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Capacity building for the City of Skopje’s public administration

Capacity building for the City of Skopje’s public administration

Overview

Between 2017 and 2021 SmartUp, through SkopjeLab, ran workshops, trainings and online modules for staff of the City of Skopje administration and its partners, mainly other municipalities and public enterprises. Topics included human-centred design, design thinking for project proposals, digital research methods and everyday digital tools. The lab's report records more than 150 participants, and SmartUp also prepared the City's first innovation framework.

The programme was designed with the City's management and in continuous contact with its administration. Its aim was to give staff concepts, methods and tools to improve work processes, shorten service delivery times, prepare projects and move to digital working. The training was hands-on and used the City's own work: human-centred design workshops, six of them held within other projects, project proposals, citizen questionnaires and everyday digital tools. SmartUp also made guides and video modules so that the knowledge stays in the administration.

The challenge

A need for continuous learning in the administration

An analysis quoted in the framework found a need for a learning system and continuous capacity building, especially for preparing and managing projects. SkopjeLab's own summary adds financial instruments, public-private partnerships, citizen engagement and policy design.

Different roles need different skills

Staff in direct contact with citizens know the problems best, so they needed a place in the design of services. Training had to reach units as different as the Citizens' Information Centre and the Inspectorate.

Digitalisation and the pandemic

Accelerated digitalisation and the pandemic created a need for self-paced training on common tools, so that the administration could work better in times of pandemic.

Activities and methods

A mix of classroom workshops, applied project work and self-paced online material.

  • Capacity building & learning. Workshops on human-centred design for public service innovation, design thinking for project proposals, and research design and digital research methods. Nine human-centred design workshops (three in the programme and six within other City projects) gave 25 employees the basics of the method. Systems thinking is listed among the subjects covered.
  • Capacity building & learning. Introductory workshops on digital tools: Typeform, Canva and digital storytelling (three two-day workshops in 2019), and sessions on Freshdesk, Google Drive/Docs/Excel, StoryMaps and Mailchimp for staff of individual units.
  • Capacity building & learning. Four video trainings with guides (advanced Excel, advanced Word, SurveyMonkey, Zoom), made in August-September 2020 and published as self-paced online modules in June 2021.
  • Capacity building & learning. On 24-25 July 2017, City employees took part in a two-day training in flying a drone with a thermal camera and analysing thermal images, held with the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering (FINKI), the first in a planned series.
  • Research, insight & strategy. The City's first innovation framework (2019): process, service and policy innovation, with a 7-phase innovation process and methods for each phase, prepared by the SkopjeLab coordinator with UNDP expert support.
  • Co-creation & innovation processes. Learning mixed with practice: in a two-day design thinking workshop, participants developed project concepts of their own, and human-centred design workshops took place inside other City projects.
  • Pilots, implementation & scaling. Trained Inspectorate employees on the Freshdesk tool (two days, 16-17 October 2019) and gave technical support afterwards.

Impact and learning

More than 150 employees, according to the lab's report. The summary report states more than 150 public administration employees in 2017-2021. The trainings listed in the report add up to about 160 places, including 60 Inspectorate staff trained on Freshdesk in October 2019 (see Inspectorate: communication tool); some people attended more than one.

Innovation framework. The City's first innovation framework (18 pages, 2019) was prepared by SkopjeLab's coordinator with UNDP expert support and in cooperation with the City administration. It is non-prescriptive and meant to be developed as the City learns. It also explains systems innovation.

Online modules. Four video modules with guides (advanced Word, advanced Excel, SurveyMonkey, Zoom) for self-paced use with only an internet connection.

Project concepts from a training. In a two-day design thinking workshop, 17 participants developed three project concepts: landfill management, hydro power plants on the City's water pipes, and partnerships on air pollution.

Learning. A hands-on, creative and multisectoral approach can be very effective, especially when it creates spaces for collaboration and learning. Staff who deal with citizens should be part of designing services.

Outputs

Innovation framework of the City of Skopje (Macedonian, 18 pages)

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Online IT tool trainings for public administration (Macedonian)

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Capacity building workshop, December 2019 (Macedonian)

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