The UPU kicked off its regional project on the new approach to field support for Posts in East Africa last week in Arusha, Tanzania.
Chief executive officers and their representatives from Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Seychelles, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda and participants from the UPU and the Pan African Postal Union (PAPU) met at the three-day workshop to discuss improvements to quality of service in the East African postal sector.
Following the meeting, postal representatives urged PAPU to sign a cooperation agreement with the UPU to ensure that new programmes aimed at improving quality of service are successfully implemented.
The quality of service project has been piloted in Asia Pacific and Southern Africa. The project aims to provide Posts with field support through regional cooperation and with new, up-to-date technologies covering letterpost, parcels and EMS items.
Along with introducing the participants to quality management in the postal network, the project intends to improve service levels in the region by building up human resources.
Participants also asked the International Bureau, the UPU secretariat based in Berne, to help them modernize postal operations and improve efficiency in developing countries by enhancing awareness and quickly deploying systems developed by the UPU's Postal Technology Centre.
Local Arush official, Raymond Mushi, who attended the opening of the meeting, said this workshop was important to challenge Posts to continuously improve quality of service and compete effectively in the market.
Based on articles by Dick Rayori, communication manager at PAPU