Summary

The book responds to a two-sided gap: the public does not yet fully understand what its rights are or how to claim them, while public service providers, for their part, have not fully grasped their role in delivering quality service.

Main contents of the book:

• A basic explanation of what public services are, what the state is obligated to provide, and the legal framework guaranteeing these rights and obligations.
• The public's right to participate at every stage of public service delivery — from planning and implementation through to monitoring and oversight.
• A particular focus on the right to complain — the author highlights that complaint-handling in public service institutions has tended to be treated as an internal need of the service provider (simply as input for improvement), rather than as a right belonging to the public. As a result, citizens have no certainty over whether their complaint is being handled, how the process works, or any guarantee of resolution.
• Practical guidance on how the public can file complaints, along with what an ideal complaint-handling mechanism should look like.
• A closing section featuring examples of public administrative service procedures.

The book is intended as a reference for three audiences: the public (to better understand their rights), public service providers (to understand their role), and civil society organizations working to improve the quality of public services.