foresightXchange Report: Towards an Innovative Civil Service in Mauritius by UNDP Global Centre for Public Service Excellence

Towards an Innovative Civil Service in Mauritius

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

OVERVIEW On 25 to 26 Nov 2015, with the support of UNDPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Innovation Facility, a Strategic foresightXchange 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 technology-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 Mauritius 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 alternative 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.

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

SUMMARY OF WORKSHOP 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).

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

KEY TRENDS AND FACTORS OVER NEXT 10 YEARS 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 increasing Complexity of Public Issues, (3) Increasing demands and expectations of Citizens, (4) Shifting Political and Social Attitudes, (5) Technology and Increasing Connectivity/Automation, (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 accordance to priority as voted:

PRIORITY 1 42 votes : Technology and increasing automation/connectivity, but need for balance against the need to maintain the human touch and socio-community factor. Whilst there is recognition 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 socio-community tradition of social trust and care.

PRIORITY 2 39 votes : Increased citizen demand for high quality services (trending toward more personalised services), more communication between civil service and citizens, and greater accountability. 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 social media, people are used to almost instantaneous feedback and desire consistent communication between themselves, and the service providers.

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

PRIORITY 3 29 votes : The need for multi-skilled and higher-skilled workers for the Public Service, and shifting in a performance-rated system of civil servant assessment as opposed to hierarchical. 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 effective performance.

PRIORITY 4 21 votes : Demographic patterns of aging population 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 ambulance services for example.

ALTERNATIVE SCENARIOS THAT WILL DRIVE CIVIL SERVICE INNOVATION (2025) 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.

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

TITLE

ECOLE MALIN Educruise Card TRENDS

increasing connectivity & developping human interaction in civil services. Towards an Innovative Civil Service in Mauritius | Report | December 2015

PREVIEW

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 incorporate 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 implemented for the elderly to allow medical care facilities easy access to patient records for improved security and confidentiality. This can be integrated with fingerprint technology of person recognition and allow for citizens to do manual e-retrieval of records on their own. Implementation 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.

PROCESS STEP 1 | REGISTRATION OF KIDS • Online registration with a notification system • multi-device system : computer, mobilephone... • refer to service outlets : callcenters, personnal assistant... GENERAL ISSUE

How to propose universal acces to our computerised system?

STEP 4 | PROPOSING OPTIONS • Overpersonnalisation of service • Choice available between 3 best option for helping the users to manage their specificities. GENERAL ISSUE

How to choose three best options for a blended service : homescooling, face 2 face digital devices...

STEP 2 | MANAGING THE REGISTRATION PROGESS • 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 GENERAL ISSUE

How to design a computer system which provide smart and more flexible choice to adress exceptionnal cases?

STEP 5 | PROVIDING SOLUTIONS • Userfriendly user able to adapt to specific user cases • Userfriendly Feedback systems GENERAL ISSUE

How to evaluate and rank options on feedback to improve service?

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

Stakholders map + AGREE

DISAGREE

Engagement strategy with all stakholders > CHILDREN : Open a competition : to select the best card design > BUSDRIVERS : Run a pilot during a summer school programme

> Sustained media campaign to keep momentum and advertise successes

Librarians

Canteen Managers Teachers

Grand parents

Staff

Administrative

Parents Childrens

Activist groves

++ STRONGLY AGREE

-STRONGLY DISAGREE

> Designate as project ambassadors > Provide resource for effective communication strategy > run a pilot on summer school programme

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

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

TITLE

SERVICES RIDERS Personnal transportation service TRENDS

Higher demand for quality services Towards an Innovative Civil Service in Mauritius | Report | December 2015

PREVIEW

SCENARIO

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

Development of more personalised and reliable transportation options were discussed as a necessary move forward in improving delivery of public services. Improved 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 emergencies, especially in light of the aging citizenry.

PROCESS STEP 1 | ONLINE BOOKING OF APPOINTEMENT • IT equipment available • Userfriendly interfaces and systems • Alternative way to book througth telephone • Confimation of appointment with SMS GENERAL ISSUE

How to assure that all citizens have access to the system and can use it?

STEP 3 | Link to public services • Specialised vehicule equipped with GPS, wifi facilities or telecommunication facilies with emergency actors In any emmergency, the driver can join an effective information for helping the users GENERAL ISSUE

How to assure that the employees have the necessary competences to perform their role and responsability?

STEP 5 | COVEYANCE BACK TO RESIDENCE • helping people to adapt their home to their new situations. • Feedback after the return for helping the users and creating valuable feedback

STEP 2 | Redirecting the request to service profiders • 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 GENERAL ISSUE

How to ensure an effective coordination and coherence between the public and the private services providers?

STEP 4 | BATON PASSING WITH PUBLIC SERVICES •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. GENERAL ISSUE

how to ensure that proper et timely processes are in place to cater for the patient as the moment his enters in publics services.

