DAP holds third batch of the Development of Public Sector Productivity Specialists Foundation Course

The Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP) trained 29 participants during the Development of Public Sector Productivity Specialists Foundation Course (DPSPS-FC) held from 27 June to 1 July. Participants came from seven agencies:

  • Department of Science and Technology (DOST)
  • Office of the Provincial Prosecutor – Cebu (OPP Cebu)
  • Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)
  • Culion Sanitarium and General Hospital
  • Civil Service Commission Regional Office II (CSC Region 2)
  • Department of Transportation (DOTr)
  • Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Resource persons from the DAP discussed the basic concepts and strategies and guided the participants through workshops to draft a productivity improvement plan. Case presenters also shared their experiences in conceptualizing and implementing their own projects.

Basics of Public-Sector Productivity

The participants began with an introduction to public-sector productivity from AO25 Secretariat Director Ms. Maria Rosario A. Ablan. She highlighted how productive organizations could improve citizens’ quality of life, restore public trust, and promote good governance. Ms. Ablan also presented the Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle as a framework for productivity improvement.

Ms. Maria Rosario Ablan conducting the session on Understanding Productivity Concepts.

Ms. Ablan also led the discussion in the next session on the steps and key considerations in productivity measurement. After the lecture, the participants identified their inputs, outputs, and outcomes and applied the process of measurement in the context of their agencies. The following session on diagnosing and analyzing productivity problems showed how Lean Management concepts and tools such as Quick Assessment, Value Stream Mapping, and Identifying a Problem Statement may be used to deepen one’s understanding of the potential causes of productivity issues and how best to address them.

Ms. Khasian Romulo from the DOST-STII presenting their workshop output.

Productivity Improvement

Using insights from the third session, Ms. Niña Maria Estudillo introduced a number of productivity improvement tools and techniques, such as Fishbone Analysis, Root Cause Analysis, and Solutions Formulation Matrix, and guided the participants in their use.

The last day of the course was dedicated to tackling practical questions and strategies. DAP Project Officer Ms. Rocio Isabel Paloma shared tips for introducing and sustaining solutions. These were contextualized through presentations of previous innovation projects from Dr. Edward Baña of the Department of Education (DepEd) and Ms. Maria Luisa Khristina Oliveros from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). Participants later presented their respective offices’ initial Productivity Improvement Plan.

The course ended with a message from DAP President and CEO Atty. Engelbert C. Caronan Jr., MNSA, which emphasized how technology can transform internal and external processes to reduce the turnaround time and costs of services and encouraged the participants to continuously strengthen their organizations to improve sectoral and national productivity.

Ms. Rocio Isabel Paloma and a participant from CSC Region 2 discussing how innovation can help increase productivity.

 

Dr. Edward Baña presenting how he used technology for productivity improvement in Antique.

 

Ms. Maria Luisa Khristina Oliveros relating how she introduced innovation in doing inspections. 

The participants of the 3rd DPSPS Foundation Workshop.
The participants of the 3rd DPSPS Foundation Workshop.

DAP President and CEO Atty. Engelbert C. Caronan Jr., MNSA delivering the closing remarks. 

The Development Academy of the Philippines, as the focal organization of the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) Center of Excellence on Public Sector Productivity (COE-PSP), successfully implemented this year’s second batch of the Development of Public Sector Productivity Specialists – Foundation Course (DPSPS-FC) from 13 to 17 June 2022.

In his opening speech, Mr. Peter Dan Baon, the COE-PSP Program Manager, welcomed the participants from the Department of Agriculture – Bureau of Plant Industry (DA-BPI), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) – Mines & Geosciences Bureau Regional Office IVA,  House of Representatives – Congressional Policy & Budget Research (HOR-CPBR), National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), National Irrigation Administration (NIA), and Professional Regulation Commission – NCR. He explained that the five-day course seeks to provide an avenue for them to gain insights, learn from the experience of other participants, and collaborate with other agencies as they work together towards a more productive public sector.

