foresightXchange Report: Towards an Innovative Civil Service in Mauritius

Towards an Innovative Civil Service in Mauritius | Report | December 2015 1

Towards an Innovative Civil Service in Mauritius


On 25 to 26 Nov 2015, with the support of UNDP’s Innovation Facility, a Strategic fore-sightXchange workshop was conducted in joint effort by the MCDAR, UNDP Mauritius and UNDP Global Centre for Public Service Excellence to explore the use of strategic foresight and its multiple applications in developing futures-oriented plans to guide the Innovation of Public Service in Mauritius as they explore their path toward integrating more technol-ogy-based solutions into service delivery, with the broader intention of better responding to shifting citizen demands.

A separate meeting was conducted on the 27 Nov 2015 to consolidate the findings from the workshop and to agree on action plans forward. The exchange was meant to utilise foresight to develop useful insights which can be made actionable.

Out of these 2 days, key trends and developments which will guide developments in Mau-ritius in the next 10 years were identified, and 4 alternative scenarios brainstormed. This document provides a concise synopsis of the activities across the 2-days, and the alterna-tive scenarios which developed from discussion, and which guide prototyping of realistic and innovative transformation programs within the civil service. These prototypes will be accompanied by supporting visualisations.

OVERVIEW


The workshop opened with addresses from Mr. Hoolass, Hon. Alain Wong and Simon Springett who framed the broader needs of the workshop as helping Mauritius to adapt to increasingly rapid transformation in the global economic, technological and social innovation spheres, and the need for the Civil Service to transform into one that is more forward-thinking to guide that shift. The use of foresight in developing a strategically more proactive civil service was highlighted.

• As a part of the exchange, the Global Centre and UNDP Mauritius brought in speakers from Malaysia and Singapore - both countries with Civil Service which have integrated and applied foresight as a part of their strategic planning - to explore how foresight can be applied to improve technological capability and infrastructure in service delivery (Malaysia’s Rushdi Abdul Rahim, Director of myForesight®, Malaysia’s National Foresight Institute), and how narrative and horizon scanning with technology-enabled tools can improve citizen engagement and whole of civil service engagement in managing shifting demands by using data to guide policy (Singapore’s Zhen Goh, Senior Consultant at Cognitive Edge - long time partner and advisors to the Singapore Government).

• The Senior Officials who participated in the workshop also experimented with alternative futures Scenario Mapping techniques guided by facilitators from the Global Centre - Petrus Vandepol, Senior Advisor and Arndt Husar, Deputy Director - and Yoan Ollivier, Director of Possible Plausible (an organisation which has been applying foresight tools with the 27th District in Paris, and specialise in utilising design to deliver impact for policy and planning).

SUMMARY OF WORKSHOP


In a Spidermap of the Future exercise, the major trends and factors of change which would affect change in Mauritius over the next 10 years were identified as (1) Changes in delivery of Public Services, (2) Need for change in Education system to meet increas-ing Complexity of Public Issues, (3) Increasing demands and expectations of Citizens, (4) Shifting Political and Social Attitudes, (5) Technology and Increasing Connectivity/Auto-mation, (6) Shifting Demographic Trends (especially with a rapidly Ageing Population, and pressures on improving Health Service delivery), and (7) International Security and Risk issues. (Insert picture)

In a following step, individual factors were voted on across the room to identify items which were seen as most important. This resulted in a list of factors, outlined here in ac-cordance to priority as voted:

42 VOtES : technology and increasing auto-mation/connectivity, but need for balance against the need to maintain the human touch and socio-commu-nity factor. Whilst there is recogni-tion that there is a need to move into a more automated and paperless environment, whilst replacing some human administration in the public sector with automated systems, there is also a consciousness that this needs to be balanced to ensure that human empathy and socio-community support is maintained. An increasing push for technology-based solutions is recognised, but carefully balanced against the evolution of a strong so-cio-community tradition of social trust and care.