GENERAL ISSUE

How to obtain real-time feedback and monitoring the experiences to improve services provided. Towards an Innovative Civil Service in Mauritius | Report | December 2015

Stakholders map + AGREE STRATEGY

DISAGREE STRATEGY

> participation & investissement > Communication : sensibilisation & workshop > encourage stakeholders to express their fears about the projet > cost benefices analyses

+ Politician

Medical employees

Riders TV journalists Taxis

Old people

Ambulances

++ STRONGLY AGREE STRATEGY

-STRONGLY STRATEGY

> Act as change champions > Act as marketing agents

> COMMUNICATE OBJECTIVES > Ask conviced peers to talk to them > Consultations, focus group discussion & negociations > Increase competition edge

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

TITLE

BAZTRAVAY BOULOGOV ONLINE TRENDS

Multi-skilled public sector & increasing connectivity Towards an Innovative Civil Service in Mauritius | Report | December 2015

PREVIEW

SCENARIO

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 submitting 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.

PROCESS STEP 1 | NEW HUMAN RESSOURCES PLAN • Creation of a new Database for service • Digitalising the Curicullum Vitae • Finding cross competency in public sector GENERAL ISSUE

How to define multiskilled salariees in publivcsector?

STEP 3 | ONLINE DATABASED PRESELECTION PROCESS • Authentification system for ensure integrety and security of the system • Proceed Digital pre-selection based on data offered by the users GENERAL ISSUE

How to use Data-analysis for improved quality analysis?

STEP 5 | APPOINTMENT AND INDUCTION TEACHNING METHODS • Proposed artificial intelligence to assist public workers in the daily work • Improved public workers abilities for improved public sector maners.

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-evaluated - 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 communities, 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.

STEP 2 | ONLINE PUBLIC JOBS PROPOSALS • Demonstrate new requirements of the new environnments and new needs in public sector • Listing human and userfriendly habilities which is requiered. • Demand for short video presentating cadidate & motivation for preselection. GENERAL ISSUE

How to design new human process that improve simple & useroriented services?

STEP 4 | INTERVIEWS & SELECTIONS • Panel, Paperless, electronically recorded marksheet • Pre-selectionned candidate to communication an motivational aspects. GENERAL ISSUE

What is the most suitable tools to improve digitaly the human quality of public workers?

GENERAL ISSUE

How adapt the actual uses of the public workers to new challenges? Towards an Innovative Civil Service in Mauritius | Report | December 2015

Stakholders map + AGREE

DISAGREE STRATEGY

> Identify silent but potential allies eq teachers, parents, training providers, employment office > Get their views / feelings > Inform them gains in groups or individually and seen their collaboration on specific issues and allocate specific tasks / responsibilities

> 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

employees

IT providers recruitment agencies existing cyber caravan workers

Teachers jobless

Parents

people

community warners policy makers

Traditional education providers

political oponent leaders

++ STRONGLY AGREE

-STRONGLY DISAGREE STRATEGY

> Remind the main gains from projet > Regular status update on projet progress > Briefing / Consultative sessions

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

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

TITLE

123 Always remember number TRENDS

Aging Population & Health-risk Awareness Towards an Innovative Civil Service in Mauritius | Report | December 2015

PREVIEW

SCENARIO

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

The need to create integrated community-based solutions was also discussed as a necessary step in responding 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 neighbourhood 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.

PROCESS STEP 1 | OFFERING COMMUNITY SERVICE TO THE ELDERY • Imaging community or neighborhood responses to emergency • Emergency e-alet system • Shorten time of response of emergency services GENERAL ISSUE

How use Communauty and socialbound for improving public services?

STEP 3 | MAKING RECEPTION SERVICE USER FRIENDLY

STEP 2 | PUBLIC TRANSPORT RESPONDING OF THE USERS NEED • Integratings IT’s in bus and personal transpotation (GPS, WIFI, Schedule...) GENERAL ISSUE

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

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

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

STEP 4 | FACILITATING ACCES TO THE PATIENT DATABASES

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

How to find the good balance between confindentiality, security and usability in public services?

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

Stakholders map + AGREE STRATEGY

DISAGREE STRATEGY

> Mostly and Previous > Identify people & groups for proximity community awareness > Enlist support of municipal or village connect for people face to face approach

> Identifying face views and address for creating reassurance > Share feasibility studies > Explain cost benefit and other advantages

+ senior citizens

Neighbours

Emergency services trade unions

Police Doctor politician

politician

Beneficiaries telecom service providers ++ STRONGLY AGREE STRATEGY

-STRONGLY STRATEGY

> Communicate transparently on project > Advert how to use and benefit multimedia > Use of media > How a positive chance of life

> 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

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

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 Manchester 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 mainstreamed 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 exploration 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 provide 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 collaboration. Service ‘experience’ is as important as ‘service’ itself. Integration of more technology-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-established 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).

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

The opportunities are vast: technology would enable faster, more targeted service delivery, open up more direct feedback and communication channels, create greater productivity 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 delivery 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 methods. 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 possesses 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 framework 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.

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