40 trained in customer care

In an effort to foster economic development, Rwanda Development Board (RDB) embarked on upgrading skills of the trainers in customer care to evaluate the level of customer satisfaction in their respective institutions.

Friday, June 22, 2012
Training to improve service delivery. The New Times file

In an effort to foster economic development, Rwanda Development Board (RDB) embarked on upgrading skills of the trainers in customer care to evaluate the level of customer satisfaction in their respective institutions.The two day customer care training, which ended yesterday, is part of a series of initiatives of the "Na Yombi” campaign, which was launched by improve the quality of services across all sectors in the country.RDB’s Head of Department for Human Capital and Institutional Development, Apollo Munanura, said that; "While RDB has been training and providing orientation to various groups about customer care, this new training is designed to equip trainers with knowledge and skills to address the root causes of poor or indifferent customer service, specifically in timeliness, communication and problem solving.”The training, according to RDB, is designed to cover the foundations of good customer service as well as critical pillars of customer care including timeliness, problem solving and communication. It comes when a 2010 research by Boston based consulting firm, On The Frontier Group, revealed that customer expectations in Rwanda were minimal or in some instances never met.The 40 trainers who are being trained are drawn from 18 organisations including the Private Sector Federation, Rwanda Tourism University College, School of Finance and Banking, Rwanda Association of Customer Care Professionals, Mount Kenya University, Akilah Institute, Adventist University, Rwanda Utility and Regulatory Authority, among others.  Yves Ngenzi, the manager of the Customer Care Unit at the RDB said that; "These trainers will now become resources for their institutions in all matters pertaining to customer care by conducting formal and regular training of customer facing staff. They will also be encouraged to mentor selected employees to transfer the right attitude and skills in customer care.”The training also seeks to encourage trainees to provide skills and technical assistance to organisations which might seek to benefit from their services. Trainers are expected to prepare training and skills transfer plan to ensure that the knowledge they have acquired is transmitted to as many of their colleagues as possible and that best practices in customer care are disseminated as widely as possible.