39 VOtES : Increased citizen demand for high quality services (trending toward more personalised services), more communication between civil service and citizens, and greater accountabil-ity. The demands and pressures being placed on civil service are increasingly growing, especially with regards to services such as transport. There is a stronger desire for more personalised services catered to individual needs, and with much better coverage. With increasing connectivity and use of so-cial media, people are used to almost instantaneous feedback and desire consistent communication between themselves, and the service providers.

KEY tRENDS AND FACtORS OVER NEXt 10 YEARS

PRIORItY 1

PRIORItY 2


29 VOtES : the need for multi-skilled and high-er-skilled workers for the Public Service, and shifting in a perfor-mance-rated system of civil servant assessment as opposed to hierarchi-cal. There is also growing concern that the younger population are increasingly qualified, and might be over-skilled for the civil service. This has implications on the civil service needing to move into higher service quality with more efficient and effec-tive performance.

21 VOtES : Demographic patterns of aging popu-lation and health risk and awareness associated. The need to shift into a higher productivity system of delivery necessary with shrinking workforce. There is also a need to provide better health service delivery (ie. responses to health emergencies) and ambu-lance services for example.

PRIORItY 3

PRIORItY 4

Utilising a narrative construction approach, alternative scenarios were constructed based on the key factors identified. The participants were told to imagine the stories from the point of view of citizens (everything from a single mother registering her child for school, a young person applying for a civil service position in the future, elderly citizen seeking health services, seeking personalised transport services). The stories were then used construct ideas for implementation in response to the major trends/factors, and the needs and expectations of citizens.

ALtERNAtIVE SCENARIOS tHAt WILL DRIVE CIVIL SERVICE INNOVAtION (2025)


ECOLE MALIN

increasing connectivity & developping human interaction in civil services.

Educruise Card

tItLE

tRENDS

1.


GENERAL ISSUEHow to propose universal acces to our com-

puterised system?

GENERAL ISSUEHow to design a computer system which pro-vide smart and more flexible choice to adress

exceptionnal cases?

GENERAL ISSUEHow to evaluate and rank options on feed-

back to improve service?

GENERAL ISSUEHow to choose three best options for a

blended service : homescooling, face 2 face digital devices...

PREVIEW

PROCESS

StEP 1 | REGIStRAtION OF KIDS

StEP 2 | MANAGING tHE REGIStRAtION PROGESS

StEP 5 | PROVIDING SOLUtIONS

StEP 4 | PROPOSING OPtIONS

SCENARIO

Educruise is a new service card offered to all scolarised chlidren. Educruise is the for step in a simplification process of the scholarship experience. It follows each child in his/her education.This card is the touchpoint which incorpo-rate the junction of three services :- Library access- Canteen acces- transportation service

Creation of smart card services for select purposes. Suggestions such as an EduCruse card for students that provides access to services such as the library, food services (canteens) and subsidised transport. These are cards that can be issued after an online registration of the child into the school system. This will be paired with the creation of a user-friendly and 24-hour online system that provides knowledge management facilities and tracking of registration history. The same integrated e-solutions with smart card facilities can be implement-ed for the elderly to allow medical care facilities easy access to patient records for improved security and con-fidentiality. This can be integrated with fingerprint tech-nology of person recognition and allow for citizens to do manual e-retrieval of records on their own. Implemen-tation of these have to done in stages to allow for testing and feedback of new systems to ensure users are able to utilise the system effectively. The concern was also to ensure that the human touch continues to be maintained despite an increasing push for technological solutions.

• Online registration with a notification system• multi-device system : computer, mobilephone...• refer to service outlets : callcenters, personnal assistant...

• Customer-friendly system with prompt action• Provide option to override best fit• Manage Personal data to protect privacy• Hability to close registration• Multi-optional system : no clear preference

• Userfriendly user able to adapt to specific user cases• Userfriendly Feedback systems

• Overpersonnalisation of service• Choice available between 3 best option for helping the users to manage their specificities.


