Ministry of Establishment Bangladesh

Role and Effectiveness of Bangladesh Civil Service in

Achieving Millennium Development Goals

Preparatory Assistance on
Developing Civil Service Capacity for the 21st Century Administration
UNDP Bangladesh

September 2006

Dr. Manzoor Alam

International MDG Expert
Public Administration International
London, U.K.
Contents

Executive summary 3

1. Background 4

2. Reforms and Changing Roles of Public Administration 5

2.1 The Changing Role of Public Administration 6
3. Millennium Development Goals and Civil Service 7
3.1 The importance of the Civil Service 8
3.2 Capacities to Explore New Approach and Need to Fight Corruption 9
3.3 Policy analysis and policy formulation 10
3.3.1 Macro-economic Stability, Economic Growth and Human development 10
3.3.2 Poverty reduction strategies 10
3.3.3 Domestic resource mobilization and expenditure rationalization 10
3.4 Monitoring and evaluations 10
4. Inter-relation between the PRSP and the MDGs 11
4.1 Social Safety Net Programs 13

5. The Millennium Development Goals and good governance 17

5.1 The Rights-based Approach to Development 18
5.1.1 Civil Service in the context of good governance and rights-based approach to
development 19
6. Stakeholders’ Opinion on the Role of Civil Service 20
6.1 Inception Meeting 20
6.2 Workshop: Developing Civil Service for 21st Century 21
6.3 Issues for future Discussion 23
7. Recommendations 24
8. Conclusion 30
Bibliography 33
Appendix 1 35
Appendix 2 38
Appendix 3 41

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Executive Summary
Since the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals at the United Nations Millennium
Summit in 2000, the goals have become the international standard of reference for
measuring and tracking improvements in the human condition in developing countries. The
Goals are backed by a political mandate agreed to by the leaders of all UN member states.
They offer a comprehensive and multidimensional development framework and set clear
quantifiable targets to be achieved by 2015.

Meeting the Goals will require a substantial reorientation of development policies to focus
on various aspects of growth, including those associated with the implementation process,
i.e. civil service. Thus, Bangladesh needs to recognize the benefits from modern aspects of
governance, service deliveries and management to harness the explosion in new
knowledge and technologies.

This report describes in general the background of the Millennium Declaration and emphasis
of good governance in achieving the Millennium Declaration goals. Getting good governance
calls for improvements that touch virtually all aspects of the public sector: from institutions
that set the rules of the game for economic and political interaction; to decision-making
structures that determine priorities among public problems and allocate resources to
respond to them; to organizations that manage administrative systems and deliver goods
and services to citizens; to human resources that staff government bureaucracies; to the
interface of officials and citizens in political and bureaucratic arenas. Thus, the need for an
efficient and effective civil service is one of the central issues, where attentions are needed
to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals because an efficient, accountable,
effective and transparent, public administration, at both the national and international levels,
has a key role to play in the implementation of the Millennium Declaration.

In relation to the MDG targets such as reduction of infant mortality and child mortality,
expansion of primary and secondary education, reduction in many aspects of gender
disparity, eradication of hunger and environmental sustainability, Bangladesh has done well
comparing the situation in the year 1990 with the year 2000. However, to achieve the MDGs
and the objectives of the PRSP, the Bangladesh civil service needs to emphasize the
development of a national strategy where both public and private sectors may work hand in
hand to achieve targets or objectives, in the area of accountability and transparency,
performance management, reforms to create an enabling situation, in the area of reliable
data and monitoring systems, public access to information, coordination among public
officials at the field level, public awareness and campaigning, policy reforms, etc.

Finally, the success of government in providing access to basic social services and
protecting and promoting a life of dignity rests in its ability to provide stable and enabling
institutions. The first concerns the attributes and characteristics of government institutions
that make them legitimate, and the second refers to the capability and efficiency of these
institutions to perform certain functions that make them effective. An effective, transparent
and accountable civil service is one basic requirement for establishing legitimate institutions
and ensuring necessary development services. Public administration reform is crucial to
developing the kind of civil service that embodies the core values of good governance in its
functions. Moreover, appropriate systems of decentralized and local governance are also
critical for the provision of effective and responsive social services at the local level to
facilitate the successful achievements of the MDGs (Appendix 1).

