Sevottam: An Introduction

Nayana Renukumar, Centre for Good Governance

WHAT THIS PRESENTATION DOES…
DOES

` Presents
P t the
th backdrop
b kd t the
to th development
d l t off
Sevottam standard
` I
Introduces
d the
h basic
b i modules
d l off Sevottam
S
 GENESIS OF SEVOTTAM
CITIZEN CHARTER PUBLIC GRIEVANCE PUBLIC DELIVERY
REDRESS STANDARDS
` Prepared without ` Not in place in ` Not prescribed or
involvement of many organizations not met
stakeholders
` Grievances not ` Non involvement ,
` No relation with taken as feedback de-motivation and
service deliveryy p
for improvement lack of trainingg of
improvement of services employees at the
cutting edge level
` Information about ` Employees not
charter does not trained for ` Lack of proper
percolate down improvement of planning for
the line,, hence not tasks assigned
g p
optimum resource
implemented utilization
 BACKGROUND TO SEVOTTAM
Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances
(DAR&PG) saw the
th needd to
t develop
d l a standard
t d d in
i order
d tot :
` Align service delivery performance with citizen’s expectations
` Establish a benchmark of quality of service delivery
` Provide
ov incentives
ce t ves to public
pub c service
s v c organizations
o ga at o s to acquire
acqu
and retain the mark
` Enable continuous improvement, performance assessment and
grading of organizations

SEVOTTAM = Seva (Service) + Uttam (Excellent)Æ Excellence in

Service Delivery
SEVOTTAM: KEY FACTS
` It is a mark of excellent quality of a public service
` IIt is a mechanism
h to assess initiatives and
d best
b practices
relating to service delivery
` It represents
p conformance to the Bureau of Indian Standards
(BIS) stipulations officially known as IS 15700:2005
` Inspired by several Western models (Charter Mark – United
Kingdom , Malcolm Baldridge) and ISO 9000
` It is tailor-made for Indian government organizations
` Implementation driven by special DAR&PG team
` ‘India has become the first country to have a published
standard for Public Service Delivery’ (6th Central Pay Commission)
MODULES OF SEVOTTAM
Citizen Charter
` Design and implement a citizen charter, monitor its
implementation, and review it in the light of feedback
received from citizens and employees
Public Grievances
` Develop
D l a mechanism
h i off receiving,
i i resolving
l i and
d preventing
ti
public grievances
Capability for Service Delivery
` Know customers’ and employees’ feedback
` Improve capabilities & resources to match them
INTEGRATED MODEL FOR ASSESSING SERVICE
DELIVERY
Nine “QUALITY of compliance” criteria covering the three areas of (a)
Citizen’s Charters, ((b)) Grievance Redress and ((c)) Service Deliveryy Capability
p y

Module (3) Criteria (3)

Citizen Charter 1 1 Implementation
1.1
1.2 Monitoring
1.3 Review
Public Grievance Redress 2.1 Receipt
2.2 Redress
2 3 Prevention
2.3
Service Delivery Capability 3.1 Customers
3.2 Employers
3.3 Infrastructure

Source : DAR&PG
INTENDED OUTCOMES OF SEVOTTAM
IMPLEMENTATION

IMPROVEMENT IN QUALITY OF PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY

Ci i
Citizen empowerment R d
Redress satisfaction
if i C
Capacity
i enhancement
h

Citizen’s Charter Public Grievance Service Delivery

Redress Capacity

INTEGRATED APPROACH

Source : DAR&PG
SEVOTTAM: PHASES OF IMPLEMENTATION

` Initiation
` Implementation planning
` Implementation action based on self-assessment
` Implementation action based on client feedback
` Completion of Sevottam Certification requirements
 SEVOTTAM IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
S
Source :DAR&PG
DAR&PG Startt
St E d date
End d t
date
A Initiation
• A1 Familiarize key decision makers with Sevottam requirements
• A2 Link Sevottam to current issues
• A3 Establish Sevottam implementation mechanism

B Implementation planning
• B1 Institutionalize Sevottam Progress Discussion Meetings
• B2 External communication

C Initial implementation
p action from self assessment
• C1 Baseline current status on immediate improvement areas
• C2 Initiate improvements

D Implementation action based on customer feedback

• D1 Identify and approve improvement recommendations
• D2 Initiate implementation actions

E Complete Sevottam certification requirements

• E1 Re-baseline service delivery status
• E2 Conduct benefits assessment based on re-baseline status
• E3 Set up continual improvement mechanism
• E4 Undertake certification process
SEVOTTAM: ASSESSMENT – IMPROVEMENT
FRAMEWORK
Source : DAR&PG
Service Delivery
Self-Assessment Format Statement (SDS in
Assessment Annual Report)
Framework Generic Standard Sectoral standards

Feedback
GAP
Monitoring
& Control
Not Successful

Apply for Change Detailed

Successful
Benchmarking Management Gap Analysis
SEVOTTAM ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK
FRAMEWORK-II
Compliance Assessment
` A screening mechanism to filter out organizations that do not
even enter assessment process
Compliant Organizations should have:
` Published and approved a Citizen’s Charter
` Circulated Charter among service delivery units
` Appointed Public Grievance officer & nodal officer for
C
Citizen’s
’ Ch
Charter
` Published grievance redress procedure and timelines
SEVOTTAM ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK-II

Process Quality Assessment

` A rating mechanism to assess the quality of related processes
and its impact in improved service delivery from citizens’
perspective
ti
This is where the 3 modules of Sevottam come into play:
` Citizen charters
` Public Grievance Redress
` Service delivery capability
Not to pass judgment, but to help start with a self-assessment and
b ild capacity
build i for
f service
i delivery
d li
SEVEN STEPS TO SEVOTTAM
` Define all services which a department provides and
identify clients;
` Set standards and norms for each service;
` Develop p capability
p y to meet the set standards;;
` Perform to achieve the standards;
` Monitor pperformance against
g the set standards;
` Evaluate the impact through an independent mechanism
` Continuous improvement based on monitoring and
evaluation results.
LEVELS OF APPLICATION OF FRAMEWORK
Assessment conducted at two levels:
` Parent Level (responsible for making policies)
` Charter design & facilitation for implementation
` Grievance Redress Mechanism Design
` Service Delivery Capability enhancement
` Outlet Level (responsible for implementation)
` Charter Implementation
` Grievance Redress and Prevention
` Direct Service Delivery
SEVOTTAM SUCCESS
Success of SEVOTTAM depends
on…
on

High level Change

commitment Management
Management
Mindset
Political Administrative systems

Implementation
p Stakeholder
of framework involvement
Assessment Government
Criteria Citizens
process staff
 SEVOTTAM MODEL: STRENGTHS

` Citizens’ Perspective-
Citizens Perspective from administration to service
` Emphasis on self assessment leading to improvement
` D
Dynamic
i model
d l
` Greater employee participation
` Encourages attitudinal change in employees
Further reading
` Guidelines for Sevottam Compliance, DAR&PG, June 2010
((http://darpg.nic.in/darpgwebsite_cms/Document/file/Guidelines_Sevottam_Complience_June
p pg pg p J
_2010.pdf)

` Guidelines for designing and implementing Sevottam compliant Citizen’s /

Client’s Charter & Grievance Redress Mechanism byy Central Ministries /
Departments, Performance Management Division, Cabinet Secretariat &
DAR&PG, August 2010
(http://agricoop.nic.in/Sevottam/Sevottam RFD16910.pdf)
(http://agricoop.nic.in/Sevottam/Sevottam_RFD16910.pdf)

` DAR&PG website on Sevottam

(http://darpg.nic.in/)
Thank You