performance indicators

Elizabeth Stair

Ref Batch
A
Focus Area(s)
Ref Batch Number
2
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Maya Gainer
Name
Elizabeth Stair
Interviewee's Position
Chief Executive Officer,
Interviewee's Organization
National Land Agency
Language
English
Town/City
Kingston
Country
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract

In this interview, Elizabeth Stair, chief executive of the National Land Agency in Jamaica, provides an overview of the overhaul of government land management following the merger of four different land-related departments—Land Titles, Estate Management, Land Valuation, and Surveys and Mapping—that resulted in the formation of the agency. She outlines a consultation process that led to improvements in customer service, document rejection rates, and turnaround times. Stair credits the manifold improvements to the agency’s thorough reapplication and interview process for all positions, expanded training and computerization, and security enhancements. Operating units within the agency increased their goal setting and tracking by implementing three-year corporate and business plans that required the achievement of 80% of targets in order to qualify for staff bonuses. The use of the eLandjamaica program and related software slashed the time needed to register titles and the turnaround time for pre-checking surveys, one of the agency’s primary tasks. 

 

Profile

At the time of this interview, Elizabeth Stair was chief executive officer of Jamaica’s National Land Agency. Before that, she served as the commissioner of the lands department as well as the land valuation department simultaneously. A fellow in the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, she also was a member of other local and international professional groups. Stair earned her earned bachelor of science degree in estate management from the Polytechnic of the South Bank, in London.

Full Audio File Size
67 MB
Full Audio Title
Elizabeth Stair Full Interview

Faster Together: A One-Stop Shop for Business Registration in Senegal, 2006–2015

Author
Maya Gainer, Stefanie Chan, and Laura Skoet
Country of Reform
Abstract

In 2007, Senegal opened a Business Creation Support Office that vastly reduced the time required to register a business from two months to 48 hours. Before the creation of the office, foreign investors as well as local entrepreneurs had to deal with six different government agencies, each of which had its own requirements and procedures. The onerous undertaking discouraged business investment, kept significant revenue sources off government tax rolls, and created fertile ground for corruption. In 2006, President Abdoulaye Wade decided to change the situation. Wade assigned the Agency for Investment Promotion and Major Works, or APIX, the task of making it possible to register a business in just two days. A small team from the agency examined the options and decided that a one-stop shop would best meet Senegal’s needs. The model required no legislative changes, and it allowed agencies to retain control over their procedures—while reducing red tape and letting APIX supervise the entire process. APIX leaders worked hard to win the cooperation of institutions and individual agents, and the Business Creation Support Office opened in downtown Dakar in November 2007. The institutions involved in registration sent representatives to work in the office, and APIX staff collected applications, supervised the office, and coordinated gradual improvements in procedures. After the office opened, entrepreneurs could complete the registration process at a single location and be done within 48 hours. By 2016, the office had further reduced the time required to a single day.

Maya Gainer, ISS Research Specialist, and Stefanie Chan and Laura Skoet of Sciences Po’s Paris School of International Affairs drafted this case study based on interviews conducted in Dakar, Senegal, and Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, in January 2016. This case study was funded by the French Development Agency. Case published ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­May 2016.

Una Klapkalne

Ref Batch
E
Focus Area(s)
Ref Batch Number
3
Critical Tasks
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Yoni Friedman
Name
Una Klapkalne
Interviewee's Position
Chief Executive Officer
Interviewee's Organization
National News Agency
Language
English
Town/City
Riga
Country
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract

Una Klapkalne describes the policy formation system and strategic planning implemented during her time at the State Chancellery. She describes the development of a policy formation system based on the production of specific documents. To implement this new system, her team at the Policy Coordination Department trained the ministries and reviewed their documents, as she details in this interview. She describes how the ministries increased the quality of their policy planning documents as they adapted to the new system. She also details how the department persuaded the ministries to support their changes. The team incorporated a new annotation system in to the policy formation process, which she says was to help administrators understand the cost each policy. In addition to explaining the policy formation system, Klapkalne discusses the process of ex-ante impact assessments and ex-post evaluations and the strategic planning system the team put in place. The team also increased cross-sectoral coordination, which she explains happened through the department’s mediation and by doing some harmonization at a lower level instead of the ministerial level. Klapkalne discusses how this change reduced the workload and meeting time for the cabinet officials.     

Case Study: Moving Beyond Central Planning: Crafting a Modern Policy Management System, Latvia, 2000-2006

Profile

Una Klapkalne was the Chief Executive Officer of the National News Agency, a position she had held since 2006. Until that point, she had been the head of the Policy Coordination Department at the State Chancellery. She joined the department in 2000. She started working in the administration immediately upon graduating, working her way up from an economic consultant to the deputy director of the state Civil Service Administration. From there she moved to the Ministry of Defense, where she served as the deputy state secretary. When the state secretary left for a year, she became the acting state secretary. She served as an advisor to the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior before joining the Policy Coordination Department.  She holds a Master of Business Administration from the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga and a Bachelor’s of the Arts in Economics from the University of Latvia. Additionally, she has earned certificates from the National Administration School of France in Management Effectiveness and from the Adam Smith Institute.   

Full Audio File Size
68 MB
Full Audio Title
Una Klapkalne - Full Interview