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1. Background
The project, ‘Developing Civil Service Capacity for the 21st Century Administration’ is a
Preparatory Assistance (PA) programme funded by UNDP. The Executing Agency for this
programme is the Bangladesh Ministry of Establishment, which is the parent ministry for
appointment, posting and promotion of the civil service officials. The Bangladesh Public
Administration Training Centre (BPATC), the apex training institute in the public sector of
Bangladesh responsible for training the core civil service officials, is the implementing
partner of this PA phase. The main objectives of this preparatory assistance programme
are to assess the capacity requirements of some selected institutions and to ensure that
various stakeholders are consulted and their opinions are taken into account in view of
UNDP’s long-term support to capacity development for civil service reforms and
administrative modernisation for the 21st century.

The expected results of the programme are: a) public administration reform for efficient,
effective, responsive, and pro-poor public services promoted, and b)
institutional/legal/policy/frameworks established to promote and ensure accountability,
transparency and integrity in the public service. The intended results are based on the
following outputs:
i) to develop an institutional development plan for the BPATC and Ministry of
Establishment;
ii) study on the cost-effectiveness of selected training operations and institutions in
the civil service;
iii) internet and LAN connections for all faculty staff;
iv) review of curricula in the BPATC;
v) study on the role and effectiveness of civil service in achieving the MDGs;
vi) study on recruitment policies in the civil service and draft project proposal for
support to the Public Service Commission;
vii) study on ethics in the civil service;
viii) detailed implementation plan for the National Training Policy; and
ix) final project document, ‘Capacity development for the civil service reforms and
administrative modernization for the 21st century’.
The expected deliverables of the fifth output during the consultancy period were:
conducting a policy study and research, facilitating inception meeting, preparing working
papers, i.e. inception and workshop report; analysis of relevant documentation, current
initiatives and policies of the Bangladesh government in achieving the MDGs, group
discussion and presentations facilitating a workshop for disseminating the major
findings/observations, and final report on the role and effectiveness of the civil service in
achieving the MDGs. The time frame for the work was considerably limited to four weeks
fro 10 August to 6 September 2006.

The study on the role and effectiveness of the civil service in achieving the MDGs was
aimed to determine the inter-relationship between the PRSP and the MDGs, and the role of
the civil service in relation to the achievements of the MDGs. Another objective of the study
was to determine some ‘core areas of intervention’ where emphasis should be given to
support both the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and the civil service
capacity development in Bangladesh.

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2. Reforms and Changing Roles of Public Administration
Public administration reform can be very comprehensive and include process changes in
areas such as organizational structures, decentralization, personnel management, public
finance, results-based management, regulatory reforms, etc. It can also refer to targeted
reforms such as the revision of the civil service statute. Administrative reform can also be
described as those efforts which call for or lead to major changes in the bureaucratic
system of a country intended to transform the existing and established practices,
behaviours and structures within it.

Since Independence, administrative reforms have been on the agenda of nearly every
government in Bangladesh. However, the Bangladesh civil service has changed very little.
There is hardly any substantive change in the structure and composition of the public
service and the work attitudes of the civil servants. Until now, in Bangladesh, seventeen
major civil service reform and pay commissions and committees have been appointed and
all have submitted their reports with recommendations. Of the seventeen reform bodies
only seven dealt with the entire civil service. Six commissions/committees dealt with
matters of micro restructuring within the civil service. Of them, three examined exclusively
the pay structure of the civil servants. The rest analysed specific aspects of the civil service
such as recruitment and promotion of civil servants.

In 1972, two high-powered reform bodies, the Administrative and Services Reorganization
Committee (ASRC) and National Pay Commission (NPC-1), were appointed. The Pay and
Services Commission (P & SC) was appointed in 1976. Between 1982 and 1984 two major
reform bodies were appointed – one was a Martial Law Committee (MLC), another was
civilian. The last significant reform initiative came with the appointment of the Public
Administration Reform Commission (PARC) in January 1997. The Commission submitted
its recommendations in June 2000.

The civil service reforms in Bangladesh can be divided into four main areas:

1. Civil service reform, which is concerned with human resources in the public sector
such as capacity, wages and conditions.
2. Increasing the efficiency and responsiveness of the policy-making system.
3. Reforming the machinery of government, which is concerned with the rules,
institutions and structure of the administration necessary to carry out government
policy, including new tools for public administration, notably e-governance and e-
government.
4. Reforming the public sector revenue and expenditure management system.

