Abstract:
Following the political renewal process in 2001, the government of Ethiopia gave high priority and moved quickly to prepare them for customer service reform program in full scale implementation across federal, regional and lower level of Ethiopia government. However, nowadays there is a gap between what customers expect as well as what the principle of service provision and what in reality in Enewari town municipality or what the municipality provides practically. Therefore, the main objective of the study is to assess service delivery practices and level of customer satisfaction at Enewari town municipality found in Moretina Jiru Woreda of Noth Shoa Zone of the ANRS.
The study is descriptive and explanatory approach. And target populations of the study were mainly customers and employees of Enewari Town municipality. In the town there exist a total of six sites or ketenes. However, for the purpose of this study, three sample Sites (Ketenas) were selected purposively, the reason was that, these three sites constitutes a relatively large number of customers as compared to the rest sites and taking more than this sites could be unmanageable by the researcher. The total household customers of the municipality were, 425, out of which 85(20%) of customers and 10 employees were selected using simple random sampling technique. In addition, 10 interviewees and 14 FGD participants were selected using purposive sampling method. Therefore, a total of 119 key participants were actively engaged in conducting this study. Taking the above objective in mind, the study used both primary and secondary data sources to get consolidated data so as to reach on concrete findings. As far as the data collection tools are concerned, questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and field observation were employed to gather the primary data. In addition, secondary data have also been collected from different literature, websites and Enewari town quarterly, semi-annually and annual progress reports, concerning service delivery practices and level of customer satisfaction in the study area. Finally, the collected data was analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively.
The study found that different factors affect the smooth implementations of public service delivery in the study area which, in turn, adversely affects customer satisfactions, as a result customers of the municipal office have noticeable discontentment due to the prevalence of different factors. Among others, the existence of poor service conditions such as lack of awareness on service deliv ery standards, shortage of budget; inadequate training opportunities; and lack of empowerment of employees are the key challenges that affects the issue under discussion. In addition, lack of cooperation and coordination between the municipality and the woreda administration and with other concerned stakeholders, low application of employee motivations; and lack of motivated and skilled man power, lack of appropriate complain handling procedure, lack of responsiveness, accountability and transparency are also the other factors which directly or indirectly affects the effectiveness of service delivery and customer satisfaction in the study area. Moreover, absence of community representatives‘ participation, in planning, implementation, evaluation and decisionmaking are the main problems mentioned by customers. Hence, the issue needs urgent attention by the municipality as well as by all concerned government and non- governmental stakeholders in order to improve the existing low status of service delivery and level of customer satisfaction at Enewari town municipality. Based on the findings of the study, some alternative recommendations are forwarded at the end. Generally, the study is very essential in different dimension. Among others, it provides information and awareness for local communities, officials at both the local, regional and national levels, as well as for policy makers who are interested to understand and improve the current status of service delivery and customer satisfaction in the study area in particular and across the country in general.