Citizen Satisfaction Index on Health, Education & Social Welfare Services of a Small Town in the Philippines

Abstract

Customer satisfaction surveying has been steadily gaining ground in the area of governance because it proved to be an important method of collecting data for governance evaluation and local policy analysis. This study: (a) assessed citizen’s satisfaction along health, education and social welfare programs of a local government in a small town in the Philippines; and (b) analyzed the results based on current literatures on public administration. It used a tool called Citizen Satisfaction Index (CSI) developed by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) of the Government of the Philippines, which was a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. The key results  were  anchored  on  awareness,  availment,  satisfaction  and  need  for  action. Among  the three programs studied, the highest satisfaction was on support to education while the highest on need for action was on social welfare. For each program, the action grid was continued emphasis which suggested that the quality of service delivery of the whole program may be good but there was still a need to take action on specific aspects. Based on existing literatures, it may be recommended that efforts of DILG which are directed toward assessing citizen satisfaction should render due consideration on the following important aspects: (a) differences in profile and characteristics of citizens selected to assess public services; (b) differences in citizen’s expectations; and (c) differences in nature and characteristics of the services being assessed.