Besides, government initiatives, the World Bank, the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Department
for International Development (DFID) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) all provided
support at various times to make the civil service system efficient, productive, effective and
accountable. However, most of the recommendations and suggestions of the civil service
reform and pay commissions and other donor supported initiatives were not implemented.
Dr. Mohammad Mohabbat Khan, an eminent researcher and professor of the Public
Administration Department of the Dhaka University describes the reasons as follows:

5
There was very little political commitment for major administrative reforms. This is
evidenced by the fact that successive governments did not implement the
recommendations of the reform bodies appointed by them. There may be two explanations
for this situation. The most obvious one was to cling to the status quo and play safe
coupled with a belief in risk aversion strategy. The other one related to the way the reforms
were viewed. The reform proposals were considered as ends in themselves rather than
means to achieving higher level ends, because:

1. There was no organized and sustained movement from outside to mount pressure
on the policy makers to bring about meaningful and needed reforms.

2. There was no centrally located and politically powerful agency specifically

designated for reform monitoring and implementation.

3. Involvement of relevant professionals in the reform implementation process was not

sought.

4. There was very little interest and enthusiasm on the part of senior civil servants to
implement major reform proposals.

Though past experiences with public administration reforms in Bangladesh have shown
little result, there are some recent developments that merit attention. These developments
encompass the country’s commitment to poverty reduction and its subscription to the
internationally agreed the Millennium Development Goals that demands a shift in
government spending towards the social sectors and hence, better governance.
Furthermore, a National Training Policy has been approved and officially published in the
Gazette. In order to increase professionalism in the civil service, a Career Development
Wing has already been established in the Ministry of Establishment.

2.1 The Changing Role of Public Administration

The field of public administration has evolved significantly in recent decades as external
and internal pressures have forced governments to redefine the role of the state and
recalibrate public administration capacities. This evolution, while responding to
contemporary economic pressures and reflecting current trends in public management
doctrine, builds on a longer history of the thought and practice of public sector personnel
management. To understand the changing role of the civil service in modern administration
it is particularly important to understand the trends of changes in public administration.

Table 1.Three models of public administration

Public Public Management Responsive
Administration Governance
Citizen-state Obedience Entitlement Empowerment
relationship
Accountability of Politicians Customers Citizens and
senior officials Stakeholders
Guiding principles Compliance with Efficiency and Accountability,
rules and results transparency and
regulations participation

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 Criteria for Output Outcome Process
success
Key attribute Impartiality Professionalism Responsiveness

However, there is a distinction among three broad models of public administration and
management underlying contemporary government HRM reforms: traditional public
administration; public management, including an important recent development, new public
management; and responsive governance. In some measure, they are chronological, yet
they overlap in both historical time and substance. The last of the three — responsive
governance — is not so much a historical model as an emergent set of trends. Its inclusion
reflects a potential convergence of thinking, based on significant developments in practice
and new challenges. Table 1 highlights some of the unique characteristics of each one of
the three models. Cutting across these three models are the varied experiences of social
and economic development in different eras and in diverse geopolitical environments.

Traditional public administration focused on hierarchical accountability within the civil

service and further upward to political leaders. Public management also brought into play
professional accountability of the kind that the manager in the public sector acquires
through training and experience. NPM focused on the dual, mutually reinforcing
accountability to the bottom line and to the customer, while responsive governance depicts
diverse, complex forms of accountability in which there are multiple stakeholders in both
government and society, where all should be heard and answered.

Accountability in the responsive governance model calls for new forms of skills and
leadership on the part of civil servants, requiring that they be politically impartial and
socially responsible yet also politically aware and sensitive. Professional and personal
ethics may, in such circumstances, be increasingly important and will require increasing
attention in future human resource strategies. The responsive governance model is also
emerging from a separate but in some ways parallel set of developments in thinking and in
practice, namely, the potential impact of information and communication technologies on
public administration. Powerful networks of high-volume communication are at the disposal
of individuals and groups and barriers sectoral (public/private), organizational, spatial and
jurisdictional.

In sum, the combination of new governance and the information revolution creates a vision
of public policy and administration that requires new combinations of expertise,
accountability and responsiveness. This vision of responsive governance is far from being
realized and embodies some utopian elements. In terms of public administration policies
and practices, the implications have not yet been clearly articulated. They could include the
need for new kinds of expertise and the development of public service cultures that may
encourage more diverse and time effective service deliveries for the citizens. This in turn,
related to the capacity development, performance management, and accountability of the
civil servants which is vital to achieve any development goals and objectives, i.e. objectives
of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, Millennium Declaration.

