Citizens’ Charter needed to promote transparency, good governance – Canadian High Commissioner

Apr 24, 2012 News

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Most organizations, and in particular those that serve the public interest should welcome the opportunity to develop and implement a Citizens’ Charter, according to High Commissioner of Canada, David Devine.
This was disclosed at a Citizens’ Charter-Good Governance and Business workshop hosted by Transparency Institute Guyana Inc on Friday at Moray House on Camp and Quamina Streets.

At the event was Auditor General (ag) Deodat Sharma, Canadian High Commissioner David Devine, Director of TIGI Chantalle Haynes, members of the diplomatic corps, former Auditor General Dr. Anand Goolsaran and special invitees.
High Commissioner Devine explained that a charter outlines the organization’s commitment to citizens in general, and its clients in particular. It serves to promote right doing, good moral performance, behaviours, attitudes and values by management as well as employees, as they are held to the high standards that the Charter outlines.
He further explained that before undertaking a Citizens’ Charter initiative, an organization should be very clear on why it is developing a charter, what it is seeking to achieve, and how it can establish the prerequisites for implementation.
Adding that Citizens’ Charters are by no means a new phenomenon in the world, Devine said public services are funded by citizens, either directly or indirectly, and they have the right to expect a particular quality of service that is responsive to their needs and that is provided efficiently at a reasonable cost.
“Citizens’ Charters” initiative is a response to the quest for solving the problems which a citizen encounters, day in and day out, while dealing with the organisations providing public services.  This applies to both public and private sector entities.
Both have a responsibility to be accountable and transparent in the delivery of public services,” the High Commissioner noted. “The Citizens’ Charter is a written, voluntary declaration by service providers that highlights the standards of service delivery that they should subscribe to, availability of choice for consumers, avenues for grievance redressal and other related information”.
He underscored that the Citizens’ Charter programme was first launched in 1991 in the U.K. as part of a series of initiatives aimed at enhancing standards of service delivery and making governance more transparent and accountable.
This move influenced several countries such as Belgium, France, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Spain, Portugal, India etc. to adopt similar measures. Canada is also one of the pioneers in establishing a Citizen’s Charter.
However, what the Canadian government first issued, before Service Charters proper, is the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which legally protects the basic rights and freedoms of all citizens. The Canadian Charter lays out citizen responsibilities, freedoms, rights and means to get involved in community activities.
Unlike other Citizens’ Charter, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms includes Responsibilities such as (a) vote in elections, (b) help others in the community, (c) care for and protect Canadian heritage and environment, (d) obey Canada’s laws; (e) express opinions freely while respecting the rights and freedoms of others, (f) eliminate discrimination and injustice. It therefore laid the foundation for all other Citizens’ Charters.
The High Commissioner further explained that the concept of Citizens’ Charter enshrines the trust between the service provider and its users.  The basic objective of the Citizens’ Charter is to empower the citizen in relation to public service delivery.
Six principles of the Citizens’ Charter movement as originally framed, were: (i) Quality: Improving the quality of services; (ii) Choice: Wherever possible; (iii) Standards: Specify what to expect and how to act if standards are not met; (iv) Value: For the taxpayers’ money;    (v) Accountability: Individuals and Organisations; and (vi) Transparency: Rules/ Procedures/ Schemes/Grievances.
He explained that in his opinion the impact of Citizens’ Charters in Canada has been positive. It has certainly strengthened stakeholder involvement, which has contributed to a greater sense of inclusiveness of clients and consumers in the process of improving service delivery in the country. It has on the other hand provided a baseline for organizations to assess and measure their service delivery, always with a view of striving for higher and higher standards.
This has resulted in improved quality of service delivery and standards.  Those entities that have included functional complaints redressal mechanisms have been able to compile analytical data to help them put in place methods and structures that comprehensively deal with complex issues that their clients and customers face.

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