People participation key to better public services

[webfact]

People participation key to better public services

By The Nation

 

 

Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) senior research fellow Dr Kannika Thampanishvong/Photo credit:TDRI

 

If the officialdom is the interface between the government and the populace, its archaic system urgently needs an overhaul.

 

Comparing the Thai bureaucracy to the human-computer interface system, Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) senior research fellow Dr Kannika Thampanishvong said the officialdom is the obsolete 1.0 version, unable to meet user needs, and ridden with inefficiency.

 

“Because the interface is out of date, the public services are difficult to access and unresponsive to people’s needs and demands,” she said. “Because the interface is obsolete, it cannot harness people’s creativity or mobilise resources from different sectors to improve system performance.”

 

From the top-down 1.0 interface mode, the bureaucracy must switch to the bottom-up 5.0 version to make the system responsive and user-friendly, she said.

 

People’s participation is the key to better public services, Dr Kannika Thampanishvong and TDRI senior researcher Tippatrai Saelawong stated at the 2020 TDRI annual conference on, “The Interface of Thai State and People’s Participation”.

 

At present, the state public participation process mostly merely aims to inform or ask for opinions about the de facto state projects. The participation process fails to give well-rounded and easy-to-understand information to the public and often uses  highly technical jargon that ordinary citizens cannot comprehend.

 

“The public hearing process is often ceremonial, while some groups of people affected by the projects are excluded,” she added.

If the government wants to improve public services, it must treat the citizens as equal stakeholders, allowing them to work shoulder-to-shoulder in planning, deciding, and carrying out the projects.

 

“The government must also support the citizens to initiate projects and deliver public services themselves, switching its roles from an implementer to a facilitator.”

 

Some public services are adapting under this direction, she said, citing community outreach services for bed-ridden patients and other innovative projects to handle waste recycling, corruption and education reform.

 

According to the research by the TDRI, two decades from now, there will be nearly one million homebound or bed-ridden elders in Thailand. Preparing for the challenges ahead, local administrative organisations are teaming up with local hospitals and community health volunteers to provide outreach services to the homebound, bed-ridden elderly in their areas.

 

Yet these efforts are only possible in communities with strong local governments, partnership with health teams, and budgetary support, she pointed out.

 

Another interface innovation is the collaboration between the private sector and civil society on waste recycling.

 

At present, the government focuses on campaigns to raise awareness on the sorting of household plastic waste, but people don’t know what to do after that. To answer their needs, a group of businesses are working with civic groups to set up drop-off points and collect the plastic waste to recycling factories.

 

The project has increased the amount of plastic for recycling by 2,268 kilograms and reduced the greenhouse gas emissions by 5,262kg of carbon dioxide equivalent.

 

The top-down education with uniform policy unresponsive to local concerns is also a grave problem facing the country, said TDRI senior researcher Tippatrai Saelawong.

 

Due to centralisation, local schools have no say in school management and design of curriculum. Insufficient state funding also makes them lag behind city schools while local groups have not yet got organised to address the problem.

 

To overcome the obstacles, the Education Sandbox has been established. It allows some schools to design their curriculum to answer local needs and work with civic groups on teacher training, teaching media development, and quality assessment. Meanwhile, the local governments are coordinating with central education authorities to give these schools legal breathing room to experiment with their innovations.

 

Another noteworthy innovation against corruption is the Integrity Pact (IP) project by the Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand (ACT), he said.

 

Aiming to make government procurement transparent, ACT sends volunteer senior engineers to monitor the government’s mega-construction projects with permission from concerned state agencies for ACT to observe and audit government procurement processes. The Comptroller-General’s Department, meanwhile, acts as their coordinator and project funder.

 

According to TDRI’s calculation, IP helped the government save at least Bt51 billion, or 14 per cent of the total budget of 62 mega-projects during the past five years.

 

“These efforts show that upgrading the interface of the bureaucracy is possible, that people’s participation can significantly improve the quality of public services,” he said.

 

To scale up these policy innovations effectively, the government needs to unlock the rigid rules and regulations that prevent change, said  Tippatrai. The government must also be the facilitator providing change-makers with financial and infrastructural support, and useful data.

 

“Importantly, the officials must not hijack the innovative projects initiated by the private sector and civic groups and claim them as their own work because it would undermine trust,” he said. “Instead they should see civic groups as equal partners for input and innovations.”

 

An efficient interface addresses people’s problems, Kannika said. The system must also be dynamic, responsive to new demands, open to public input and innovations for more efficiency, she added.  

 

“The government must understand people’s needs to design and deliver better public services. The government must then listen to the people.”

 

Soure: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30396647

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-10-23

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

[Flying Saucage]

A very sensible and intelligent analysis of Dr. Kannika.

 

The problem with bureaucracy is, however, that it is similar to cancer always growing and almost impossible to get rid of. Bureaucracy protects itself and permanently creates more bureaucrazy.

 

Good luck Khun Kannika, but I am pessimistic about reducing it. Especially in Thailand.

 

And keep in mind that it is the powers that be in Thailand who deliberately use the overboarding bureaucracy as a powerful tool to avoid any participation of the people, and to keep the power on decisions in the hands of a few members of the establishment.

Edited October 23, 2020 by Flying Saucage

[JusticeGB]

Sadly Uncle Tu is an ex soldier and used to giving orders and never listening to his soldiers (now constituents). The Senate is packed by people who support Uncle Tu so the wonderful aspirations of the above article will never be achievable in Thailand. 

[Pedrogaz]

One might add that none of the apps they develop actually work.

[Burma Bill]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

People participation key to better public services

Great idea, but oh dear, the Thai Civil Servants in their military style uniforms will not be "happy bunnies"!