3. The Millennium Development Goals and the Civil Service

At the 2000 UN Millennium Summit, 189 Heads of State and Governments committed in the
Millennium Declaration to free their citizens from the conditions of extreme poverty. The

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Declaration reaffirms universal values of equality, mutual respect and shared responsibility
for the conditions of all peoples and seeks to redress the lopsided benefits of globalisation.
At the heart of the Declaration are human rights, peace, gender equity, environment and the
pressing priorities of the Least Developed Countries and Africa. After review and editing by
the United Nations Secretariat, IMF, OECD and The World Bank, the objectives were
published in September 2001 as a set of 8 major goals accompanied by 18 targets and 48
indicators for measuring progress towards the goals. The 189 member states of the United
Nations, have consistently perceived the current global concerns as major challenges that
need to be met head on with the will and resolution of the international community (Annex
1).

In the final Declaration, the nations at the United Nations Millennium Summit also singled
out specific areas that constitute special threats to the social values that need urgent and
additional attention. These include:

(A) Human rights, democracy and good governance;

(b) Protecting the vulnerable, namely the children and civilian populations from
disproportionate consequences of natural disasters, genocide, armed conflicts and other
humanitarian emergencies;
(c) Meeting the special needs of Africa, that is: consolidation of democracy, lasting peace,
poverty eradication and sustainable development.

At the outset, it was stressed that the goals must be nationally led and driven. The
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the world's time-bound and quantified targets
for addressing extreme poverty in its many dimensions—income poverty, hunger, disease,
lack of adequate shelter and exclusion - while promoting gender equality, education, and
environmental sustainability.

3.1 The Importance of the Efficient Civil Service

In recent years, the importance of an efficient and service oriented civil service becomes an
important indicator of developed administration and the concept ‘Good governance’ has
become a mantra for development professionals around the world. However, the adoption of
this paradigm implies a very wide range of institutional preconditions for economic and
political development and for poverty to be significantly reduced. Getting good governance
calls for improvements that touch virtually all aspects of the public sector: from institutions
that set the rules of the game for economic and political interaction; to decision-making
structures that determine priorities among public problems and allocate resources to
respond to them; to organizations that manage administrative systems and deliver goods
and services to citizens; to human resources that staff government bureaucracies; to the
interface of officials and citizens in political and bureaucratic arenas.

According to the lists of “things that must be done” for good government it is important to
generate very good reasons why each of the factors, i.e. decentralisation, recruitment on the
basis of merit, performance base salary, performance accountability, decentralisation etc.
are important. To that end, it is important to recognize three essential characteristics of
capacity development, i.e. I) local capacity development; ii) empowering both government
and non-government actors; and iii) capacity development both as a process and goal of
development. It contributes not only institutional efficiency for delivering services but also
shapes the direction and content of development policies, which is very much related to the

8
context of civil servants’ role in achieving the objectives of Millennium Declaration.

The Millennium Declaration also recognizes good governance, of which public

administration is a central part, as the means for achieving the goals of the Declaration.
Support to modernize state institutions is linked to achieving the MDGs in several ways.
First, more resources are freed to be used in pursuit of the MDG goals if the efficiency of the
public administration is increased. Second, by increasing transparency and eradicating
corruption, fewer scarce resources will be misdirected away from achieving the MDGs.
Third, a public administration that response to the needs of citizens, especially women and
marginalized people, is critical to ensuring the sustainability of the achievements within the
rubric of the MDGs. Finally, increasing the accountability of state institutions is an essential
feature of governments’ strategy for achieving the MDGs within the context of the Millennium
Declaration.

3. 2 Capacities to Explore a New Approach and Need to Fight Corruption

In Bangladesh, government faces both exceptionally high demands for services, and
challenges in meeting them. Therefore, maintaining flexibility to explore new approaches
and to innovate is particularly important. Without capacity to manage society by means of
a framework of social, judicial, political and economic checks and balances, it becomes
difficult for the government to implement and enforce laws and policies that ensure
accountability and transparency in implementing government policies, objectives, and
programs. It is also important that government emphasizes the need and development of a
transparent and accountable system of administration. The efforts to build an efficient,
accountable and transparent public administration significantly create conditions in which
new avenues and partnerships can be pursued to fight corruption and improve
accountability and transparency in administration.

