The partner organizations participating in the Competence project has successfully prepared training materials for the development of customer service skills on 5 topics. The effectiveness of the materials was tested at an international level with the involvement of around 250 local government employees.
The “COMPETENCE – Capacity building Of eMployees of municiPalitiEs for beTtEr provisioN of publiC sErvices” project supported by the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Regional Cooperation was conducted between July 1, 2021 and December 31, 2023.
The goal of the project, which was implemented in the framework of international partnership cooperation, was to improve the quality of public services provided by local governments, to which it contributed by developing two areas. On the one hand, an integrated citizen information platform was introduced, which collects the answers to the most frequently asked questions of clients about municipal services.
On the other hand, the project wanted to contribute to the provision of client-friendly public services and increase the efficiency of public administration through the development of communication, intercultural and problem-solving skills of local government staff. For this purpose, the Czech, Croatian, Romanian, Greek and Hungarian partners, with the help of the Norwegian expert partner, prepared training materials specifically aimed at developing the competence of local government employees.
Based on the curriculum, an international training series started in September 2023 in the countries providing the partner organizations. The aim of testing the trainings was to measure the quality of the training materials and to solicit feedback from both participants and trainers on the effectiveness of the texts and training structures on the following topics:
- Communication, negotiation, conflict-resolution and problem solving
- Civil servants’ attitude towards citizens and integrating citizens’ inputs
- Digital skills, tools and digital literacy
- Citizen information platform
- Applied language (English)
Based on the feedback, the content of the topics was finalized, which can thus be used effectively to achieve the defined training goals. The texts were proofread by Business Coach Ltd.
1. Communication, negotiation, conflict-resolution and problem solving and 2. Civil servants’ attitude towards citizens and integrating citizens’ inputs
The trainings that can be conducted using the materials developed in the topics are suitable for the participants to learn the basics of professional, effective, and assertive communication. As a result, they will be able to analyse conflicts, deal with problematic situations consciously, while being able to put themselves in the clients’ shoes to understand their point of view. Furthermore, they can use appropriate techniques to manage the stress resulting from challenging situations that arise during their work and everyday life.
https://competenceproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1A-Conflict-Analysis.pdf
https://competenceproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1B-Conflict-Resolution.pdf
https://competenceproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1C-Problem-Solving.pdf
https://competenceproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2A-Facilitator-guide-Leadership.pdf
https://competenceproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2B-Facilitator-guide-Civil-Servants.pdf
https://competenceproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2C-Communication-Reminder.pdf
https://competenceproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2D-Inclusice-Models.pdf
3. Digital skills, tools, and digital literacy
The continuous development of digital technologies results in new and flexible ways of working. For municipal employees to make the most of the opportunities and challenges of the online environment, it is essential that they become digitally literate. The trainings held using the materials of this topic are aimed at increasing the digital skills of the employees.
https://competenceproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/3A-Cyber-Security.pdf
https://competenceproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/3B-Microsoft-Word-User-Training.pdf
https://competenceproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/3C-Microsoft-Excel-User-Training.pdf
4. Citizen information platform
Local governments can benefit from the introduction of a modern online information platform that helps clients find out about municipal services. In the first step, it is worth developing to support social services. When preparing the texts for the platform, the local government employees who work in the field and are therefore in daily contact with clients can formulate the answers to the most frequently asked questions in a way that is comprehensible to the public, while maintaining credibility. The communication manual of the platform helps with the design of the online interface.
https://competenceproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/4-Communication-Manual.pdf
5. Applied language (English)
This material introduces an efficient course structure for applied English language aimed mainly but not only to encourage public servants to enhance their language skills, for which it primarily offers grammar aids and useful exercises.
https://competenceproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/5-Applied-language.pdf
To facilitate their use, the topics have been provided with document summaries, which describe the purpose of the given training material, the primary and secondary target audience of the text, and the suggested way of using the content.
The training materials can be freely downloaded from the given links.
We can recommend their use to everyone!
This training material was compiled in partnership within the framework of the COMPETENCE project by
