United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

Before the development work commenced, the Municipality of Piteå had started a steering and guidance process, which in principle was based on economic terminology. Citizens’ views, possibilities of insight, influence and effect were limited. Politicians had relatively limited insight into the results achieved by various activities as regards quality measurements and as regards the views of the citizens on the various activities.

The development work involved the municipality’s control system being developed with a well-functioning steering process, in which various components of the municipality’s annual planning were synchronised with one another. Over a number of years, the focus has been on getting the various processes of external analysis, goal formulation, follow up and financial prioritisations into one (1) interconnected process. At the same time, work has been carried out to achieve joint structures in those documents (activity plan, budgets, monthly closing of the books, interim closing of the books and annual report) which are included in the planning process.

The work has concentrated on four separate components
- finding methods for steering and guidance which connect finance with quality, to provide answers as to what the residents of the municipality get for their tax money, and thus give politicians a good decision-making bases prior to making prioritisations.
- that decision-making bases shall provide answers as to whether the municipality has Good Financial Housekeeping, in which resources are used efficiently and give the citizens good value for their tax money.
- to develop the dialogue between citizens in order to promote openness and insight, and receptiveness of politicians and civil servants to the needs of various groups of citizens.
- that results from various surveys shall be used in activity development of the various activities.

The work has led to strengthening the political level, and a developed dialogue with citizens in order that their views may be one of the bases for budget work, thus all citizens in Piteå influencing the work.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
In development work, there are many factors which interact in order that the work shall have an effect. The Municipality of Piteå has identified five progress factors which have been important in the work of developing a model for the steering and guidance. Process development is difficult to measure, and Piteå chooses to report factors and attitudes which show a breakthrough. A key factor is that vision, strategic areas and goals are formulated from the point of view of the citizen. Interest and understanding in steering through goals and taking advantage of results from various surveys has increased with politicians because the perspective of the citizen has been put in focus. The vision is concise “Piteå – makes you feel like home”, and easy to learn and remember. In order to achieve broad participation and joint responsibility, the meetings which are held continually between committee chairmen and administration heads have been important. They have involved committees and boards taking joint responsibility for results and quality, both as regards a holistic perspective and for their own activities. The general administrative work group, which is working with a joint annual wheel and joint structure in steering documents, has also been of importance in obtaining a breakthrough in administrative routines. All expectations have been adapted by the administration to the joint structure of the planning process and documents. Development of dialogue with citizens and more information to the residents of Piteå have promoted insight and participation in the activities of the municipality. All results are presented openly, both on the municipality’s website and in an information newspaper to all households. The views of citizens are measured in various surveys and in structured dialogue. Surveys have enabled resources to be allocated on the basis of a more comprehensive decision-making basis. The views of citizens have been of importance and have affected prioritisations in the budget. The committees receive information continuously on the results of various follow ups and dialogues with the citizens. The committees are responsible, together with the administration heads, for the results leading to activity development and giving effect to what the residents of Piteå get for their tax money. There is still some development potential here. All this has meant that politicians get a good decision-making base for being able to prioritise how resources shall be allocated between different activities. The Municipal Council receives a document annually, which summarises the results of surveys carried out during the previous year. The work means that those groups that the politicians wish to prioritise; children and young people, old people and weak groups in the community, can be allocated more resources as required. In the 2009 budget, extra funds have been allocated for such things as personnel input in care of the disabled and elderly, funds for provision support, funds for meeting places and public transport as desired by young people. The reports of the auditors show that the committees and boards are satisfied with the new steering and guidance process.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The goal of a revised steering model is that the will of the politicians shall permeate all activities, and it was jointly initiated by leading politicians and civil servants. The work started with a series of conferences, in which the chairmen of political committees and boards, together with administration heads, met and discussed steering and guidance. A two-level model was produced. One level covers all activities with joint vision, strategic areas and general municipal goals. A level in which the general goals are broken down into activity-specific goals. Vision and strategic areas were worked out subsequently by the Municipal Board and a work group, with representatives of various political parties, and adopted by the Municipal Council. The joint meetings between chairmen and head civil servants occur regularly four to five times a year, and constitute a steering group for the ongoing work. The municipality’s administration head group leads the ongoing work. The finance head and finance office have the assignment of leading a general management working group in the daily work. All administrations have a representative in the working group, and these, together with the respective administration heads, are responsible for passing out information to all work managers in the organisation. Information is provided continuously to decision-making committees and boards, work head meetings and work place meetings. The leadership is an important prerequisite for the steering and guidance process functioning in all activities. All leaders have the assignment of activities being conducted according to vision, strategic areas and goals, which the municipality set from the perspective of the citizen, and conducting a dialogue with customers and citizens. The views of citizens shall have an effect on the ongoing development of activities. To coordinate the work, a municipal strategist has been employed, with the assignment of producing a quality measure for activities, analysis of results, participation in networks with other municipalities, and developing dialogue with citizens. The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) manages the network in which Piteå participates together with other municipalities, which constitutes the basis of being able to compare the municipality’s quality measures with those of other municipalities. Piteå’s municipal commissioner was one of those taking the initiative for the network, which aims to measure basic values, such as accessibility, a safe place to live and settle, participation, cost efficiency and social structure. The work started with five municipal commissioners who met to discuss various questions that politicians often encounter from citizens. The politicians were interested in gaining a limited number of measurements which could be used in citizen dialogue. The work of the Municipality of Piteå in developing its steering model has succeeded in creating a broad participation of politicians, leading civil servants and work managers. An important factor in creating broad participation has been the motor that the finance manager, municipal strategist and general administration working group have created.

