The Government has launched a **Public Service Improvement Programme**, aimed at enhancing the level of work delivered by the Public Service.
Addressing senior public servants last Friday, the Rt. Hon. Hubert A. Ingraham, Prime Minister of the Bahamas, said *“It is true that effective Public Service is essential to good governance and to the effective and responsive delivery of services to the general public.”*
Reportedly, The Bahamas is among pioneers in the region in taking a scientific, measured approach to improving public services delivery, and the Prime Minister says the Government commits to advancing the pace of modernisation in the Public Service. The Government is partnering with the College of the Bahamas and the Caribbean Centre for Development Administration (CARICAD), a regional inter-governmental organisation specialising in transforming and modernising the public sector of Caribbean states in the conduct of pilot programmes.
As first steps, there will general public engagement in an evaluation of public sector customer satisfaction and the College of The Bahamas will conduct a series of customer satisfaction surveys to establish a scientific baseline from which the Government will seek to measure improvement in service delivery over time. *“We will also canvass public officers responsible for the delivery of service to the public to determine attitudes, behaviours and values which impact their performance,”* the Prime Minister said. *“We will seek to explore the extent to which the organisational culture of the public sector impacts performances and attitudes in the delivery of service to the public.”*
The service improvement pilot project is being launched in six public agencies:
• The Department of Public Service
• The Registrar General’s Office
• The Building Control Division
• Road Traffic Department
• The Department of Physical Planning, and
• The Passport Office
*“Change is always difficult; individuals accustomed to behaving in a certain fashion tend to resist change. So as to win support for the programme and to gain buy-in from stakeholders, each of the pilot agencies will have a Service Improvement Team, comprising focal points.”* These focal points will be responsible for keeping the aims and objectives of the project in the forefront by galvanising support for the project among public officers in and outside the pilot agencies.