Bank Equitable Growth and Finance Institutions, expressed gratitude to the Bureaucracy Lab team that has worked hard in the extensive process of data collection and its emphasis on delivering it through a transparent process. He thanked all speakers, panel members, and the audience for their active participation in the launch and looks forward to putting these datasets into the application for more innovative and responsive civil service reforms.
How will governments be more productive? This is the big question addressed in the fourth installment of World Bank’s six disruptive debates and constructive conversations in the Future of Government series, held on 1 September 2021.
The forum aims to provide global leaders and thinkers an avenue to share views and ideas on how governments might seize the opportunity from the current global pandemic crisis and climate crisis to achieve greener, more resilient, and more inclusive future development (GRID) outcomes. It featured global experts such as Francis Maude, Peck Kem Low, Francisco Gaetani, Marta Arsovska Tomovska, Edward Olowo-Okere, and Raj Kumar.
Government Productivity
Government productivity is fundamental to the world’s future. The pressure to do more with less is heightened now more than ever, especially as the time frame for Sustainable Development Goals achievement nears its end and the global pandemic remains ongoing.
Maude, FMA chairman and former UK Minister, shared his insight on how this can be carried out. First is by ensuring efficiency. He shared about how he had helped in reforming procurement during his term in the UK government program in efficiency and reform. “We did a huge digital transformation program which saved a lot of money but also got the UK ranked best in the world by the UN for e-government,†Maude added.
Maude noted that the government’s procurement of goods and services from outside must be done better. Specifically, he highlighted the necessity of getting rid of restrictive practices that can, in the end, corner the government with an oligopoly of suppliers. He added, “In the UK, we got rid of a lot of the restrictive practices. That was a real factor in driving or enabling the huge growth upsurge in the tech sector. Startups were finally able to bid for and win government contracts and they grew off the back of it. So procurement, major projects, digital transformation, all of that– these are reforms available to every government that [are] crucial.â€
Another factor he brought forward was impact investment, a strategy that aims to generate positive social and environmental impact alongside financial returns. A few examples of this are government partnerships with small social entrepreneurs and efforts to support environmental initiatives with economic benefits. The UK was the first in the world to set up a social investment bank, which offers another, more holistic option to address social problems other than providing in-house services or having to go full on conventional, commercial outsourcing.
Digital transformation toward improving productivity
Tomovska, director for Public Administration Reform and eGovernment at the Office of the Prime Minister of Serbia, shared how they were able to realize ‘doing more with less’ in Serbia through digital transformation. She underlined the value of investing in digital transformation given that there are still governments that are apprehensive about what such a shift may entail.
“Some governments are hesitant to take this road. Either they don’t have a vision or they don’t have enough talent in the government for digital transformation. Sometimes, investment is a challenge because digitalization itself is not a cheap toy. But the crisis showed that every single dollar invested in the digital transformation of the government paid off and then paid over big time,†she explained.
The director, who was also the former Macedonian Minister for ICT and Public Administration, pointed out that digital transformation not only makes services more efficient, more effective, and low cost, but more so it provides a safeguard against corruption. She said, “In some parts of the world where corruption is a challenge, digital government can be seen as an excellent tool to fight corruption. There is no physical contact, no discretionary decisions; everything is recorded in the systemâ€
Tomovska also cited a few technologies that are now in the spotlight for digital transformation. One of which includes automated decision-making systems which use algorithms that sync across sectors in the government. Tomovska shared that, in Serbia, they were able to save millions of dollars annually and cut down costs in terms of time, electricity, water, and even paper sheets because of the said innovation. In the past two years alone, they were able to save around 180 million sheets of paper, which is equivalent to 18 thousand trees, 76 ml. water, and six thousand watt-hours of electricity. Another example she mentioned was big data and algorithms for data-driven policies, which contribute to better planning, improved outcomes, and increased savings.
She also shared about software robots that can do basic routine tasks. She added, ‘[The technology] frees up hours for some crucial things, for example, dealing much more with the citizens and understanding their needs. There are a lot of things to be done there. And we’ve seen some numbers, which are in billions of dollars, with what would be the cost savings if we introduce this kind of automation.â€
In her conclusion, Tomovska emphasized that digital transformation must be a collective effort. There are many avenues for cooperation to contribute to government productivity. The private sector, startups, and innovative companies may play a significant role in this.
Singapore’s Example
Singapore, with its advanced technology and efficiency, may be a hint of what the future of government would look like.
Fast service is one of the things that the country can take pride in. Chief human resources officer & workforce management advisor in the Singapore Government, Kem shared, “Today, in Singapore, when you land in Singapore airport, from the point you land to the point you’ve grabbed your luggage bag, checkout and get a taxi, [it would take] no more than ten minutes. That’s the level of technology that we have invested in.â€
Kem spoke about how Singapore has been focusing its efforts in driving towards a smart nation. Given the country’s limited resources, going digital is not merely an option but is integral to its system.
She explained, “For us, going high tech or digital is not an option, mainly because we are so small and we really don’t have enough people. We don’t have natural resources. Our only natural resource is our people, even our people, we don’t have enough Singaporeans per se, and one-third of our workforce is really from all over the world… because we don’t have the warm bodies to fill those jobs, very often, we have to make use of technology in order to still deliver services, and yet, high touch.â€
