People-centred public services

Background

Estonia’s Top Civil Service Excellence Centre recruits and trains civil servants for senior roles in government. The centre is part of the Estonian Government Office, which alongside a number of other government ministries was becoming increasingly interested in the contribution service design could make to their work. As interest grew, the Government Office decided an introductory programme was needed.

The Estonian Design Centre was asked to create this service design training course. The programme aimed to teach the basic principles of service design, but rather than use theoretical exercises, it led participants through the redesign of three real public services.

The programme needed to overcome the initial resistance and doubts of some civil servants about the value of service design to their work. So a key aim of the workshops was to show how meeting the changing needs of Estonian citizens, while remaining cost-efficient, required public services to become more people-centred, attractive and innovative.