Chisinau, Moldova - Providing high-quality service is one of the most effective ways for organizations to instill confidence and build trust with their customers. This is as true for government agencies as it is for large corporations, and quality service should be the objective of every organization.
To help improve the quality of services it provides, the Moldovan Customs Service (MCS) sought the support of the USAID Business Regulatory, Investment, and Trade Environment program to provide communications training to its staff. From May to July 2015, the BRITE program sponsored a training program designed to integrate a "customer service" orientation in Customs officers' day-to-day interactions with customs brokers, importers, exporters, transporters, and the general public.
Seminars on general communications were held for the seven regional customs offices and a range of media communications training sessions were conducted for the authority's top management, subdivision chiefs and the press relations team. The project also included a training-of-trainers component, so that the MCS can repeat the training as needed. In fact, the MCS has decided to include a communications module into the training schedule for all new employees and will repeat the course at its training center on a regular basis.
The customer service training is the latest example of BRITE's support to MCS to improve its communications with economic agents and the general public. With BRITE's support, the MCS has developed an agency-wide communications strategy and action plan. As part of this plan, Customs has developed a new website and has worked with BRITE to raise awareness about new services and procedures, such as electronic declarations. All of these efforts are designed to shift the focus of MCS' communications from controls and sanctions toward services to traders and encouraging voluntary compliance, while implementing risk-based simplified procedures.
MCS expressed their appreciation for the training sessions, noting that they were customized to the activity and the challenges of the MCS, while including valuable practical recommendations and exercises.