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
One initiative from leading politicians and civil servants was to develop the municipality’s steering and guidance model, which has led to the municipality now being guided through vision, strategic areas and goals. The general municipal goal was worked out in the preparation of the budget, and respective committees subsequently propose goals for the activity level. Politicians formulate goals from the perspective of the citizen, the goals are decided upon by the Municipal Council. For each goal, there is a key ratio/quality measure, which follows development. Step two involved developing quality measures which answer goal fulfilment, and give citizens information about what they get for their tax money. The measures are made through local measurements to follow developments over time, comparisons with others and through statistics in databases. Every second year, a citizen questionnaire is made out, which measures satisfaction with the region, specific activities and opportunities for influence. The municipality participates in regional and national networks to develop key ratios and comparisons with others. Fostering important “values” for citizens within all activities is important. To be able to inform citizens about how the municipality has succeeded in this work, Piteå participates in “The quality of your municipality in brief” network, which focuses on producing measurements of “values”, Accessibility, A safe place to live and settle, Participation, Efficiency and Social Structure. The measurements function as a basis for politicians’ dialogue with citizens. During the past year, dialogue with citizens has been developed, and incorporated in a steering and management process. The dialogues contain four perspectives, Information, Consultation, Participation and Influence. Information on what citizens get for their tax money is on the municipality’s website on the Results and Quality page, and via the municipality’s information newspaper “Worth knowing about your municipality” to all households, and during 2008 was increased by two issues per year. In it are presented results from surveys and how the views of citizens have affected prioritisations in the budget. Consultation is through the municipality approaching citizens on particular issues through customer and citizen questionnaires, consultations, study circles and Citizen Panels. Development of dialogue for young people has been in progress since the end of 2007 through the opening each year of Young people in Piteå think - this being a page on the municipality’s website where young people can leave their opinions - Young people in Piteå project and Young people in Piteå scrutinise, which are methods for giving young people the opportunity of being advisory at an early stage of an issue. Participation by citizens occurs, for example, through their providing views to the municipality which function as a basis for future decisions, handling of complaints and Citizens Proposals. In order to reach all citizens, Piteå has developed the dialogue with young people, and through councils which approach various groups, for example, councils of retired people, school councils, rural policy councils, councils of the disabled or councils in which associations or business people participate.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
Vision, strategic areas and goals were formulated from the point of view of the citizen. The vision is brief and easy to remember. Interest and understanding in steering through goals and adopting results from various surveys has increased with politicians through the service which citizens receive being put in focus. Broad participation of politicians and civil servants so that it has been possible to develop joint responsibility, both in respect of the holistic perspective and the individual activity. Joint structures in documents which are connected to the municipal planning process have facilitated understanding and comparison between various activities in the complex prioritisations that politicians make in the municipal budget work. It has been possible to adapt and implement administrative routines in all administrations. Participation in networks with other municipalities has led to opportunities of comparing quality measures in various activities with other municipalities. The committees have received information continuously on the results of the follow-ups, and together with the administration heads, are responsible for the results being used in activities, and in the long term leading to development of activities. In order to be able to assess quality from a holistic perspective, measures have been developed for important “values”, which cross over all activities together with Accessibility, A safe place to live and settle, Participation, Efficiency and Social Structure. Work is conducted in the network together with other municipalities under the heading “The quality of your municipality in brief”. Citizen dialogue as part of the steering and planning process is a key factor in giving citizens’ views importance in the prioritisations which are made annually in the budget. Through development of citizen dialogue, the insight and participation of Piteå’s residents has been promoted. Development of dialogue for young people and with young people has been important