Putting power to good use
Benchmarking was developed originally as a means of sizing up competition, but its potential for use in the public sector became evident soon afterward.
A World Bank-funded study, carried out by the REC in 2006-2007, demonstrated that benchmarking is a powerful tool that can prove incredibly useful to environment-related organisations, ministries, inspectorates and institutes. The aforementioned project (Strengthening Environment Institutions in South East Europe) produced some of the first benchmarking guidelines, and progress monitoring will also soon be available within the project.
There are two main types of this new practice. The first is called 'process benchmarking' and the second is 'performance benchmarking,' both of which can be applied successfully in Central and Eastern Europe, said the REC's Mihail Dimovski, manager of the project.
"The former compares identical processes in two or more organisations, or different units within one organisation," Dimovski explained. "Performance benchmarking is where performances are compared, rather than processes."
Assessing environmental capacity, as well as monitoring regular progress reporting related to levels of transposition and implementation of key EU legislation, are important obligations for both EU member states and EU candidate countries. This is why benchmarking is an excellent instrument to put to use during the EU accession process, according to the project manager.
"Benchmarking involves collecting data, comparing best practices, and exchanging experiences, all of which are particularly useful for monitoring and assessing environmental capacity," said Dimovski. "Benchmarking also provides a systematic approach for establishing proper progress monitoring of approximation, which the EU requires."
