The customer service program for the government sector, accredited by the British Institute and carried out by the Institute of Public Administration (BIPA) in partnership with the e-Government Authority, has reached its final stages, where the trainees presented at the end of the program a number of projects to improve customer service in the public sector, through the development of the service delivery or the procedures followed by the organizations, also the participants through graduation presentations highlighted the results of this change and the impact that resulted from, as a preliminary step toward getting, after each trainee meets graduation requirements, a certificate from BIPA accredited by the British Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM).
In this context, Senior Director of Professional Development Mrs. Ghada Shana’a said “What distinguishes the program is the trainees’ activation of their graduation projects in government institutions and ministries in which they work, in light of the continued follow-up from the Institute for these projects, with the aim of bringing about change in the customer service experience, so that it is consistent during which a customer doesn’t feel a difference whether he completed the service personally through visiting the ministry premises or through the e-service”.
Mrs. Shana’a explained “Each trainee submitted and presented graduation project before a specialized committee to evaluate his actions for improving the chosen service, to measure the extent of impact and the resulting effect from each employee working in this area, where the trainees recorded their impressions after trying out the service in their institution as real clients with recording all observation on this service”.
Mrs. Shana’a added that “The program works on two levels; basic and advanced, indicating that the customer service program (service) is targeting all first line employees, either directly or indirectly, while customer service program (excellence) is targeting directors of departments, heads of sections and supervisors concerned with customer service in the public sector”.
In regard to the objectives of the program Mrs. Shana’a explained that “The program seeks to link the concept of service excellence to Bahrain’s vision 2030, in addition to promoting a culture of excellence in customer service in the public sector, and developing the skills of employees in customer service at all job levels, in addition to the need to work with government ministries and agencies to develop service performance criterion (standardized) that rise up to the standards adopted in other developed countries, and finally working with government ministries and agencies to develop strategies that contribute to the promotion of excellence in the services”.
It is noteworthy that BIPA has inaugurated in December 2013, customer service program for the government sector in partnership with the e-Government Authority, which was the first program of its kind in the Kingdom that presented in two levels, and targeting employees in customer services who supervise or interact with the beneficiaries of government services, either directly or indirectly, thus this program comes in line with the vision of the Kingdom of Bahrain 2030, and the strategic initiatives relating thereto, where it has been designed in a way that contributing to the improvement of the performance of governmental service institutions, through the development of the performance of employees in this area at all levels of employment, and enable them to perform their duties with distinction, moreover 85 government employees, who work in the field of customer service from various government ministries and institutions, took part in the program.