Capacitating future PSP specialists

Ms. Maria Rosario Ablan, Program Director of the DAP AO25 Secretariat, led the discussion for Session 1: Understanding Public Sector Productivity Concepts and Principles. She discussed basic productivity concepts and issues, the importance of public sector productivity, the productivity management framework, and the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) Cycle.

Ms. Rosario Ablan discussing the outline for Session 1

For the second session on Measuring Productivity in the Public Sector, Ms. Ablan presented the Productivity Measurement Framework and the key considerations and challenges in measuring public sector productivity. She also explained the index-based PSP measurement and steps in building output and input indices to compute productivity at the organizational level.

Representatives from each participating agency presenting their identified organizational inputs, outputs, and outcomes during the sharing session

Ms. Elena Cruz, former DAP Vice President and Managing Director of the Center for Knowledge Management, facilitated Session 3: Diagnosing and Analyzing Productivity. Ms. Cruz tackled Lean Management principles and concepts, emphasizing the eight wastes of Lean Manufacturing. She also discussed various problem-solving tools and techniques, such as Quick Assessment, Value Stream Mapping, Work Study, Process Chart, Method Study, Work Measurement, and Root Cause Analysis. According to Ms. Cruz, diagnosing and defining productivity issues are important preliminary steps to productivity improvement. 

Ms. Elena Cruz discussing the Session 3 Outline with the participants.

Representatives from each agency presenting their matrix diagrams during the sharing session

For the fourth session, Ms. Niña Estudillo, an Honorary Certified APO Productivity Practitioner and independent trainer and consultant specializing in Productivity and Quality (P&Q) and Organizational Development (OD), discussed how to identify and plan productivity improvements to address productivity problems identified in the previous session. She introduced the tools and techniques for productivity improvement, focusing on Quality Circle and Business Process Re-engineering (BPR). During the workshop, the participating agencies were tasked to identify solutions to their identified wastes using the Root Cause Analysis, specifically the Ishikawa Diagram, Potential Problem Analysis and Solutions Formulation Matrix. They were also given time to brainstorm and prepare for the initial outline of their Productivity Improvement Plan (PIP), which will serve as their final output for the course.

Ms. Niña Estudillo outlining the steps in preparing Cause-and-Effect Diagram, which is one of the workshop outputs for Session 4

On the program’s final day, two case presenters discussed and shared exemplary experiences in developing and implementing interventions that have addressed internal and external productivity issues concerning citizen satisfaction, public trust, cost-effectiveness, competitiveness, and quality of life. Mr. Michaelangelo R. Severa, Local Government Operations Officer at the Department of the Interior and Local Government Regional Office No. 5 (DILG Region 5), presented the key components, results, and challenges they faced in the implementation of the “Saloobin ng mga Mamamayan” project, which seeks to establish a citizen feedback mechanism and address issues surrounding feedback mechanism protocols at the barangay-level. The second presenter, Mr. Joel O. Mendoza, Head of the Quality Workplace Committee at the Department of Education (DepEd), shared their quality workplace journey through 5S Good Housekeeping.

Participants posing for their class picture.

Participants posing for their class picture.

For their main course activity, the participating agencies presented their initial Productivity Improvement Plan. Each of the agencies was provided an opportunity to raise questions and give comments on the outputs of one another. The resource persons during the previous sessions, Ms. Niña Estudillo, Ms. Elena Cruz, and Mr. Peter Dan Baon also provided their inputs and suggestions after each presentation.

To formally close the program, Ms. Imelda C. Caluen, Vice President and Managing Director of the DAP Center for Governance, delivered the closing remarks. She congratulated the participants for completing the first step to becoming productivity specialists, adding that any effort to improve government productivity starts with the workforce, improving skills, and reforming administrative cultures.

Ms. Imelda Caluen, Managing Director of the DAP Center for Governance, delivering the closing remarks.