Addresses are essential for countries to run smoothly and for their economies to function properly. That premise formed the basis for a workshop on quality of service, held this week in Monrovia, Liberia.
As a starting point, the five participating countries – Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone – have begun the planning process to develop addressing systems. These English-speaking West African countries all have the goal of setting up a home delivery service in dense urban areas.
After analyzing the situation in each country on the basis of questionnaire results, Patricia Vivas, Addressing Specialist at the UPU International Bureau, has the job of helping the countries move forward with their various addressing projects. “The content and value of a national addressing standard are examined, postcodes analyzed, and administrative and territorial maps for addresses dissected,” she said.
The workshops highlighted the need for standardized and reliable addressing. Postal operators need to be able to process and deliver mail efficiently, and governments must be able to collect taxes, pay out benefits and process fund transfers.
“This is a very useful workshop, since, in a sector with strong international competition, we need proper addressing to develop our business, here in Liberia, but also in the rest of Africa,” said Frederick Norkeh, Liberia’s Minister of Posts and Telecommunications.
With proper addressing, citizenship becomes that much more meaningful: being able to locate people geographically makes it easier to send election ballots, issue ID, provide access to regular administrative services and send bills. The citizen can also become a customer of the Post, since the operator can offer a range of postal services and subscriptions, including direct mail services.