Stakholders map

++

+ -

--

++STRONGLY AGREE

> Designate as project ambassadors> Provide resource for effective communi-

cation strategy> run a pilot on summer school pro-

gramme

+AGREE

Engagement strategy with all stakholders> CHILDREN : Open a competition : to se-

lect the best card design> BUSDRIVERS : Run a pilot during a sum-

mer school programme

-DISAGREE

> Sustained media campaign to keep mo-mentum and advertise successes

- -STRONGLY DISAGREE

> Provide a forum to undestand concerns> Co-design solutions to adress concerns

Childrens

Parents

Grand parentsTeachers

AdministrativeStaff

Librarians

Canteen Managers

Activistgroves


SERVICES RIDERS

Higher demand for quality services

Personnal transportation service

tItLE

tRENDS

2.


GENERAL ISSUEHow to assure that all citizens have access to

the system and can use it?

GENERAL ISSUEHow to ensure an effective coordination and

coherence between the public and the private services providers?

GENERAL ISSUEHow to assure that the employees have the

necessary competences to perform their role and responsability?

GENERAL ISSUEHow to obtain real-time feedback and mon-itoring the experiences to improve services

provided.

GENERAL ISSUEhow to ensure that proper et timely process-es are in place to cater for the patient as the

moment his enters in publics services.

PREVIEW

PROCESSStEP 1 | ONLINE BOOKING OF APPOINtEMENt

StEP 2 | REDIRECtING tHE RE-qUESt tO SERVICE PROFIDERS

StEP 3 | LINK tO PUBLIC SERVICES

StEP 5 | COVEYANCE BACK tO RESIDENCE

StEP 4 | BAtON PASSING WItH PUB-LIC SERVICES

The “Riders” are the new highly qualified stakeholder in the personal transportation. they are :- Customer oriented- Able to coride people safely - Able to assist passengers in boarding and leaving the vehicle- Certificate to provide first aid- Maintain the vehicle in good condition- Computer users and able to take strong decision in case of emergency

• IT equipment available• Userfriendly interfaces and systems• Alternative way to book througth telephone• Confimation of appointment with SMS

• Patient details are avaible for the riders : age, address, specific condition, detail of trip• Payment system managed buy the Public Manager• Appointment adress via SMS for users and providers

• Specialised vehicule equipped with GPS, wifi facilities or telecommunication facilies with emergency actorsIn any emmergency, the driver can join an effective infor-mation for helping the users

• helping people to adapt their home to their new situa-tions.• Feedback after the return for helping the users and creating valuable feedback

•drivers drop the patient at the cardiac center and give proper information to staff.• All patient history will be captured on his health card or fingerprint for facilitate registration.

SCENARIO

Development of more personalised and reliable trans-portation options were discussed as a necessary move forward in improving delivery of public services. Im-proved coordination and organisation between the public and private sector in providing point-to-point transfer was seen as necessary - hinting at the need for stronger public-private cross-pollination and coordination in civil service transformation. The integration of ICT services for transportation, and online registration was also seen as a way of managing supply and demand of the service. On top of this, there was also significant conversation over multi-skilled drivers being hired - for example, they should be trained in CPR or to handle small scale emer-gencies, especially in light of the aging citizenry.


Stakholders map

++

+ -

--

++STRONGLY AGREE STRATEGY

> Act as change champions> Act as marketing agents

+AGREE STRATEGY

> participation & investissement> Communication : sensibilisation & workshop> encourage stakeholders to express their

fears about the projet> cost benefices analyses

-DISAGREE STRATEGY

> participation & investissement> Communication : sensibilisation & workshop> encourage stakeholders to express their

fears about the projet> cost benefices analyses

- -STRONGLY STRATEGY

> COMMUNICATE OBJECTIVES> Ask conviced peers to talk to them

> Consultations, focus group discussion & negociations

> Increase competition edge

Riders

TV journalists

Old people

PoliticianMedical

employees

TaxisAmbulances


BAZTRAVAY

Multi-skilled public sector& increasing connectivity

BOULOGOV ONLINE

tItLE

tRENDS

3.