for the perspective of young people being included in the planning of social structure, and also in fulfilling the intentions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. All results, both the good results and the results which show the need for development are presented openly on the municipality’s website and in the information newspaper which all households receive three times a year. Measures have meant that resources can be allocated on the basis of an improved decision-making basis. The views of citizens have been of importance and have influenced prioritisations in the budget. All this together has meant that politicians received good decision-making bases for being able to prioritise how resources shall be allocated between various activities. The work involves groups that politicians want to prioritise, children and young people, elderly people and weak social groups being allocated more resources as required. In the 2009 budget, extra funds have been allocated for such things as extra personnel for care of disabled and elderly people, funds for provision support and funds for meeting places and public transport in accordance with the wishes of young people.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
In a large organisation with several thousands of employees in hundreds of different work groups, information, establishment and participation are a major hindrance for successful development work. Another hindrance is reaching out with results from various surveys to affected employees, so that the results become of importance in the future development of activities. The Municipality of Piteå has, through joint work and joint responsibility between leading politicians and civil servants, succeeded in creating legitimacy for ongoing work. Work is continually ongoing for all activities to be able to know about and understand the steering model. The goals shall be known to everybody. Employees and politicians leave and new ones come, which means that information must be continually ongoing. The steering and management process has been worked into the internal work through such things as information in the personnel newspaper, introduction training, the Heads Forum, work leader meetings, in planning processes through goal formulation and follow-up at committee level. Work in making all results from the various surveys visible in one place and easily accessible, both for employees and citizens, is ongoing. Work is still ongoing to work in all personnel so that planning processes and activity developments in all units and work groups have their starting point in the results which are obtained in various surveys of citizens. In the external work, vision, strategic areas and goal formulations have been marketed together with the results that various surveys have shown. In the external work, Piteå considers that three measures have been especially successful in reaching out with information. - Results and quality, a page on the municipality’s website, where information on results from evaluations and questionnaires are continually presented, together with investments in the budget and how the views of citizens have affected prioritisations. - The municipality’s information newspaper “Worth knowing about your municipality” to all households in the municipality, which was increased from one to three issues per year during the course of the work.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
The development work has been carried out with existing resources. In all the development work, the extra time involved in the introduction and working out of methods and methods of working is regained. The Municipality of Piteå considers that the development work is included as normal work assignments for the employees; methods and working methods must be continually developed in order for activities to be developed. The structure of meetings has changed in order to reach broad participation. All administrations each have a representative in the general municipal work group. The work group consists of 13 persons who meet for about half a day every third week. The representatives are appointed by the respective administration head. In total, this is equal to about a 40% of one person’s working hours. In order to coordinate the work, a municipal strategist has been employed (within the existing framework) in a 100% position within the financial office, with the main assignment of working with quality measurements of the various activities, analysis of results, participating in networks with various municipalities, and in developing dialogue with citizens. Recruitment was carried out internally. Work in networks together with other municipalities involves, over and above working time, the cost of air travel and hotels in connection with network meetings. The costs are paid within the existing budget, and amount to a total of SEK 100,000 per year. The cost of expanding the information newspaper to all households by two issues per year has occurred within the existing budget, and costs about SEK 100,000 per year. The increased amount of information on the municipality’s website falls within the framework of normal work assignments of information employees and web administrators. Methods and working methods have been developed and are continually developed; work groups especially involved in this work consist of economists, evaluators, activity developers, work managers and heads.