The Estonian Team ended their 10 days (02 – 12 December 2017) visit to Uganda with a call for public institutions to embrace the concept of one stop centre in order to improve service delivery.
A one stop centre is a concept where services to clients about a public entity are provided right at a designated place without necessarily going from one office to another as the case pertains today in many Uganda Public Institutions.
Kalle Sepp, a project expert and head of delegation said that based on observations in all public entities during the assessment of the progress of the implementation of one stop service centres there were indications of progress and being on track.
Kalle, while interacting with Ministry of Public Service Officials at the one stop service centre at the Ministry Head Quarters rightly observed that the One Stop Centre concept was the way to go if service delivery was to benefit clients who normally travel long distances to access information and get satisfaction right from the front desk point.
While in Kasese Municipality, the mission was impressed by the leaders and technical staff for putting in place structures and ensuring that what they saw in Estonia was being practically implemented and was taking shape in the municipality.
Kasese Municipality has twined with Tax Registration Education Partnership (TREP) to provide services to clients within and outside the municipality.
While in Jinja and Entebbe municipality, it was observed that over 80% of information sought by clients relates to the Mayor’s Office. This then points to the fact that there is need for the leadership to provide information about their programmes and designate responsible officers to provide information to the public
It was resolved during the meeting with the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Public Service that support be given to all targeted Public institutions including Ministry of Public Service to undertake training in customer care and job shadowing which are key skills/factors for the successful implementation of the One Stop Centres.
Kasese Municipality was commended for their efforts in establishing the one stop centre through their twinning up with Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and Uganda Registration services Bureau (URSB). It was suggested that the Ministry of Public Service Leadership pays a visit to Kasese municipality with a view of sensitizing the public on the One Stop Centre and also involve the media to create awareness of the centres and promote their activities.
It was noted that there was a need to standardize signage at the One Stop Centres and this would include logos, uniforms and general set up and outlook.
The Estonian Mission to Uganda is hinged on the MoU signed between the Government of Uganda represented by Ministry of Public Service and the Tallinn Development and Training Centre (Republic of Estonia). The collaboration is intended to support the establishment and development of the One Stop Centres in Uganda modelled on the city of Tallinn, for service delivery improvement.