G Akharwaray: Service Standards and Service Delivery Improvement Plan
launch

6 September 2007

What is the difference between a thriving business and an average one?
What you do differently in a business is what differentiates one business from
the other. This includes the way you treat your clients, business calls it a
customer focused service and in government we refer to it as a "Batho Pele
"Service, putting people first in all aspects of service delivery.

In the past few years, government has steadily moved towards providing a
more professional standard of service to the communities we serve. Putting in
place a service delivery improvement plan which includes measurable services
standards will enable the public to measure the quality of service we deliver
is an essential step in transforming into a more effective and efficient public
service.

Service standards and a service charter form the value-base and eventually
determine the character of any organisation. Today we are launching our service
standards, which will become part of the character that we portray.

We invited our social sector partners, business people, the media to
celebrate with us the rebirth of our vision, mission and the way we as a
department interact with our partners and the communities we serve.

Are we nice people? Actually the law requires this. According to the Public
Service Regulations of 2001, government departments have to acknowledge the
manner in which we serve our people. Service standards refer to the latter
statement. Thus, service standards are guided within a legislative framework.
Service standards provide a framework within which the department is to
function; it is a contract between the department, its partners and the people
we serve.

It is a promise we make between ourselves as the department, our partners
and the public who are our main clients. I can imagine a number of questions
are lingering in your minds. Why this emphasis on establishing a contract with
the people we serve whilst we are of the opinion that we have one already. It
is more an issue of re-establishing our contract.

Obviously, the department has a vision and a mission statement. The vision
talks about the engagement of the Department with the people, with our
partners; non-government organisations (NGOs), faith based organisations
(CBOs), church based organisations (CBOs) volunteers, business following a
development approach which entails consultation with communities, planning and
organising with communities and not for them; believing that communities
understand their problems better than anyone else and therefore unearth
solutions with communities first. Through this process we can inculcate
self-reliance.

Department of Social Services, historically welfarist department

Republic of South Africa is now part of:
* growing economy
* part of global village
* opportunities are many

Refocus to a more developmental mode
* create self reliance
* grasp opportunities.

We need a department or a tool of delivery that can help create this
environment.
Do it well! Do it right!

Service standards never becomes outdated

It is a reflection of how prepared we are as a department to follow the
development trajectory with the aim of communities to become self-reliant.
Furthermore, we as a department will continue to make known our service
standards to our partners and the communities we serve. In this way we stay
alert and our partners and communities know what standards they can measure our
service delivery against.

Allow me to by means of example illustrate how we follow the principle of
people first.
Strategy to address backlog 2004/05: +16 000 cases in 10 months, 7 000 foster
care cases in seven months or four months. It is public knowledge that the
department has a shortage of social workers. With the results, the daily
planning of the social work activities has to be managed in such a way that we
meet the demand for the service.

During the demarcation period when the Kgalagadi District was to be
incorporated into the Northern Cape province there was a significant backlog in
foster care grant applications.

It was paramount that we address the foster care backlog. A number of 285
foster care orders lapsed. This implied that a number of 285 children placed in
foster care were not protected within the child protection system anymore.
These children were thus vulnerable and in need of care and protection as from
1 April 2007. In other words these children stood a greater risk to end up on
the streets, to be abused, to become involved in child labour etc.

As a department, we developed strategies to pull a group of social workers
together in partnership with the Kgalagadi District to assess the cases of the
affected children, compile 285 children's court enquiry reports and renew 285
children's orders within one month.

You will agree with me, that this practicing Batho Pele and service
standards at its core. Let me highlight five of the service standards, this
department would like to be measured against:

1. The first one is that any complaint or enquiry which is lodged and is
less complicated will be given feedback immediately by the relevant
person.
2. The second standard speaks to correspondence to the department which will be
acknowledged and forwarded to the customer or client as per correspondence
within five working days.
3. The content of this letter will set the customer at ease by informing the
complainant that the complaint will be resolved within 10 working days. This is
the third service standard.
4. The next service standard encourages monthly communication between the
department and the client on complex matters.
5. The fifth and last service standard promise that the employees who address
your queries will be competent and knowledgeable with the service.

These five service standards are but a selected few. If you look at the crux
of these service standards you will agree with me that it has the potential to
build and strengthen networks within the department, with our partners and the
communities, because it speaks to efficiency, competency, courtesy,
consultation, information, access, openness and transparency with the ability
and commitment to rectify previous inadequate standards of service. Most
important is communication - core element communication.

To ensure that these five service standards are a workable recipe for the
building and strengthening of networks or relationships between the
departments, our partners and the communities we serve, a customer care plan
has been developed and available for your information.

This customer care plan is an open invitation to you to inform us about the
quality of our services and also provide an opportunity to you to make
suggestions on what we could possibly do to improve our services.

As part of the customer care plan, a helpdesk will be available at all our
offices to assist around any information you would like to know.

Furthermore, the department is embarking on a project called the Batho Pele
personality and programme with the aim to promote service excellence within the
Department. This person will be nominated by their peers (colleagues). The aim
of this initiative is to foster a culture of teamwork and eventually create an
environment where individual employees and teams are prepared to go beyond the
call of duty.

Allow me to take this opportunity to announce the Bath Pele Programme and
Personality for the Provincial Office. The winner of the individual award is
George Kupi and the Award to the best unit is goes to the Population and
Demographics Trends unit.

Later today you will be taken on a tour to observe the new signage which has
been put up throughout the building. You will notice special provision is being
made for the people with disabilities, the departments recognition of the eight
Bath Pele principles (which is the framework for participatory development and
self-reliance), clear wording and arrows to indicate where you find yourself in
the building. This simply is the first phase of improving our level of service
delivery.

This was done to enable our partners and communities we serve to have access
to services of which the demand is ever increasing such as early childhood
development, NGO or non-profit organisation (NPO) registration, and
applications for bursaries to study social work or adoptions etc.

In conclusion

Pre-1994 - government was designed to service a few
Post-1994 - government was designed to service the whole population.

* restructure government
* reoriented government
* transform government
* streamline government

This re-engineering of government is ultimately aimed at better services.
The department commits it self to that. The Department of Social Services and
Population Development has workshopped our service delivery improvement plan at
all our regional offices as well as the Provincial Office and we are competent
that each employee will adhere to the Batho Pele Principles.

Issued by: Department of Social Services and Population Development,
Northern Cape Provincial Government
6 September 2007
Source: Northern Cape Provincial Government (http://www.northern-cape.gov.za)