'Public Organization of the Year® 2015’ winners

FAMIFED, VDAB, RTBF, VISIT.BRUSSELS, IMOG and Police Zone Mons-Quévy are the six winners of the second edition of ‘Public Organization of the Year®’

Special mention by the jury goes to FAMIFED

EY, in partnership with De Tijd/L'Echo and BNP Paribas Fortis awarded the honors of ‘Public Organization of the Year®’ 2015, in the presence of Prime Minister Charles Michel, Ministers-Presidents Rudy Demotte, Paul Magnette & Rudi Vervoort, Minister of Defence charged with Civil Service Affairs Steven Vandeput, and Vice-Minister-President of the Flemish Government Hilde Crevits. The ‘Public Organization of the Year®’ awards honor the public organizations and institutions that distinguish themselves in the areas of strategy, customer service, efficacy, efficiency and sustainability.

The Federal Agency for Child Benefits FAMIFED, responsible for the payment and management of child benefits, received the award for ‘Federal Public Organization of the Year 2015’ from the Minister of Defense charged with Civil Service Affairs Steven Vandeput. FAMIFED also received a special mention from the jury for its efficient organization within a complex administration and for motivating its employees with whom the organization maintains very open and honest communication. FAMIFED received this award from Prime Minister Charles Michel.

The Flemish service for employment and vocational training VDAB received the award for ‘Regional Public Organization of the Year 2015 - Flanders’ from Vice-Minister-President of the Flemish Government Hilde Crevits. The VDAB helps citizens in their career development, with special attention given to those from disadvantaged groups.

Ministers-presidents of the French Community Government and the Walloon Regional Government, Rudy Demotte and Paul Magnette, presented the award for ‘Public Organization of the Year 2015 – category Walloon Region and Wallonia-Brussels Federation’ to Belgian French-speaking television broadcaster RTBF.

The award for ‘Public Organization of the Year 2015 – Brussels’ was presented by Minister-President of the Brussels Capital Region Rudi Vervoort to VISIT.BRUSSELS, the communication agency of the Brussels Capital-Region.

Finally, the intermunicipal agency for public health IMOG, responsible for the integrated waste treatment of 11 municipalities in South-West Flanders and police zone Mons-Quévy, the inter-police zone of the municipalities Mons and Quévy, received the ‘Local Public Organization of the Year 2015’ award for Flanders and Wallonia respectively from Yvan De Cock, Head of Corporate & Public Bank Belgium at BNP Paribas Fortis.

An award for successful Belgian public organizations

EY and its partners, De Tijd/L’Echo and BNP Paribas Fortis, initiated the ‘Public Organization of the Year®’ awards in 2014 to honor public organizations that distinguish themselves in the areas of strategy, customer service, efficacy, efficiency and sustainability. EY places the initiative in the context of the trend toward a more customer-oriented, effective and efficient government in service of its citizens. With this award, the initiators aim to contribute to a better appreciation and recognition of effective and innovative initiatives by public organizations, institutions and services that benefit citizens and companies.

The ‘Public Organization of the Year®’ awards demonstrate that public organizations, like private companies, are able to develop an efficient model and strategy to offer citizens customer-oriented services. Like ‘Onderneming van het Jaar®’/ ‘Entreprise de l’Année®’, these prizes reward public organizations that distinguished themselves in their service domain and in their management. With these special awards, we wish to express our appreciation and support to these organizations. All nominees provide excellent services on a daily basis to citizens and to society. Thus it is only right that we regard them as an essential impetus for the Belgian economy, says Rudi Braes, Managing Partner EY Belgium.

Jury President and President of the FEB Michèle Sioen explained the choices for the winners:

These organizations are not driven by profit, but are essential levers for growth and prosperity in our country. With ‘Public Organization of the Year’, we in the business world hope to express our appreciation for well-functioning public services. The prize-winning organizations have an exemplary function and must serve as encouragement for all public organizations that strive for customer-centered services. These organizations are an incentive for all public organizations to work on a dynamic of continuous improvement.

The choices of the jury explained: Six awards for six high-performing public organizations

The Federal agency for child benefits FAMIFED: ‘Federal Public Organization of the Year 2015’

As an organization under the authority of six different ministers which receives 300 children on a daily basis to care for and achieves a customer satisfaction level of 95 percent, FAMIFED deserves the federal jury prize. Its management was commended for their transparent and proactive approach. Thanks to a sophisticated change in their management process FAMIFED is already fully ready for the impending regionalization of the child benefit services. They maintain a future-oriented vision as one of the first inter-regional institutions in Belgium. The commitment and flexibility of its workforce was also praised. Its employees must deal with major changes in their organization as well as uncertainty concerning their own future. This award is a recognition and inspiration for those employees who must work in both a difficult and uncertain situation.