 

[hotchilli]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Comparing the Thai bureaucracy to the human-computer interface system, Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) senior research fellow Dr Kannika Thampanishvong said the officialdom is the obsolete 1.0 version, unable to meet user needs, and ridden with inefficiency.

Hallelujah, I'll keep praying for change, just a few more dinosaurs and faces to retire.

[scorecard]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

People participation key to better public services

By The Nation

 

 

Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) senior research fellow Dr Kannika Thampanishvong/Photo credit:TDRI

 

If the officialdom is the interface between the government and the populace, its archaic system urgently needs an overhaul.

 

Comparing the Thai bureaucracy to the human-computer interface system, Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) senior research fellow Dr Kannika Thampanishvong said the officialdom is the obsolete 1.0 version, unable to meet user needs, and ridden with inefficiency.

 

“Because the interface is out of date, the public services are difficult to access and unresponsive to people’s needs and demands,” she said. “Because the interface is obsolete, it cannot harness people’s creativity or mobilise resources from different sectors to improve system performance.”

 

From the top-down 1.0 interface mode, the bureaucracy must switch to the bottom-up 5.0 version to make the system responsive and user-friendly, she said.

 

People’s participation is the key to better public services, Dr Kannika Thampanishvong and TDRI senior researcher Tippatrai Saelawong stated at the 2020 TDRI annual conference on, “The Interface of Thai State and People’s Participation”.

 

At present, the state public participation process mostly merely aims to inform or ask for opinions about the de facto state projects. The participation process fails to give well-rounded and easy-to-understand information to the public and often uses  highly technical jargon that ordinary citizens cannot comprehend.

 

“The public hearing process is often ceremonial, while some groups of people affected by the projects are excluded,” she added.

If the government wants to improve public services, it must treat the citizens as equal stakeholders, allowing them to work shoulder-to-shoulder in planning, deciding, and carrying out the projects.

 

“The government must also support the citizens to initiate projects and deliver public services themselves, switching its roles from an implementer to a facilitator.”

 

Some public services are adapting under this direction, she said, citing community outreach services for bed-ridden patients and other innovative projects to handle waste recycling, corruption and education reform.

 

According to the research by the TDRI, two decades from now, there will be nearly one million homebound or bed-ridden elders in Thailand. Preparing for the challenges ahead, local administrative organisations are teaming up with local hospitals and community health volunteers to provide outreach services to the homebound, bed-ridden elderly in their areas.

 

Yet these efforts are only possible in communities with strong local governments, partnership with health teams, and budgetary support, she pointed out.

 

Another interface innovation is the collaboration between the private sector and civil society on waste recycling.

 

At present, the government focuses on campaigns to raise awareness on the sorting of household plastic waste, but people don’t know what to do after that. To answer their needs, a group of businesses are working with civic groups to set up drop-off points and collect the plastic waste to recycling factories.

 

The project has increased the amount of plastic for recycling by 2,268 kilograms and reduced the greenhouse gas emissions by 5,262kg of carbon dioxide equivalent.

 

The top-down education with uniform policy unresponsive to local concerns is also a grave problem facing the country, said TDRI senior researcher Tippatrai Saelawong.

 

Due to centralisation, local schools have no say in school management and design of curriculum. Insufficient state funding also makes them lag behind city schools while local groups have not yet got organised to address the problem.

 

To overcome the obstacles, the Education Sandbox has been established. It allows some schools to design their curriculum to answer local needs and work with civic groups on teacher training, teaching media development, and quality assessment. Meanwhile, the local governments are coordinating with central education authorities to give these schools legal breathing room to experiment with their innovations.

 

Another noteworthy innovation against corruption is the Integrity Pact (IP) project by the Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand (ACT), he said.

 

Aiming to make government procurement transparent, ACT sends volunteer senior engineers to monitor the government’s mega-construction projects with permission from concerned state agencies for ACT to observe and audit government procurement processes. The Comptroller-General’s Department, meanwhile, acts as their coordinator and project funder.

 

According to TDRI’s calculation, IP helped the government save at least Bt51 billion, or 14 per cent of the total budget of 62 mega-projects during the past five years.

 

“These efforts show that upgrading the interface of the bureaucracy is possible, that people’s participation can significantly improve the quality of public services,” he said.

 

To scale up these policy innovations effectively, the government needs to unlock the rigid rules and regulations that prevent change, said  Tippatrai. The government must also be the facilitator providing change-makers with financial and infrastructural support, and useful data.

 

“Importantly, the officials must not hijack the innovative projects initiated by the private sector and civic groups and claim them as their own work because it would undermine trust,” he said. “Instead they should see civic groups as equal partners for input and innovations.”

 

An efficient interface addresses people’s problems, Kannika said. The system must also be dynamic, responsive to new demands, open to public input and innovations for more efficiency, she added.  

 

“The government must understand people’s needs to design and deliver better public services. The government must then listen to the people.”

 

Soure: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30396647

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-10-23

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Quote  "If the government wants to improve public services, it must treat the citizens as equal stakeholders, allowing them to work shoulder-to-shoulder in planning, deciding, and carrying out the projects."

 

This comment from the good doctor (who I have met several times and respect) is actually a very good and very brave point.

[mikebell]

It'll never work.  All bureaucratic jobs are awarded not earned so there is a sense of entitlement from the senior officers.  Considering the little people AKA the customer is beneath them.

[yellowboat]

On 10/23/2020 at 10:30 AM, webfact said:

“Because the interface is out of date,......."

What an understatement.  The interface is ancient and totalitarian now.  Why do the kids know so much more than the adults?    When there is no punishment for coup leaders, this is what you get.  Read somewhere K-Pop is showing support for Thailand's disenfranchised youth.