Case Study

The Ministry of Interior in Peru set up an Office for Institutional Integrity to improve trust in government, with an emphasis on corruption. Surveys had shown that citizens believed the police force in Peru was among the most corrupt of all public institutions in the country.

Worse still, Peruvians perceived that there were no consequences to this corruption and that police officers could act with impunity. At the time, investigations into corruption in the police service had been taking 40 days on average. A legal statute stipulates that investigations have to be presented to the prosecutors within 30 days, so investigations were being timed out, the work wasted and progress lost.

The Office was given a more proactive remit with new personnel, skills and experience and an emphasis on delivering change. The team broke down the delivery chain to understand the roles involved in the investigations and the challenges and delays at every level. It turned out that it was not the investigation itself that was adding the extra hours and days, but the systems and processes around it.

One of the key inefficiencies identified was the outsourcing of printing, which both added days to the process and affected the chain of custody. The team invested in higher capacity printers and cut many days from the process.

By making changes in each step of the process, the team reduced the average time of investigations by 50%. After the reforms, 100% of new investigations were finalised within the legally required timeline.

Case Study

In New South Wales (NSW), Australia’s most populous state, the Premier outlined twelve priority areas for the Government in 2015. Alongside goals for job creation, improved education results, housing construction and infrastructure investment, there is one dedicated to ‘Improving Government Services’.

As part of this priority, the NSW Government has publicly committed to improving customer satisfaction with key services. One of the many ways they incorporate this input into service delivery design is through an annual Customer Satisfaction Measurement Survey that captures feedback from citizens and businesses on 23 different Government services.

This “customer-first approach” is epitomised by the ‘Service NSW’ portal – a single point for more than 850 different government transactions.

One result of the feedback from citizens was the launch of a cost of living advisory service in August 2018. The service aims to help citizens access more than 70 rebates and savings and has so far seen over 22,000 customers through the face-to-face appointments, with customers saving an average of over $500.

Case Study

In the UK, the Government has announced it will be implementing a Public Value Framework to improve the delivery of public services.

The UK Treasury recognised the perennial challenge of assessing, measuring and improving government productivity. The Public Value Framework was therefore developed as a tool to define and assess how public money is being spent to deliver real results for citizens. It also addresses deeper and more systemic issues, including the internal culture around spending.

As is the case in many countries, the traditional relationship between spending departments and the fiscal centre in the UK has been characterised by a focus on negotiating inputs rather than outcomes. Ministers tend to be judged positively for negotiating a large budget and headcount for their department, and money rarely returned. There was little reward for innovation or spending less.

The Framework does not recommend less scrutiny on the inputs, but a more rounded definition of public value that emphasises medium term goals, legitimacy with taxpayers and the engagement of end users. It also highlights the importance of stewardship - the idea that public servants should leave institutions better than they found them.

After a successful pilot, all UK Government departments will now report their performance against the Framework in their departmental plans, and it will be a key factor in budget allocations during the Treasury’s Spending Reviews.

Case Study

Officials from the city of Asunción (Paraguay) used to call it a “city without numbers". There had been no census for fifteen years and budget allocation decisions were made following historical patterns rather than current data on the make-up and needs of the population.

Without that insight and information, particularly on vulnerable citizens like the elderly, people with disabilities and visible minorities, the government did not know how many people needed services, what type of services were needed, or how to improve service delivery.

Driven by the goal of "making the invisible citizens visible", the municipality is now piloting a participatory model to identify citizens' needs and demands. Specifically, they are prioritising data use to ensure the most vulnerable citizens have access to the city's social protection system.

To facilitate this, they have interviewed 10,000 citizens and collected relevant data on vulnerable populations. This has included a lot of work to identify communities that are largely undocumented and living in slum housing in risk zones often affected by floods.

With a combination of engagement and solid data, City Hall will identify the most vulnerable individuals and match them with relevant support programs. In the coming years, this new approach is expected to improve social inclusion and the value of public investment.

