Prime Minister Salam Fayyad Personally Congratulates Centers of Excellence Members

Since 2008, The Kaizen Company has played a leading role in implementing the Centers of Excellence (COE) program in five Palestinian ministries as part of the USAID-funded Palestinian Authority Capacity Enhancement Project (PACE). On October 10, 2011, this three-year effort culminated in a graduation ceremony where Prime Minister Salam Fayyad personally handed out certificates to 35 participants from the Ministry of Public Works and Housing. During the ceremony, Prime Minister Fayyad congratulated the participants on their efforts to increase internal transparency and accountability as well as improve the effectiveness of government service provision.

Furthermore, he reaffirmed his commitment to pursuing a culture of excellence in all Palestinian Authority (PA) institutions, stating: “the Centers of Excellence program is extremely valuable for PA institutions to achieve high levels of performance by civil servants and improved service delivery to the public.” He also added, “the improvement in service delivery and the expansion of the culture of excellence within PA institutions demonstrates the very commitment of our own government in providing the best possible services we can.”

Throughout the project, Kaizen provided direct technical advice and guidance to support the implementation of the COE methodology as a framework, facilitating self-assessments that led to a series of reform visions and capacity development plans from each ministry team. With the support of Kaizen, all five ministries have approved sustainability plans and have begun accepting new team member applications for the second full COE cycle scheduled to be launched at the end of October 2011.

These initial signs clearly demonstrate that participants are excited about the new channels and institutions made available to them through the COE program. This newly-found enthusiasm was also reflected by the commitments made by senior ministry leaders to continue supporting a culture of excellence and improving government services throughout the West Bank, even after this project ends.