GENERAL ISSUEHow to define multiskilled salariees

in publivcsector?

GENERAL ISSUEHow to design new human process that im-

prove simple & useroriented services?

GENERAL ISSUEHow to use Data-analysis for improved quali-

ty analysis?

GENERAL ISSUEHow adapt the actual uses of the public

workers to new challenges?

GENERAL ISSUEWhat is the most suitable tools to improve

digitaly the human quality of public workers?

PREVIEW

PROCESSStEP 1 | NEW HUMAN RESSOURCES PLAN

StEP 2 | ONLINE PUBLIC JOBS PROPOSALS

StEP 3 | ONLINE DAtABASED PRE-SELECtION PROCESS

StEP 5 | APPOINtMENt AND INDUCtION tEACHNING MEtHODS

StEP 4 | INtERVIEWS & SELECtIONS

Basetravay is a roving - solar powered and IT’s facilities equipped- caravan, which visiting villages & towns according to a set schedule for providing information an jobs avaible in the public sector and advise job seekes accodingly and assist them in sub-mitting the application on line.It’s the visible part of a new on-line process - boulogov online - for submitting to public sector job offer. The caravan will be served by young and dynamic coordination.

• Creation of a new Database for service• Digitalising the Curicullum Vitae• Finding cross competency in public sector

• Demonstrate new requirements of the new environn-ments and new needs in public sector• Listing human and userfriendly habilities which is requiered.• Demand for short video presentating cadidate & moti-vation for preselection.

• Authentification system for ensure integrety and secu-rity of the system• Proceed Digital pre-selection based on data offered by the users

• Proposed artificial intelligence to assist public workers in the daily work• Improved public workers abilities for improved public sector maners.

• Panel, Paperless, electronically recorded marksheet• Pre-selectionned candidate to communication an moti-vational aspects.

SCENARIO

Dissemination of information, and creating appeal in the younger generation in pursuing a career in the public service was identified as important. To do this, the current recruitment processes have to be re-evaluat-ed - many systems exist to move manual registration and resume submission into an online system of sorting and storage to relief the paper trail that currently exists. A more pro-active manner of youth outreach was also discussed, with bringing the civil service to the commu-nities, rather than passively delivering services. Other possibilities also included the use of solar powered technology to represent a new move into sustainable and renewable energy sources - an option that could diversify the energy reliance of Mauritius. Overall, the focus here was on developing a more efficient and electronically enhanced process of recruitment, although it was also noted that it would be necessary as well to review the current selection criteria to develop a more rigorous selection based on personality fitness and professional/educational qualifications of candidates to enable a more progressive civil service in the future.


Stakholders map

++

+ -

--

++STRONGLY AGREE

> Remind the main gains from projet> Regular status update on projet progress

> Briefing / Consultative sessions

+AGREE

> Identify silent but potential allies eq teachers, parents, training providers, em-

ployment office> Get their views / feelings

> Inform them gains in groups or individu-ally and seen their collaboration on specific issues and allocate specific tasks / respon-

sibilities

-DISAGREE STRATEGY

> Recruitment agencies use their expertise through collaboration equality consultancies

> Get trad union on board> Retraining

> Identify and inform of opportunities> Inventif their fears and turn them into

opportunities

- -STRONGLY DISAGREE STRATEGY

POLITICAL> Government stand and gain us more

transparency and demands on them from constituents / activists /friends

> More transparency - improve image of country at global level

OPPOSITION > Work on getting public opinion with us

joblesspeople

communitywarners

policymakers

ITproviders

Parents

Teachers

employees

recruitmentagencies

Traditional educationproviders

existing cybercaravan workers

political oponentleaders


123

Aging Population & Health-risk Awareness

Always remember number

tItLE

tRENDS

4.