From an institutional perspective, corruption arises when public officials have wide
authority, little accountability and perverse incentives, or when their accountability responds
to informal rather than formal forms of regulation. Other factors contribute to this complex
phenomenon, and may include the reward structure within the public administration.
Corruption tends to thrive when public officials receive very low salaries, have ample
opportunities to be corrupt and are unlikely to be caught or not severely punished even if
detected. Nonetheless, higher salaries, increasing either from economic growth and/or
cost-effective adjustments to the size of the civil service workforce, are not likely to have
the desired effect. Strong political commitment to change attitudes and management
culture, to establish merit-based public services and to strictly enforce anti-corruption
regulations are necessary for pay reforms to bring forth accountability and transparency in
the civil service.

The public management view of corruption is clear-cut. Corruption negates the bureaucratic
values of equity, efficiency, transparency, and honesty. It weakens the ethical fabric of the
civil service and prevents the emergence of a well-performing government. Corruption
exacerbates discrimination, injustice and disrespect for human dignity. As such, an
increased emphasis on human rights is a key element in democratic governance and for
achieving the MDGs. Where corruption reigns, basic human rights and liberties come under
threat, and social and economic contracts become unpredictable. States need to take the
necessary steps to ensure that inequity and discrimination do not obstruct their citizens’
efforts to exercise their rights to development, employment, food, health, education and
other basic human rights. The fight against corruption must get priority at all levels and an

9
applicable anti-corruption regime including various rules and regulations should be
introduced. Not only the rules and regulations but their applicability should be ensured.
Moreover, it should involve the public and private sectors as well as civil society
organizations. With support from civil society and the international community, there is a
need to focus on domestic capacity-development efforts to strengthen institutional
mechanisms for fighting corruption.

3. 3 Policy Analysis and Policy Formulation

Perhaps the weakest link between government capacity and economic challenges is in the
area of policy analysis and policy formulation. Enhanced capacity is needed for more
pragmatic, meaningful and transparent policy formulation. Good policy analysis requires
dependable information in terms of credible data and statistics as well as improved human
resources. Both require training and skills enhancement, institutional strengthening and a
proper incentive structure to become master in the policy formulation areas.

3.3.1 Macroeconomic stability, economic growth and human development

Frequently, poor policy articulation means that tensions among various state units result in
misguided trade-offs. For example, finance ministries and central banks often pursue
macroeconomic stability with limited consideration for other socio-economic objectives.

As a result, budgets are balanced at the cost of long-term human development.

Macroeconomic stability and human development are hardly “either-or” questions,
however. Although macroeconomic stability is an essential prerequisite for economic
growth and human development, it should not be pursued as the only development
objective and priority. Thus, policy coherence and balance are important.

3.3.2 Poverty reduction strategies

In poverty reduction strategy initiatives need to pay attention on several fronts, i.e. links
between poverty reduction strategies and other reform issues (such as governance, the
environment and gender equity), developing capacities to formulate macroeconomic policy
and sectoral strategies as improving the effectiveness of poverty reduction strategies
requires including pro-poor policies, needs-assessment methodologies including preparing
handbooks and guides for integrating the MDGs into PRSP. Moreover, policies for pro-poor
employment generation and labour market reforms are also needed.

3.3.3 Domestic resource mobilization and expenditure rationalisation

In tax administration more progressive tax rates and a broad tax base gained through
focusing more on direct taxes (such as income tax) could have powerful poverty reducing
effects, especially if combined with improved rates of tax collection. In Bangladesh,
government has taken encouraging revenue reforms to deal effectively with some of these
issues. However, in terms of expenditure rationalization, restructuring expenditures with
more funds directed toward human development is a major economic challenge in
Bangladesh. Efficiency and accountability in resource use can help to achieve their
development goals.

3.4 Monitoring and Evaluation

The development of effective institutions for monitoring and evaluation is essential to

address good governance challenges and thus the challenges to achieve the MDGs.

10
Monitoring and evaluation identifies the progress and gaps in development, which can help
formulate future policies. It also identifies individuals and organizations responsible for
various duties and provides information on how well they are meeting their obligations.
Data and statistics are critical components of monitoring and evaluation. A thorough
approach would consist of developing a comprehensive statistical structure with benchmark
surveys; systems for data collection through censuses and surveys; provisions for gender-
sensitive and disaggregated data on the basis of regional differences, socio-economic
groups and ethnic disparities; means for updating the system regularly; and systematic
dissemination of information.

4. Inter-relation between the PRSP and the MDGs

The medium term strategic agenda for Bangladesh for the goal of accelerated poverty
reduction is constituted, which provides the key to a comprehensive acceleration in the
pace of poverty reduction are as follows: I) Employment, 2) Nutrition, 3) Quality Education
(particularly in primary, secondary and vocational levels with strong emphasis on girls'
education), 4) Local governance, 5) Maternal Health, 6) Sanitation and Safe Water, 7)
Criminal Justice, 8) Monitoring.