A similar story is unfolding in the city of Estación Central (Chile).

Chile experienced a 232% increase in immigration between 2014 and 2017 – among the largest in the region. Estación Central has the third largest immigrant population in its greater metropolitan area, with immigrants representing one in five of its 150,000 residents. These new immigrants are often at the margins of economic and educational opportunities.

To address this challenge, the municipality is taking a proactive approach and prioritizing citizen engagement and integration. The RedGlocal project is run by the City’s Agency for Entrepreneurship, is supported by an advisory group of local Universities, and focuses on providing a customized one-stop-shop for migrants.

New services have been established to connect migrants to job opportunities, including skills and training options, advice on accessing the local labour market and the development of a one-year acceleration program for foreign entrepreneurs who want to start new businesses.

The early results are promising. Between January and May 2019, seventy immigrants were matched with job opportunities, and twenty-five entrepreneurs are receiving legal and business support to launch or expand their small ventures. The city now has ambitious plans to scale up service to immigrant groups and set an example for diversity and inclusion in the region.

The innovation and efforts of both Estación Central and Asunción were recognised by Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge - the yearlong competition that challenges city leaders to uncover and test bold, inventive ideas to confront the toughest problems faced by cities today. Both cities were finalists in the 2016 Mayors Challenge and received a grant to continue their work.

Case Study

In South Africa, the Gauteng Provincial Government has committed to reforming housing policy in the region, addressing some of the longterm impacts of apartheid-era legislation on land and home ownership.

There is a province-wide housing shortage and a desire to improve integration and spatial inequality. Homes had previously been delivered in silos and in small numbers across many different locations, often located far away from employment opportunities and infrastructure.

To address this complex policy area, the provincial government has put in place several large-scale programmes. This includes releasing provincial land and buildings for the development of homes, as well as investment in affordable housing in new mass housing developments across the province.

As part of this work, there has been a specific drive to provide Title Deeds to those who have received housing but were not given the legal rights associated with it. This focuses on transferring ownership of properties to tenants who had been previously been denied property ownership, as well as providing housing to those who had been forcefully removed from their property before 1994.

It has been a long and complicated process to address historic injustices and has required involvement from the whole system - from national government and planning departments through to the Mayors, municipalities and provincial government.

To specifically address the backlog in Title Deeds, the Government introduced structured and routine problem-solving sessions with a variety of stakeholders to identify blockages and implement solutions that would facilitate quick wins. As a result of the stakeholders working together, internal issues around signatories and certificates were resolved and the team started working with conveyancers to fast track issues around power of attorney at various municipality offices throughout the region.

The Government has also made a point of visibly and regularly delivering title deeds to community members – helping to drive implementation while actively engaging the communities affected. This included ‘Title Deed Friday,’ where the Premier, David Makhura, personally visited communities to hand out thousands of title deeds during the last quarter of 2018.

As a result of these interventions, the backlog has started to decline and progress is being made towards the target.

Case Study

In the Bahamas, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis is driving an ambitious transformation project in Over-the-Hill, a residential district in the capital city of Nassau. Once a thriving community, the socio-economic health of the area has slowly declined and it is now one of the poorest regions in the country with the highest crime rate. The district suffers from dilapidated community facilities and insufficient housing, lack of basic infrastructure including sewerage and plumbing, a high prevalence of gang-related violence and widespread unemployment.

In 2014, Dr. Minnis outlined a vision to improve the Over-the-Hill community and restore it to its "golden age”. As a former resident of the area, it was a key part of his manifesto during the election and it became one of the Prime Minister’s six key Priorities when he was elected in 2017.

The Over-the-Hill Community Development Partnership Initiative was officially launched in May 2018 and the Government has committed $5 million per annum from the national budget to fund it. The project, and its progress, is managed and monitored by the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit.

Built around six key pillars, the long-term regeneration project looks at a wide range of initiatives from the restoration of parks, employment of new police officers and the installation of sanitation and water connections through to Wi-Fi installation and tax breaks for businesses.