GENERAL ISSUEHow use Communauty and socialbound for

improving public services?GENERAL ISSUE

How to simplified always digital access in public services or public bulding?

GENERAL ISSUEHow to make each service everytime user freindly, even in the middle of the night?

GENERAL ISSUEHow to find the good balance between

confindentiality, security and usability in public services?

PREVIEW

PROCESSStEP 1 | OFFERING COMMUNItY SERVICE tO tHE ELDERY

StEP 2 | PUBLIC tRANSPORt RE-SPONDING OF tHE USERS NEED

StEP 3 | MAKING RECEPtION SER-VICE USER FRIENDLY

StEP 4 | FACILItAtING ACCES tO tHE PAtIENt DAtABASES

123 is a simple improved of all emergency number : Police, Samu, Doctors, Firefight-ers,... Its to many numbers for a simple problem : I have an emergency, send me the good one.

• Imaging community or neighborhood responses to emergency• Emergency e-alet system• Shorten time of response of emergency services

• Integratings IT’s in bus and personal transpotation (GPS, WIFI, Schedule...)

• Access to patient data base• Carers or volunteers able to assisting patients in need

• Manual e-retrival of records• Using fingerprints for accessing to personnal database• Managing security and usability of services

SCENARIO

The need to create integrated community-based solutions was also discussed as a necessary step in re-sponding to demographic shifts and its challenges. Ideas include the installation of a simple emergency e-alert system that is built into a push-button technology in elderly domiciles that will send alerts to other members of the community when a member of the neighbour-hood needs help was discussed. The current Mauritian culture has evolved to be community-oriented with high levels of human empathy. Building integrated systems to harness and augment those networks are easy ways forward and require fairly simple technological solutions to implement. The need to more systematically organise a network of volunteers was also discussed - creation of these community-aid volunteer positions in civil service careers was also proposed as a suitable option to meet the future increase in demand of carers. Lastly, the use of smartphone and ICT technology in the delivery of medical educational videos (i.e. how to administer cardiac massages to heart attack patients to keep them alive) was also discussed as a viable opportunity to make use of increasing connectivity to push information and awareness out.


Stakholders map

++

+ -

--

++STRONGLY AGREE STRATEGY

> Communicate transparently on project> Advert how to use and benefit multimedia

> Use of media> How a positive chance of life

+AGREE STRATEGY

> Mostly and Previous> Identify people & groups for proximity

community awareness> Enlist support of municipal or village connect for people face to face approach

-DISAGREE STRATEGY

> Identifying face views and address for creating reassurance

> Share feasibility studies> Explain cost benefit and other advantages

- -STRONGLY STRATEGY

> Establish dialogue with opposition and take on board ideas

> Reassure local authorities will once you have a role to play

> not fight against media but will provide all details of projet and process

> facilitate contact with beneficiaries

trade unions

politicianpolitician

telecom serviceproviders

Neighbours

Emergencyservices

seniorcitizens

Beneficiaries

Police Doctor


CONCLUSION

In his opening remarks, Mr. Ashis Hoolass, Acting Sr. Chief Executive MCSAR, referred to Alexander Chapman Ferguson, the legendary ex-trainer of the English football club Man-chester United. According to Sir Alex, the best football players do not follow the ball, on the contrary; by using their powers of anticipation and adaptation, the best players are at the right place at the right time when the ball arrives. The ability to apply this type of foresight sets countries apart as much as it does football players.

Countries like Singapore and Malaysia, in which governments have adopted and main-streamed foresight in their strategic planning processes, are well-known for their aptitude to turn strategic opportunities into concrete economic growth and transformation. Malaysia has formalized its strategic foresight capacity at the highest level of government. Its explo-ration of alternative futures is directly informing political decision-making. Singapore has added additional techniques to spot emerging trends, changes and shocks, avoiding the ‘tyranny of experts’ and tapping into non-traditional sources of expertise.