Bangladesh’s Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (I-PRSP), “A National Strategy for
Economic Growth, Poverty Reduction and Social Development,” was completed in March,
2003. The I-PRSP recognized that while good governance presupposes political consensus
on key national issues, economic development presupposes good governance and in that
order. However, in the post-document review a number of gaps were identified and
addressed during preparation of PRSP. The areas were: I) Environment-poverty interface,
ii) Strategic water resources management, iii) Quality improvement in education, iv)
Mainstreaming gender issues in agriculture, rural development and labour market, v)
Private sector development, vi) Medium term plan for trade policy reforms, vii) Financial
sector reforms, viii) Policies and institutions for rural non-farm activities, and, ix) Medium
term framework on sectoral policy priorities.

The framework for the Poverty Reduction Strategy indicates that the main goal of this
document obviously is poverty reduction. This goal is based on a vision for poverty
reduction formed on the basis of the understanding of key issues of the present state of the
economy. To fulfil the vision of poverty reduction, four strategic blocks are identified. These
four blocks are enhancing pro-poor growth, boosting critical sectors for pro-poor economic
growth, devising effective safety nets and targeted programmes and finally ensuring social
development. The framework also identifies four supporting strategies or cross-cutting
issues. These are (i) ensuring participation, social inclusion and empowerment of all
sections, groups and classes of people, (ii) promoting good governance by ensuring
transparency, accountability and rule of law, (iii) providing service delivery efficiently and
effectively, particularly to the poor and (iv) caring for the environment and sustainable
development on a long-term basis.

The Three-year Rolling Investment Programmed (TYRIP) will attempt to make the Poverty
Reduction Strategies and the Millennium Development Goals operational for the period
FY05 to FY07. The Medium-term Macroeconomic Framework (MTMF) included in the
PRSP has set out a coherent macro framework which brings consistency among savings,
investment, external and monetary balances. Though TYRIP will be implemented in
consonance with the implied resource envelope as given in the MTMF, the former will have

11
its own dynamism if various pro-poor programmes can be effectively implemented.

The Millennium Declaration and PRSP goals are complementary, and it is easy to identify
the relationship. The PRSP of Bangladesh has also identified 8 specific avenues - four
strategic blocks and four supporting strategies- to accelerate poverty reduction goals
achievement. They are firstly supportive macroeconomics to ensure rapid growth with
particular focus on stable macroeconomic balances, improved regulatory environment,
higher private investment and increased inflow of FDIs, effective trade and competition
policies, and, poor and gender sensitive budgetary process; secondly, choice of critical
sectors to maximize pro-poor benefits from the growth process with special emphasis on
the rural, agricultural, informal and SME sectors, improved connectivity through rural
electrification, roads, and telecommunications; thirdly, safety net measures to protect the
poor, especially women, against anticipated and unanticipated income/consumption shocks
through targeted and other efforts; fourthly, human development of the poor for raising
their capability through education, health, nutrition and social interventions; fifthly,
participation and empowerment of the poor, specially women, and other disadvantaged and
marginalized groups such as disabled, ethnic minorities, ecologically vulnerable; sixthly,
promoting good governance through improving implementation capacity, promoting local
governance, tackling corruption, enhancing access to justice for the poor, and improving
sectoral governance; seventhly, improving service-delivery in the area of basic needs.

The PRSP of Bangladesh has also drawn 19 policy matrices and they are as follows:

1. Macroeconomic stability and pro-poor economic growth

2. Promoting trade and remittances
3. Private sector and small and medium enterprise development
4. Agriculture growth towards poverty reduction
5. Rural non-farm activities
6. Safety net for poverty reduction
7. Comprehensive disaster management towards poverty reduction and growth
8. Food security
9. Scaling up poverty reduction through micro credit
10. Water resources development and management
11. Infrastructure development and reforms
12. Tourism and poverty reduction
13. Development of ICT and bio-technology policy
14. Education policy
15. Health, population, nutrition, water and sanitation and food safety sector
16. Women’s advancement and rights
17. Children’s advancement and rights
18. Good governance
19. Environment and sustainable development.