Special mention of the jury

The jury chose FAMIFED as Public Organization of the Year 2015 as it wanted to communicate a specific message. FAMIFED received this recognition for its approach to the 6th state reform. The organization shows that it is possible to develop an efficient public organization in a very complex country. State reform was used as a trigger to reform and improve, instead of the organization resting on its laurels. The uncertainty of the organization’s future increased the admiration of the jury for the proactivity and motivational power with which it effectively manages the complex payment of child benefits. The jury therefore decided that FAMIFED is an example for all public organizations facing change in the coming years.

Contact FAMIFED: Tania Dekens (Administrator-General) – [email protected] – 02 237 20 02 – www.famifed.be

VDAB & RTBF: ‘Regional Public Organizations of the Year 2015’

VDAB – ‘Regional Public Organization of the Year 2015 – Flanders’

Nowhere is the efficiency and strategy of a public organization of so much importance than in fulfilling one of the basic needs in our society: the right to work. Central to the VDAB vision is leadership. Each staff member is trained to become a leader who directs job seekers to take matters into their own hands in the competitive struggle for work. The fact that the entire organization is permeated with leadership is largely thanks to its managing director, who combines vision and commitment in successfully reconciling the social and economic missions of his department. Because of this, the VDAB is now also exporting its approach to other countries which is far from evident for a culture-specific matter such as work. That makes the VDAB one of the strongest public organizations in this country.

Contact VDAB: Fons Leroy (Managing Director) – [email protected];[email protected] – 02 506 15 34

RTBF – ‘Public Organization of the Year 2015 – category Walloon Region and Wallonia-Brussels Federation’

The media world is constantly evolving and creating new challenges for its players. The way the RTBF has been able to adapt its cumbersome structure inherited from the past, to the new challenges in this changing world, convinced the jury. The French-language public broadcaster has long since lost its (quasi) monopoly status. The RTBF succeeded in introducing a new management method since 2002. The public broadcaster has also added more variety to its programing, including integration of the internet and social media, which has enhanced its anchoring in the community. Moreover, the RTBF has had to implement three drastic austerity plans, resulting in a reduction of 30% of its workforce over the last 10 years. Yet the broadcasting organization always remained within budget. While earnings (before taxes) were zero in 2004, in 2014 this amounted to €25 million.

Contact RTBF: Jean-Paul Philippot (Administrator-General) – [email protected] – 02 737 34 18

VISIT.BRUSSELS – ‘Public Organization of the Year 2015 – Brussels’

The figures this department is able to present are impressive. Our capital attracts seven million visitors each year, 700,000 of whom pass through the offices of VISIT.BRUSSELS. In terms of events, sales, marketing, research as well as attracting tourists it plays a distinct role in the capital and therefore the entire country. By focusing on specific themes with strong market potential such as comic strips and gastronomy, thereby cooperating with the relevant sector organizations, VISIT.BRUSSELS has developed an efficient model to better place the Capital of Europe on the map.

Contact VISIT.BRUSSELS: Patrick Bontinck (CEO) – [email protected] – 02 549 50 90

IMOG & Police Zone Mons-Quévy: ‘Local Public Organizations of the Year 2015’

IMOG – ‘Local Public Organization of the Year 2015 – Flanders’

This intermunicipal waste association has become a reference in the field of waste prevention, collection and processing. The organization is also flourishing internationally, among others by tackling the entire waste management chain, with particular attention to prevention. The fact that it invested in external benchmarking was also appreciated by the jury. Hence in recent years it was able to make significant progress with respect to efficiency, sustainability and strategy. IMOG also demonstrates that innovation is not exclusive to the private sector with which it collaborates intensively.

Contact IMOG: Koen Delie (Director External Affairs) – [email protected] – 056 71 61 17

Police Zone Mons-Quévy – ‘Local Public Organization of the Year 2015 – Wallonia’

Police services are not always placed on a pedestal. In the case of the police zone Mons-Quévy, this is highly deserved. The Mons police zone consider it important to have everyone involved in the security strategy, and has therefore developed partnerships at several levels: with local authorities, retailers, private security companies (in the areas of social media monitoring, camera surveillance, etc.), with the French anti-riot police CRS (considering the proximity of the French border) and of course with the citizens, thanks to a 24/7 service for taking emergency phone calls. Furthermore, citizens have direct access to neighborhood officers via mobile phone. As part of Mons 2015, the police zone recruited 60 new officers. Moreover, the low level of resignations testifies to the satisfaction of personnel with this strategy. Despite the imposition of budgetary restrictions for the last 15 years, the police zone has managed to operate at a profit for three consecutive years, contributing to balancing the city's budget.

Contact Zone de Police Mons-Quévy: Marc Garin (Vice-president) – [email protected] – 0475 69 27 07

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Saar Bentein Senior Consultant, Citigate
Saar Bentein Senior Consultant, Citigate
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