Background
Benchlearning groups are an excellent opportunity for comparing costs and results of services, as well as methods of their delivering. In the first year of the program (2007/2008) 11 groups of experience sharing were formed in 6 major types of local public services. The purpose of local government teams is to exchange experience, learn from the best performers and eventually improve their own services. One of the objectives of the benchlearning program is testing the performance measurement method as a facilitator of organizational learning.
Work of benchlearning groups (Polish name: Groups of Experience Sharing) cover 6 wide types of services like as in other components of the entire project: management of culture, social welfare, education, transport (roads, publ. transportation), municipal social housing, municipal services (water, sewer, and waste management.) Each year the project plans to form 11-12 groups of cooperating LG units, each of 5-7 municipalities or counties. The work of each unit is coordinated by an expert – coordinator, who is a LG practitioner at the same time.
Work-packages in the project:
- Improving quality and efficiency of public services delivery through analysis of indicators and exchange of experience among local government units, with two sub-activities:
a) Benchmarking system for public services in local government
b) Bench learning system for local governments
- System of identification and disseminating of good practices, including maintenance of database of good practices, with two sub-activities:
a) System of identification and dissemination of public services
b) Database of good practices and preparing descriptions of good practices (www.sas.zmp.poznan.pl )
- Training in management of public services, including interactive website of the project with two sub-activities:
a) Training in management of public services
b) Interactive website of the project
- Exchange of experiences between Norwegian and Polish local governments
- Project management, including internal audit
Examples
64 out of 67 municipalities prepared an own service improvement plan, based on analysis of own diagnosed situation and with wide utilization of practices tested by other members of the group. Here are three typical examples:
1) City of Koszalin in North-Western Poland, having already exemplary achievements in objective and quantifiable measuring of quality and performance of own school units and kindergartens, decided that it shall now concentrate on leveling (i.e. upbringing) educational chances of pupils/students from those schools which have poorer performance due to the fact that most of the children in those schools come from difficult social environment. A specific strategy was prepared as a service improvement project, including better communication with parents of these children and additional lessons.
2) City of Olsztyn in North Eastern Poland has only recently started to prepare a comprehensive educational strategy, after many years of rather intuitional management of this sphere. This year a comprehensive educational policy was prepared, together with specific operational plan, and one the key elements will be adapting the Koszalin system of measuring quality and performance of own school units and kindergartens.
3) City of Jaworzno in South-Western Poland decided that given experience of City of Slupsk in systematic measurement of the quality of roads surface and bridges as a basis for long term infrastructure investment plan, it will implement a similar system in own city, however, with utilization of a cadre of own trained assessors, instead of hiring an external firm, and by modifying substantially the methodology of assessment.
KS' Role
KS' role in the project is to provide consultancy on the methodology of the benchmarking and benchlearning component as well as organize study tours and internship trainings for the Polish participants. About 50 Polish participants have been in Norway since the start of the project in 2007. Oslo, Hamar, Hedmark county, Lillehammer, Bærum, Drammen, Buskerud county, Lørenskog, Sarpsborg, Skedsmo, Voss, Aust-Agder county, Tromsø, Grong, Oppland county, Kristiansand municipality have been involved in the project in addition to various state agencies as well as municipal enterprises.