The above analysis indicates that Bangladesh has successfully integrated the MDGs with a
national strategy for development, i.e. PRSP. Now, it is important to emphasis the
implementation process. In this respect, the Bangladesh civil service needs to play the
main role with the support of various interest groups including NGOs, various donor
organisations, press and electronic media and most importantly with the active participation
of the people of Bangladesh. In this respect, it will be interesting to have a look at the social
safety net programmes elaborated in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.

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4.1 Social Safety net programmes

The PRSP, in a similar way to the MDGs, has also drawn up a social safety net programme
with a detailed specification about safety net area, programmes, purpose, implementing
agency and source of financing, budget allocation, targeting criteria, and planned coverage.
The following table focuses on the safety net areas, programmes, purpose and targeting
criteria spelled out in the PRSP and proves the close relationship between the purposes of
the social safety net programmes and the Millennium Declaration or the MDGs.

Table 2.Social Safety net programs specified in the PRSP

Safety Net Program Purpose Targeting Criteria
Area Name
Employment 1 Food for Employment generation 1. People who are functionally
Creation Works for the poor in slack landless
(FFW) season 2. People who lack productive
Developing and resources
maintaining rural 3. Women headed household where
infrastructure women are widowed, deserted, and
destitute
4. Day labour or temporary workers
People with income less than tk.
300.00 per month
2 Cash for 1. Employment 1. People who are functionally
Works (CFW) generation for the poor landless
in slack season 2. People who lack productive
2. Developing and resources
maintaining rural 3. Women headed household where
infrastructure women are widowed, deserted, and
destitute
4. Day labour or temporary workers
5. People with income less then tk.
300.00 per month
3 Vocational 1. Reduce poverty 1. Insolvent Freedom Fighters and
Training and among insolvent their dependents from all 64
Self- Freedom Fighters and districts
employment their dependents
Programme for 2. Re-install social
Insolvent dignity of the Freedom
Freedom Fighters
Fighters and
Their
Dependents

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Safety Net Program Purpose Targeting Criteria
Area Name
4 Fund for 1. Provide employment 1. Marginalized poor living in
Reduction of opportunities for the geographically disadvantaged areas
Temporary marginalized poor in 2. Seasonally unemployed people
Unemployment some poverty pockets living in specific areas
1
2. Provide income
support to people living
in geographically
disadvantaged areas to
overcome seasonal
unemployment
Food Security 5 Vulnerable 1. Provide food and 1. Disaster/calamity victims
Group Feeding other emergency
(VGF) assistance to disaster
victims
6 Gratuitous 1. Provide food and 1. Disaster/calamity victims
Relief (GR) other short term
emergency assistance
to disaster victims
7 Fund for 1. Help mitigate 1. Disaster/calamity victims
Mitigation of sufferings of disaster
Risk of Natural victims
Disaster 2. Provide loans to set
up small business
8 Emergency 1. Help mitigate 1. Disaster/calamity victims
Fund for sufferings of disaster
Mitigating Risk victims
of Natural 2. Provide emergency
Disaster help to disaster victims

Education 9. Primary 1. Increasing the 1. Children from female-headed

Education number of primary households where head of the
Stipend Project school enrolments from household is widowed, deserted,
(PEPS) poor family and destitute
2. Increasing school 2. Children from day labour headed
attendance and households
reducing dropouts 3. Family of low income
3. Increasing primary professionals (e.g. fishing, pottery,
school completion rate blacksmith, weaving, and cobbling)
4. Reducing child 4. Landless or households that own
labour and poverty not more than 0.5 acres of land
10. Female 1. Increasing female 1. All unmarried girl students
Secondary student enrolments at studying in recognized institutions
School secondary schools at secondary level
Assistance 2. Reducing the
Programme incidence of under age
(FSSP) marriage

1
This is a newly introduced social safety net program. The program was planned to be
operational from July 2005.

14
Safety Net Program Purpose Targeting Criteria
Area Name
Community 11. Rural 1. Empowerment of 1. Households own less than 0.3
Empowerment Maintenance women acres of land
Programme 2. Maintaining rural 2. Female headed households
(RMP) infrastructure where head of the household aged
between 18-35 years
3. Widowed or separated at least
one year with priority to those with
more dependents
4. Households with no other income
and not participating in other
targeted Programmes
12. Vulnerable 1. Developing life skills 1. Households with not more than
Group for women through 15 acres of land
Development training, motivating 2. Households with income less
(VGD) savings and providing than Tk. 300 and dependent upon
scope for availing credit seasonal wage employment
2. Building social 3. Women of reproductive (18-49)
awareness on disaster age
management and
4. Day labour or temporary worker
nutrition through
training in groups 5. Households with little or no
productive assets
13. Rural Social 1. Promoting local 1. Disadvantaged rural population
Services organizations, including children, women
(RSS) leadership and unemployed youth and landless
participation of rural persons
people especially of the
disadvantaged groups
in planning and
execution of group-
specific Programmers
14. Rural 1. Employing women in 1. Rural women of age group 15-49
Mothers Centre gainful economic
(RMC) activities
2. Educating women in
various aspects of
social life including
health
15. Urban 1. Mobilizing 1. Disadvantaged urban people
Community disadvantaged urban
Development people to solve their
Programme immediate problems
(UCD) through group efforts
2. Facilitating income
generating activities
through training, credit
etc.