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The development work has been conducted continuously with progressive changes in normal work and administrative routines, which means that the work is sustained and will continue to change and be refined for many years to come. Politicians, civil servants and citizens have gained new knowledge and learned new routines and working methods which will continue. Those documents which are included in the municipality’s planning process have been adapted to the new steering model. The influence and participation of citizens is a very important prerequisite for the democratic system that the public sector in Sweden constitutes, and will continually need to be developed. The Municipality of Piteå has been nationally recognised for its work with steering and guidance. Representatives of the municipality have participated in a number of national conferences as lecturers. The Municipality of Piteå has also participated as lecturer in The 5th Quality Conference in Europe which commenced in Paris under the theme of citizen dialogue in 2008. The municipality’s quality strategist is working as required on assignments for the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR). The Municipality of Piteå is also receiving study visits from other municipalities and participates upon request in internal conferences in other municipalities. In Sweden, a number of nationwide surveys are being carried out within various activities, and the country’s municipalities are being ranked in accordance with the results presented in various surveys. In these surveys, Piteå is most often in the upper half of the ranking, and sometimes among the top 100 municipalities. As regards the municipality’s economy, various institutions have put the municipality among the top ten in the country. The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) has carried out an evaluation in accordance with the Municipal Compass method of the municipality’s guidance and leadership. The results show that Piteå is among the ten best of the municipalities which participated in the survey. The Municipality of Piteå has applied to become Sweden’s quality municipality in 2009. The names of the three to five municipalities to be nominated will be announced at the end of March.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The politicians have set the vision, strategic areas and goals which are known in the activities, and all activities are working in the same direction. Methods for steering and guidance which connect finance with quality give the answers as to what the residents of the municipality get for their tax money, and thus give politicians good decision-making bases of prior to prioritisations. The Municipality of Piteå can give the answer as to whether the municipality is conducting Good Financial Housekeeping, in which tax money is utilised efficiently in order to give the citizens good service, on the basis of political prioritisations. The municipality exists for the citizens; clear influence and insight into the municipal activities are important prerequisites for achieving legitimacy. Citizen dialogue has been developed through various methods, and the municipality’s results are presented on the website and in various publications. Through these, openness and insight are created, making it possible for citizens to follow results and the political decisions and prioritisations that they lead to. The views of citizens have been of importance when politicians have prioritised resources in budget work. The work of the Municipality of Piteå has led to strengthening the political level and a developed dialogue with citizens has been developed in order that their views may be one of the bases of the budget work. In the 2009 budget, extra funds have been allocated for such things as extra personnel for the care of disabled and elderly people, funds for provision support, funds for meeting places and public transport in accordance with the wishes of young people. Broad participation during the development work has meant that it has been possible to implement new ways of working and methods and adapt to administrative routines in normal work in all administrations. The documents which are included in the municipality’s planning process have been adapted to the new steering model. The most important methods that Piteå would like to present are; - Goals have been formulated from the point of view of the citizen - Dialogue with citizens has been developed as part of the steering and planning process - Especial focus on developing citizen dialogue for young people and with young people - Work in finding measurements of important “values”, which is of importance for being able to assess quality from a holistic perspective, for citizens, through participation in “The quality of your municipality in brief”.


Institution Name:		City of Piteå
Institution Type:		Public Organization
Contact Person:		Anna-Lena Pogulis
Title:		Municipal Strategist
Telephone/ Fax:		+46911-696257
Institution's / Project's Website:
E-mail:		anna-lena.pogulis@ek.pitea.se
Address:		City of Piteå, Svartuddsvägen 1
Postal Code:		94185
City:		Piteå
State/Province:		The region of Norrbotten
Country:		Sweden

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information