QUALITY IN GOVERNMENT: A CHALLENGE FOR ALL

This month, in his blog "A view from the Q", Paul Borawski, asks Influential Voices to think about Quality in Government and referred us to a workshop hosted by the Swedish Institute of Quality, which concluded that the Government is a driving force in the future of quality through their purchasing policies, public policy, and through the use of quality principles and techniques in the management of government itself.

The Government has a major impact on our lives, our economic security,  in the future of our children. We must act as concerned citizens to demand quality in daily interactions we have with the services received.

 

Recall that the authorities are elected by citizens, and we must have the knowledge to demand improvements. Currently the use of social networking, web 2.0  is spreading quickly around and in turn, we can interact more directly with public organizations.

Politicians, people who head the government should always make decisions not just based on popularity and / or in the next elections, but what is best for the future, then one of his main responsibilities is to educate citizens.

There have been international efforts in this regard in addition to those that indicate the other Influential Voices of Quality. On February 11, 2005, the Technical Management Board of ISO approved the Directorate General of Standards of the Ministry of Economy of Mexico organized an International Workshop Agreement (IWA) to develop the "Guidelines to facilitate implementation of ISO 9001 : 2000 in Local Governments. " This document has been updated and is current, having been applied in several countries.

The organization that promotes worldwide is the International Foundation for the Development of Reliable Government (Fundacion Internacional para del Desarrollo de Gobiernos Confiables), FIDEGOC, having made the first Summit of the Global Network for Quality governments in Leon, Mexico, from 18 to 20 April 2012.

The IWA4 document provides guidance  for the implementation of ISO 9001:2008 in Local Government, describes specific examples to facilitate the interpretation,  also has a process map that provides guidance to organize the management and also includes a comprehensive self-diagnostic tool that contains parameters for measuring the minimum elements a local government has to at least have that enriches the application of these guidelines.

The IWA-4 aims to establish guidelines to assist Local Government in the implementation of a Quality Management System that meets the requirements of ISO 9001:2008 in such a way as to achieve reliable quality conditions in the activities of the local government to meet the requirements of the population on its territory.

The System has a self-diagnosis based on 39 minimum management indicators, divided into four major themes:

• Institutional Development for Good Governance

• Sustainable Economic Development

• Inclusive Social Development

• Sustainable Environmental Development

As application examples, we can find some, and personally know the model implemented in Chile, in the Municipalidad de Providencia, which has called Government 2.0.

There is much to be done, and we are taking steps to build an inclusive model, that allow us to develop he future we want.

César Díaz