Ideally, foresight makes sense of a complex future reality and leads to unexpected insights. A foresight exercise that produces a ‘used future’, a future where everything is business as usual, is useless. Foresight needs people who do not necessarily think like ‘us’, who pro-vide unexpected or contrarian perspectives on comfortable ‘truths’, and who help to create meaningful and plausible ‘alternative’ futures. In the terminology of the foresightXchange, a wide range of view and standpoints is required to spot the ‘gorilla’.

The foresightXchange demonstrated both the significance and the difficulty of meaningfully empathizing and engaging with the ‘public’ on matter relating to public service excellence, be it performance, policies or services. Conversations revealed a sense of apprehension and uncertainty when the civil service has to engage with, and respond to the shifting demands of the changing citizenry. But, as the service design session made clear, it is no longer enough to create good policy and services - it is necessary to design or re-design them in a manner that at the very least requires empathy, and in many cases active collab-oration. Service ‘experience’ is as important as ‘service’ itself. Integration of more technol-ogy-based communications can be useful here, not just in providing better services to the populace, but also in engaging them for feedback.

Technological innovation is one of the most disruptive (global) forces of the 21st century. Technology not only has a profound impact on the basic relationship between citizens and state (note the prominence of accountability and transparency in the Spider Map, facilitated to a large degree by technology); it is also undermining and creatively destroying well-es-tablished service design and delivery patterns. At the foresightXchange, there was acute awareness of some of the opportunities and risks involved in adopting new technologies for service delivery (although certainly less in service design).


The opportunities are vast: technology would enable faster, more targeted service deliv-ery, open up more direct feedback and communication channels, create greater produc-tivity and efficiency. Some risks were no less clear: the looming prospect of technology replacing human labor (a very specific threat for a procedure oriented organisation like the civil service), the dehumanizing interface between citizen and state, and the generational differences in technology literacy, to name a few. But there was also a tendency to equate service delivery innovation with technology, and technology with guaranteed service deliv-ery improvement.

Technology provides powerful leverage to innovate, but is usually not the innovation itself. Bad face-to-face services, without thorough redesign, translate into bad online services. Procedures and paperwork that only satisfy bureaucratic requirements are, without proper redesign, equally time-consuming, tedious and useless in any delivery environment. And government’s track records in adopting and rolling out technological innovation is littered with expensive failures, precisely because of existing planning and implementation meth-ods. Technological innovation in service design and delivery thrives much better in small scale, experimental, iterative, safe-to-fail, resource ‘light’ environments.Ultimately, foresight and innovation is about action. Too many scenarios gather dust on shelves. Too many innovative ideas die on paper. Good ideas don’t sell themselves. Without a clear idea about implementation opportunities and challenges, most planning is fruitless. Foresight products have to proof their worth in policy planning cycles before foresight can be successfully mainstreamed in government. Innovations need to gather support and employ strategies to defy resistance. A new spirit of policy entrepreneurship is required, in which persuasion and persistence feature prominently.

It is important in this transformation that there is holistic innovation that goes beyond mere technological fetishism - it will require the adoption of the right balance of tools, philosophical shifts in mindset and the courage to see things through. Mauritius possess-es a strong community spirit of self-organisation, and community-sufficiency that should be harnessed as a part of the transformation. This form of integrated approach will allow Mauritius to create a civil service that can co-evolve alongside the citizens that they serve within their unique socio-cultural fabric, and diversify their public services beyond mere service delivery - and into the creation of a enabling government and civil service frame-work that can support sustainable transformation across the whole of country.

To return to Mr. Hoolass reference to Sir Alex: it requires a lot of hard work, patience and persistence, as well as a great many decisions along the way, before a football player find himself at the right place at the right time. The same applies for countries, governments and civil services who want to use strategic foresight to be ready and make the most of the strategic opportunities when they present themselves. Sir Alex’s football players, however, have amply demonstrated it is well worth the effort.


Documents

foresightXchange Report: Towards an Innovative Civil Service in Mauritius