Citizens service centers in greece ΚΕΠ

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1 THE CITIZEN’S SERVICE CENTERS IN GREECE: A BREAKTHROUGH REFORM www.inerp.gr Panagiotis Karkatsoulis Efi Stefopoulou

description

Citiznes service centers is a major succesfull public administration reform in Greece. What has happened? Which have been the factors for the succes?

Transcript of Citizens service centers in greece ΚΕΠ

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THE CITIZEN’S SERVICE CENTERS IN GREECE: A BREAKTHROUGH REFORM

www.inerp.gr

Panagiotis Karkatsoulis

Efi Stefopoulou

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It all started

with a starfish floating

(connecting) among the

Aegean Islands.

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KEPs idea was initiated in 1999 on the island of Serifos. Expanded to a 100 “Citizen’s Bureaus” on Greek islands.

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Services provided to citizens have mostly

focused on citizens needs and demands based

on the “life cycle events”. (birth certificates, car registration, tax reporting, welfare and health services)

Cindy Sherman

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0

500000

1000000

1500000

2000000

2500000

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Number of citizens visiting KEP increased annually

From the first

KEP in Serifos

to 1067 KEPs

all over Greece.

From 10

certificates to

1087

procedures.

KEPs’ evolution

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TO PROVIDE SERVICES TO THE

PEOPLE

THE CONCEPT:

Trough a functional …

not normative not structural not infrastructural not ontological

… approach

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KEPs WEREN’T STACK TO THE

OWNER OF THE COMPETENCE

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KEP DIDN’T START WITH A NEW STRUCTURE /

INFRASTRUCTURE WHICH

“AFTERWARDS” MIGHT HAVE GOTTEN

SOME CONTENT.

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KEPs didn’t start with “extra-skilled” personnel coming through a series of

training sessions.

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THE KEPs’ PARADOXES: OPERATIONS & FUNCTIONS

They provide services which according to the regulated task should have been provided by different agencies of the central administration.

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THE KEPs’ PARADOXES:

OPERATIONS & FUNCTIONS

KEPs are hosted by local governments and their personnel is in the municipalities payroll …

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THE KEPs’ PARADOXES:

OPERATIONS & FUNCTIONS

… although they are centrally managed by the ministry.

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KEPs were hosted by the municipalities …

… they weren’t absorbed by the

municipal clientelism

THE KEPs’ PARADOXES: STRUCTURES

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Although the initial infrastructure was poor

A table

A home made database

THE KEPs’ PARADOXES: STRUCTURES

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A table

A home made database

KEPs offered services of significantly higher complexity.

THE KEPs’ PARADOXES: STRUCTURES

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At the initial stage we recruited only one

employee per municipality, keeping

all staff local.

THE KEPs’ PARADOXES: THE HUMAN FACTOR

Local staff proved to be one of the most decisive factors to build trust between the KEP’s team and experts from Athens and the islanders.

The establishment of a special job

branch for KEP personnel at a later

stage laid the path for corporatism

instead of a positive esprit de corps.

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THE KEPs’ PARADOXES:

UNCONVENTIONAL PROJECT DESIGN

No expert advice from “abroad”, i.e., no “blue prints”, no proper digestion of “new”

ideas etc…

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THE KEPs’ PARADOXES: UNCONVENTIONAL PROJECT DESIGN

No “professional” strategic planning, that means no submission of papers to various experts who are just trying to justify their salary.

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No fancy management tools (manuals, KPIs, sophisticated software to calculate risks, threads even if there were not any…)

THE KEPs’ PARADOXES: UNCONVENTIONAL PROJECT DESIGN

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20 KEP could have been an excellent idea, stuck in

the Ministry of the Presidency of the Government

THE KEPs’ PARADOXES: AGAINST THE BUREAUCRATIC INERTIA

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THE KEPs’ PARADOXES: AGAINST THE BUREAUCRATIC INERTIA

No normative competence of the “Ministry” of Aegean

(Symbolic ministry)

The competent Ministry of the “Presidency of the Government”

was opposed to the project.

Very restricted budget.

No administrative / organizational culture for innovations.

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MOVED STRATEGY

…not the opposite

THE KEPs’ PARADOXES: AGAINST ALL ODDS

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The KEPs’ paradoxes: Islandness Focus on Diversity instead of unanimity

“Islandness” appears often as a form of Diversity:

Tailored made

policies for the

islands are

mostly

rejected due

to high costs.

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The KEPs’ paradoxes: Islandness Focus on Diversity instead of unanimity

The choice to launch

KEP on an island

has proved that it’s

worthy to invest in

diversity.

Insular policies are not expensive,

are environmental friendly,

promote solidarity (instead of

isolation), and

are glocal (connect local

societies with the rest of the

world).

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THEORY & PRACTICE

The design and the implementation of the project took place simultaneously. There was a constant interaction between theory and practice: The practice of the theory offered us more than the initial theory.

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KEP came into life

without the request of

any prior normative

action.

A GREEK MYTH: Lack of enforcement

TRUST vs

IMPLEMENTATION MECHANISMS

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THE HUMAN NETWORK The network was self-evolving (not pre-designed)

The word of mouth made the difference as no communication plan existed

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Citizen

Company Islander Minister

Scientist

Civil Servant

Design

Certificates

People

Passionate team (mixed political and technical)

THE INITIAL RATIONAL & IRRATIONAL DRIVES

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Facing the emerging difficulties as opportunities to improve the project. > The scout conference of Delphi and its positive echo

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KEPs’ design was distinguishable and embedded to the island’s architectural character.

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Deep established – almost religious belief of the protagonists – that the operation could be successful.

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Accurate

knowledge of

the field:

-quality

movement,

- one-stop-

shop trends,

- simplification

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Patriotism and love for the island civilization motivated many locals to volunteer.

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Passionate and utterly in love with homeland and especially the islands.