Annual Report 2009 - Asian Productivity Organization

ORGANIZATION
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of success in Asian countries. This could be a source
of best practices and benchmarks. While sharing
the Philippine experience, he said that in the 1980s,
work improvement teams based on the quality circle
concept had been introduced in selected government
agencies. From 1988 to 2001, grand productivity plans
such as President Aquino’s Government Productivity
Program, President Ramos’ National Action Agenda
for Productivity, and President Estrada’s Mediumterm
National Action Agenda for Productivity had
been adopted. Under the Ramos administration, the
Philippine Quality Award was introduced and later
institutionalized. Under the present administration,
the campaign for public-sector productivity had
been intensified. He reported that the National
Competitiveness Council had been formed in 2006 to
oversee the development of a culture of excellence in
government agencies. Similar initiatives such as the
Executive Order to install ISO-certified systems and
performance governance systems using the balanced
scorecard had been taken, and Executive Secretary
Ermita believed that this indicated the Philippines’
commitment to public-sector productivity. He pledged
that the Philippines would continue to set new strategic
directions and close the gaps that existed with the
most competitive countries.
Executive Secretary Eduardo R. Ermita delivering the Keynote
Address
In concluding, Executive Secretary Ermita, on behalf
of the Government of the Philippines, congratulated
all delegates and hoped that they would have a
productive meeting.
Secretary-General’s Statement
APO Secretary-General Shigeo Takenaka first
thanked the Government of the Philippines for
hosting the 50th WSM. He reminded the delegates
that the WSM was expected to accomplish two major
tasks: finalizing the programs for 2010; and reviewing
the proposed priority of APO projects for the 2011
and 2012 biennium, which would serve as a basis for
determining the total membership contributions for
those years by the GBM. Secretary-General Takenaka
pointed out that some modifications had been made
in the 2010 Program Plan and some projects dropped.
Given the persistent appreciation of the yen, he
acknowledged that the Secretariat might be compelled
to make more adjustments, probably knocking off a
few more projects from the list.
The Secretary-General pointed out that projects
for 2011 and 2012 were listed with their priority and
the plan basically reflected efforts to serve member
countries meaningfully. The Secretariat had ranked
projects according to six prioritization criteria:
projects with new topics; projects with new methods
or outreach; projects proposed at the GBM/WSM;
projects supported by the survey results received from
member countries; projects that member countries
were committed to hosting; and projects with training
elements.
The Secretary-General noted that the Secretariat had
assigned priority to projects that member countries
had offered to host as a sign of their commitment to
the APO and to the cause of productivity in the region
as a whole. He pointed out that APO resources were
limited, especially with the constraints resulting from
the global financial crisis continuing to affect member
countries, and he welcomed the steps member countries
had taken to volunteer to host APO projects and
bear all local implementation costs in a genuine spirit
of mutual cooperation. He added that the Secretariat
attached particular importance to training courses
considering their tangible, measurable contributions
and the ratio of project categories had been altered to
address the needs of member countries. Not only had
the number of training courses been increased but also
the quality of projects had been enhanced, including
the development of manuals and the addition of
projects leading to certification.
The Secretary-General then elaborated on the three
focus areas of the APO: 1) the capacity building of
NPOs; 2) taking advantage of new opportunities
provided by IT; and 3) undertaking more projects
that generate visible, measurable impacts. To build
the capacity of NPOs, in recent years the Secretariat
had successfully shifted the majority of its projects to
Categories A and B. The Secretariat had also taken
two new initiatives to bolster Category C projects:
in-country programs for developing productivity
professionals; and two-tiered projects. Three pilot