KACE announces public service award winners

AMMAN — The King Abdullah II Centre for Excellence (KACE) on Wednesday announced the winners of the fourth cycle of the Excellence in Public Service Award for 2016, in which 45 public agencies and entities in 14 ministries participated.

The announcement came after the meeting of the centre's board of trustees on Tuesday, chaired by HRH Prince Feisal, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

KACE Executive Director Ibrahim Rawabdeh said that the Residency and Borders Department's main headquarters, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Social Security Corporation (SSC) of south Amman, came first with three stars each.

The Central Traffic Department, the Residency and Borders Department's main headquarters, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the National Aid Fund’s departments in east Amman, the Housing and Urban Development Corporation, and Civil Status and Passports Department branches in Marka and Wadi Al Haddadeh have all increased the number of stars they achieved compared to previous years' competitions.

Rawabdeh told Petra that some institutions did change their scores, while noting that the average result, in comparison to last year, had not changed, as some bodies scored lower than previous years.

He noted that there is a lack of planning for improving communication with services beneficiaries, as well as an overemphasis on  institutions’ main branches, which leads to a variation in the quality of services at an institution’s other branches. 

The director said that the average results of  participants is 57 per cent, scoring 73 per cent in the mystery shopping (disguised evaluator) category and 66 per cent in client satisfaction.

Three agencies obtained three stars, 17 received two stars, and 21 received one star, according to Rawabdeh, who added that four received no stars, while no agencies obtained four or five stars.