A project of this scope requires buy-in and focus from a number of different government departments and stakeholders. To ensure that this happens, the Prime Minister is both the public and private face of the project. He has attended community meetings, raised financial support from the private sector, and made numerous domestic and international speeches on the importance of the project.

Regular stocktake meetings on progress cover every element of the project and are chaired by the Prime Minister himself. He owns the detail and delivery as much as he owns the vision and ambition.

Just one year into implementation, the project has already shown some early progress: two parks have been renovated, the construction of the largest new park is 80% complete, and crime rates have gone down in the zone.

Case Study

Recognising that cities account for more than 70% of global carbon emissions, the Bloomberg American Cities Climate Challenge was formed with an investment of $70 million to enhance the work already being done by mayors across the U.S. and support cities in their efforts to tackle climate change.

The project supports the work of 25 American cities and is purposefully structured as an accelerated two-year project with a 2020 target date to encourage urgency, pace and immediate implementation. It encourages focus by taking the global ambition to city level and supporting practical and innovative schemes in two of the sectors with the highest sources of emissions: buildings and transport.

The 25 winning cities were chosen for their innovative, results-focused and high-impact plans that not only reduce emissions but also improve the lives of citizens through investments in public health, economic development, and quality of life.

These inlcude:

Albuquerque - will develop a solar energy field to service the City of Albuquerque government operations and work towards 100% energy use from renewable resources by 2030.

Honolulu - plans include opening the first 10 miles of a 21 mile automated electric rail transit system in Honolulu, creating an emission-free transportation zone along one of the state’s most congested highway corridors, and increasing bike share, micromobility, and electric bus connections along the route.

Saint Paul - investment in 35 electric vehicle charging hubs, with the aim to bring 90% of residents within a 10-minute walk of 4 humanpowered, electric, or low-carbon mobility options by 2025.

Cincinnati - installation of a large-scale renewable generation to power municipal operations.

Chicago - will provide updated training to all building inspectors to better enforce the energy code and are redesigning certain intersections and pinch points for high priority bus corridors.

Case Study

In New South Wales, the Premier has identified ‘Keeping our environment clean’ as one of the key priorities. Litter was having a harmful impact on waterways and ecosystems and citizen feedback highlighted it as a key concern, with research showing 90 per cent of NSW residents thought it was an important issue facing the state.

The Premier set an ambitious target to reduce litter volumes by 40% by 2020 - an achievable but ambitious goal.

One of the programs the Government introduced to help achieve that target is the 'Return and Earn' container deposit scheme. Through the scheme, citizens are able to return drink containers at hundreds of sites across the state and collect a 10-cent refund per container.

Within its first year of operation, 1 billion eligible beverage containers were collected through 'Return and Earn', with 90 per cent of users saying they would use it again and 81 per cent indicating they would recommend it to others.

The latest 2017-18 data shows that NSW is well on track to achieve the Premier’s target with the volume of litter in the environment down 37 per cent since 2013-14.

Similarly, in Durham North Carolina, the city has received a $1 million grant from the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ U.S. Mayors Challenge for their innovative idea to use behavioural change and incentive schemes to shift attitudes towards driving.

The funds will be used over the next three years to try to reduce downtown solo driving by five per cent across the city population. Durham’s aim is to alleviate an immediate issue of parking capacity, but it will also have wider environmental and social impacts – in particular, reducing congestion and emissions and improving air quality

City leaders have prioritised understanding the underlying behaviours of commuters and the motivating factors for change, as well as the support and information needed to shift choices. By working with the Centre for Advanced Hindsight, a behavioural economics research institute from Duke University, the team are testing a range of ways to motivate commuters away from single occupancy vehicles. These include a lottery to win a prize for catching the bus into the city, carpooling solutions, varying parking pricing structures and personalised trip planning.

During the pilot, the team saw a 19% increase in people reporting use of an alternative mode of transport at least once in the 5 week study period through combining a personalised route planning tool with a weekly free bus-pass lottery.

