The Botswana Capital Puts Its 'Response Time' Promises Where Everyone Can See
When you invoice the city of Gaborone, your check will go out within 10 days.
When you report a problem like a pothole on a road, it will be fixed within 24 hours.
If you walk into a city facility, you’ll be served within 2 hours.
When you let the government know that you’ve retired or lost your job, you’ll have your “terminal benefits” within 3 months.
Such responses may seem slow or fast or somewhere in between. But in Gaborone, the Botswanan capital, these promises are promised publicly, and in a manner that can’t be missed.
They appear on a 10-foot-tall sign right in front of the Civic Center, where all citizens can see them. The sign is visible across the street, from the city’s main mall.
I’ve encountered such promises in individual city offices all over the world. But I’ve never seen all the city response times laid out together, and so prominently.
