180 public sector workers get CSMES training

Approximately 180 public sector employees, representing 42 Government departments and agencies, are to participate in the inaugural staging of the Customer Service Monitoring and Evaluation System (CSMES) training programme.

The course, which is being undertaken by the Cabinet Office and the Management Institute for National Development (MIND), is designed to provide training to Government employees in implementing the CSMES within their organizations.

The CSMES, which falls under the National Customer Service Programme managed by the Cabinet Office, is designed to ensure focus of public sector entities on continuous improvement and maintenance of high quality service delivery to the citizenry. Additionally, it will facilitate standardised reporting across the public sector, as well as assessment of the needs and satisfaction level of their customers.

Some 36 representatives from six entities: the National Water Commission (NWC); Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM); National Insurance Scheme (NIS); Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA); Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ); and MIND, are the first batch of trainees participating in the programme officially launched on March 14.

The course, delivered at MIND in Kingston, covers three modular topics: Module 1 – ‘Fundamentals of the Customer Service Monitoring and Evaluation System’; Module 2 – Developing Key Performance Indicators, Metrics and Report Templates”; and Module 3 – ‘Setting up the Customer Service Monitoring and Evaluation System for Using and Acting on the Results’. Presenters include MIND Associate faculty lecturers – Fay Sukhu and Barrington Robinson; and Resident Faculty lecturers – Lloyd Pascoe and Alia Vaz-Heaven.    

Speaking at the launch, Director, Public Sector Capability Development at MIND, Ann-Marie Smith, said the contents of each module will be delivered over a seven-week period. She explained that the participants will spend one day on MIND’s campus, during the initial week of each module, and the subsequent six weeks undertaking specific activities relating to the course content, within their respective organizations.

“Not only are you going to be required to do those specific activities, but your facilitators will be working with you. They will be coming to visit you, to see how far along you are in your implementation, to do some hand holding and, at the end, to be able to assess the success of the work that you have done,” she outlined.

Ms. Smith underscored the significance of the fact that the participants are among a “select group” being trained during the programme’s first year.

“You have been selected because you have been deemed as the persons who can access this training and who can go back to your organizations, and you can be the customer service champions in further integrating, and further implementing the customer service programme within various organizations,” she said.

By DOUGLAS McINTOSH, JIS Reporter