Case Study

In Mexico, the city of Guadalajara struggled with a corrupt planning and permitting system. Previously, permits had been given on a discretionary basis for the ownership of land and construction of buildings. This had inevitably led to favouritism, a lack of transparency for citizens and a haphazard approach to economic and urban development.

Guadalajara created a project to overhaul the system and make it completely digital in order to prioritise transparency and engage citizens as watchdogs for the process. . Their idea won the Bloomberg Philanthropies 2016 Mayors Challenge and prize money of $1million to develop the concept.

The new online system not only allows companies to get licenses in a faster, easier and fairer way, but also gives citizens a powerful online tool to check and participate in city development and land-use decisions. The aim of the reform is not only to improve the system but to demonstrate that public interests prevail over private ones.

The city passed a critical reform to enable online licensing and launched its pilot website in September 2017. By December 2018, 60% of land use certificates and 40% of commercial licenses were processed online, with clear targets to increase this further over the next year. Processing times for licensing procedures were dramatically reduced from weeks to minutes, so in addition to citizen engagement and trust improvement, the new system has provided better conditions for businesses to flourish, with far-reaching consequences for economic development and urban development. It is a win-win for government and citizens.

The online platform, Visor Urbano, has earned the country’s national transparency award in recognition of the improvement in citizens’ view of a key government system. Guadalajara’s innovation is now also being replicated and adapted in six other cities across Mexico.

Case Study

Between 2010-2018, the provincial Government of Punjab, Pakistan revolutionised the use of low-cost technology to drive change.

The Punjab Information Technology Board on behalf of the Government introduced a monthly test called the Literacy and Numeracy Drive (LND) - a student assessment to check teaching quality. The challenge was how to collect the test answers from 230,000+ students in schools spread across the region – and to do it impartially and rapidly.

To address this, the LND was designed as a tablet-based test and over 1000 ex-army officers were recruited to collect the data from schools. These field monitors, known as Monitoring and Evaluation Assistants (MEAs), travelled throughout the districts on motorbikes, using tablets to record both the results of the LND test as well as general observations of schools, supported by geo-tagged pictures. As a result, student outcomes were not just tracked but were improved - in April 2017, students were achieving a score of 78%, and by February 2018, this had increased to 90%.

The team also used a variety of different technology interventions to reform the solid waste sector - a key area of concern for health and the environment in Punjab’s cities. To monitor and improve the performance of the private contractors responsible for the sector, all rubbish trucks were fitted with GPS trackers and 13,000 waste containers across the cities were individually geo-tagged. This allowed the central team to check and track movements in real time. Weighbridges, which check the load of the trucks, also started using radio frequency identification to give further insight and real-time data. In addition, the MEA model was replicated, with field monitors randomly visiting public spaces and uploading cleanliness scores using an application on their smartphone.

Learning from the field and iterating the tools was also necessary. Worker attendance had been tracked in waste management facilities through geo-tagged pictures taken on supervisors' smartphone apps. After evidence showed that some people were falsifying records, the team adapted the tracking to use retina scanning.

As a result of these interventions, cleanliness numbers went up by ~8% on average between 2017 and 2018, and citizen satisfaction improved.

Case Study

The Bloomberg Philanthropies American Cities Climate Challenge has a daunting data challenge: how to combine the targets, trajectories and progress of 25 different cities across America in reducing carbon emissions, with monitoring across nearly 200 projects and dozens of data systems.

To solve this problem, the team has designed and established a central dashboard with a simple user interface for both entering data and viewing the results. It provides real-time information about the progress of the project as a whole and detail on implementation in every city.

The dashboard is available to everyone participating on the project, from city staff to mayors and Bloomberg Philanthropies leadership. It serves as the basis for routine dialogue on progress at multiple levels within cities and across them.

How you present your data really matters especially for complex projects and senior leaders who have little time. The right design will make data easy to understand and allow viewers to draw the right insights for decision-making.