National strategies for implementing the CAF: dissemination, promotion and assistance within the Italian context European CAF Event “Self-Assessment and Beyond” Rome, 17 November 2003 Speaker: Germano Cipolletta

The organization in charge of the dissemination of the CAF in Italy The Department of Public Administration entrusted Formez for the dissemination of the CAF Formez ( is a technical Agency which: Brings together the Public Administration Department of the Prime Minister's Office and representatives of regional and local administrations Conducts research, training, consulting and technical assistance throughout Italy for central, regional and local administrations within 9 main areas (Modernization and Decentralization, Training, One stop Shop for Public Services to Citizens, Innovation and New Technologies, Access and Simplification and Transparency of Public Administration, Environment, Local Development, Network Services for Information Diffusion, Public Training System Coordination)

Actions to disseminate the CAF in Italy Phase 1 Testing of the CAF in pilot administrations Phase 2 Dissemination of the CAF Phase three Future plans

Phase 1 - Testing of the CAF in pilot administrations Objectives Identification of strengths and weaknesses of the method Evaluation of practical usefulness for the Italian administrations Criteria of selection of pilot administrations Existence of a “quality culture” within the organization, through certifications and/or use of advanced models of TQM Administrations which took part to the testing phase 11 local level 6 provincial level 1 central level

Phase 1 - Testing of the CAF in pilot administrations Activities Brief information on the tool Telephone help line Two numbers and three dedicated persons on Tuesdays and Thursdays from am to pm assistance service 5 days a week Seminar at the end of the application phase, at which representatives of all the pilot administrations participated

Phase 1 - Testing of the CAF in pilot administrations Evaluation The CAF has been unanimously declared: An excellent tool to introduce a “quality culture” within public administrations A good opportunity to conduct a review of the administration, based on the perception of the staff that works within it A valid chance to apply benchmarking procedure both at national and European level

Phase 1 - Testing of the CAF in pilot administrations Output The CAF was published in Italian on EIPA’s website to consent the Italian administrations: To register the results of the application on the European DB To receive the results of their positioning (indexing)

Phase 2 - Dissemination of the CAF Objectives To divulgate the method To assist the administrations in the application process Administrations which applied the CAF: 15 Municipal Administrations 8 Provincial Administrations 7 Schools 1 Ministry 1 Regional Agency

Phase 2 - Dissemination of the CAF Activities (1) 3 seminars held in different geographical areas (North, Central and South of Italy) Objective: to awaken and inform the administrations about the characteristics of the self-assessment process Participants: 261 civil servants from 179 administrations Structure: two work sessions (the first dedicated to the presentation in detail of the tool, the second to the discussion in working groups about the problems regarding the application of the CAF)

Phase 2 - Dissemination of the CAF Activities (2) A volume in Italian about the CAF containing: The guidelines and the assessment form in both Italian and English A synthesis of the experience completed by the 18 pilot administrations The publication of information and documents related to the CAF on the website of the Department of Public Administration “CANTIERI” ( The presentation of the CAF at national seminars and conferences about quality

Phase 2 - Dissemination of the CAF Activities (3) Assistance Provided by the mean of:  A telephone help line open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from am to pm  An service 5 days a week  Specific “in loco” assistance provided by experts With the purpose of:  Clarifying and explaining the definitions and concepts of the assessment form  Giving information regarding ways of involving the top management in the planning process  Providing advice about the approaches to be used to legitimate the work of self-assessment group

Phase 2 - Dissemination of the CAF Activities (4) Use of the CAF for the selection of: The administrations awarded at the Forth Edition of the “Cento Progetti al Servizio dei Cittadini” The Italian cases presented at the 2QC Translation into Italian of the 2002 version of the CAF, presented at the Second European Conference on Quality held in Copenhagen, and its publishing on EIPA´s website for the use of Italian administrations

Phase 2 - Dissemination of the CAF Activities (5) Realization of a study on the CAF, which has been commissioned to EIPA Organization of the European Event on CAF

Phase 3 - Future plans Objectives to be achieved A more diffuse knowledge of CAF at national level An increased number of application cases A more mature use of the instrument by the administrations Activities Assistance by using a dedicated telephone help line, and by other tools, such as web sites and other channels of information Constitution of a network formed by the administration that have applied the CAF Organization of seminars for different targets (central - regional and local administrations) devoted to the organizational change and focused on self-evaluation and planning Other initiatives base on ideas generated by EIPA’s study and the European Event on CAF

Main difficulties encountered during the dissemination process The low number of CAF application is explicable by the following main reasons: The Italian Government has not promoted in a specific way the use of the CAF (i.e. by recommendations or other compulsory rules for public administrations) Preconditions (not yet very diffused among the Italian administrations) for the use of the CAF are: The presence in the administrations of a positive organizational environment A leadership that favors the change The collaboration and the staff involvement The biggest administrations (Regions, Provinces and Ministries) have found difficulties in choosing the implementation method to use and in identifying the self assessment group It is rare an effective use of the results of the self-evaluation in planning and change management