The Philippines as APO Center of Excellence on Public Sector Productivity

The Asian Productivity Organization, an international governmental organization which aims to drive the productivity movement in Asia and the Pacific, has been implementing the Center of Excellence program which designates national productivity organizations in specialized fields in recognition of their initiatives and expertise.  A COE’s role is to share its knowledge and best practices to other NPOs through trainings, workshops, and study missions. There are currently four COEs designated by APO – Business Excellence (Singapore), Green Productivity (Taiwan), Public Sector Productivity (Philippines), and Information Technology in Industry 4.0 (India).

What is the COE-PSP?

In 2015, APO recognized the initiatives of the Philippines in raising the productivity of its government departments and agencies and designated the country as the COE in Public Sector Productivity. As the COE, the Philippines leads the public sector productivity movement in the region. The Development Academy of the Philippines as the country’s NPO works to address common and critical issues on public sector productivity, foster cutting-edge research, facilitate training and knowledge-sharing, and support outreach to raise productivity levels. Currently, the COE-PSP operates under four components: Knowledge Bank, Innovation Laboratory, Capability Development, and Research.

Knowledge Bank develops an online library of pertinent data, information, materials and references on public sector productivity including a database on experts and knowledge products. It accumulates, codifies and publicly disseminates PSP knowledge products derived from APO projects, experiences of NPOs and relevant studies on public sector productivity.

Capability Development offers a range of face-to-face or online training and other learning solutions to develop new capabilities and hone competencies on productivity methods, tools and techniques as applied in the public sector to develop a critical mass of P&Q professionals. In 2017, the COE on PSP conducted the Workshop on Public Sector Leadership, Common Assessment Framework Training, Workshop on Performance Management, and International Conference on Public Sector Productivity.

Innovation Laboratory provides a venue to stimulate strategic thinking and innovation, understand, experiment and obtain first-hand experience in applying new solutions to address critical public sector productivity issues, under the guidance of technical experts.

Research conducts focused studies on contemporary and emerging trends, assessment of productivity performance, best practices, adaptation of P & Q tools, effectiveness of P & Q technologies, etc. A compendium of innovation and productivity initiatives is published annually. The COE-PSP also serves as the hub of ‘web of collaborators’ on innovation and productivity in the public sector.  As the hub, the COE-PSP establishes a network of NPOs and relevant regional and global institutions with knowledge and expertise on public sector productivity. It is partnering with the Institute of Public Administration and Bruce Searles of Global Benchmarking Network and Benchmarking Partnerships. The center is also exploring possible partnerships with the UN Public Administration Network, the EU Public Administration Network, the OECD Public Governance and Territorial Development Office, other P&Q organizations, and academic institutions.

Way Ahead

In the next years, DAP aspires to further expand and strengthen the COE-PSP.  It plans to establish a future center which is aimed to be a creative platform for collaborative innovation on public sector productivity. The center will also serve as a repository for PSP knowledge and information library for civil servants and the public to access PSP-related data, information and resource. It will include high-tech and high-touch facilities to help create innovative solutions for the public sector. The COE-PSP is also working on conducting a demo project on productivity measurement and a technical expert’s service on Knowledge Management for the Public Sector. Further, it plans to undertake comprehensive research on baseline data for better appreciation and sharing of best practice in public sector productivity movement among APO member countries.

To learn more about who we are and what we do, you may watch this video: The APO Center of Excellence on Public Sector Productivity