15
Safety Net Program Purpose Targeting Criteria
Area Name
16. Capacity- 1. Providing alternative 1. Socially disadvantaged women
Building, livelihood for SDW and and their children in selected
Poverty their children through locations
Alleviation and vocational and skill
Sustainable development training
livelihood of the 2. Reintegrate (Sews)
Socially in mainstream society
Disadvantaged
Women (SWG)
and Their
Children
Infrastructure 17. Test Relief 1. Employment 1. Generally a location is targeted
Maintenance (Rural generation for the where poverty is relatively severe
Infrastructure people in poverty
Maintenance stricken areas in rainy
Programme) season
(RIMP) 2. Developing and
maintaining rural
infrastructure
Health 18. Nutrition NA NA
Programme
19. Fund for 1. Mitigating housing 1. Rural poor, low income and
Housing for the problem of the homeless family
Distressed homeless, poor and 2. Households affected by natural
(Grihayan other low income disaster and fire
Tahabil) groups 3. Households capable of paying
5% flat interest rate
Other Areas 20. Allowances 1. Minimizing the 1. Women either widowed, deserted,
to the problems faced by or destitute
Widowed, distressed women 2. The number of beneficiaries is
Deserted, and identified on the basis of the
Destitute category of Union.
women
21. Honorarium 1. Livelihood support to 1. Freedom Fighter’s identity
Programme for the poor Freedom verifiable in cross section of
the Insolvent Fighters through cash references
Freedom transfers 2. Freedom Fighters with income
Fighters less than Tk. 6000 per year
3. Disabled or partially disabled or
landless or unemployed of none in
the family to depend upon
22. Fund for 1. Assisting acid burnt 1. Installation of facilities generally
Rehabilitation women and disabled based upon case
of Acid Burnt through provisioning of
Women and the interest free credit and
Physically skill training
Handicapped 2. Creating
opportunities for acid
burnt and disabled
women for Income
generating activities
3. Raising social

16
Safety Net Program Purpose Targeting Criteria
Area Name
awareness
23. Old Age 1. Livelihood support to 1. At least 65 year of age
Allowances the elderly poor 2. Income equal to Tk. 2000 or less
3. Must have worked in formal
sector
4. Number of beneficiaries is
determined on the basis of the
category of union
5. Fifty (50) percent of the
beneficiaries are women and the
other fifty (50) percent are men
24. Appropriate 1. Developing most 1. Street children with or without
Resources for vulnerable children family
Improving (floating and homeless)
Street
Children’s
Environment
(ARISE)
25. Allowance 1. Providing 1. People who are mentally or
for Retarded subsistence allowance physically challenged/handicapped
Disabled to fully retarded persons
Persons2

The above analysis also indicates a close relation between the PRSP and the Millennium
Development Goals. However, the PRSP indicates that effective strategy-making on good
governance needs to avoid four typical weaknesses: i) a tendency towards an
encyclopaedic wish list in agenda formulation, ii) an insufficient appreciation of the
institutional and political realities through which reform initiatives have to be carried
forward, iii) over-focusing on what does not work while ignoring what does work, and, iv)
lack of clarity as to where the governance agenda best interfaces with poverty reduction
goals.

5. MDGs and Good Governance

The Millennium Declaration points out that good governance at all levels need to be:

1. Indispensable for creating an environment for poverty alleviation and development;

2. A prerequisite in asserting universal values such as human rights;
3. The Millennium Declaration explicitly recognizes good governance as one of the
most crucial requirements in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. An
operational link between noble aspirations and effective realization.

The Declaration identified that creating an environment for poverty alleviation and progress
is dependent on good governance and on institutional structural reform at all levels – from
the local, to the national, to the global. It declares - “we resolve therefore to create an
environment – at the national and global levels alike – which is conductive to development

17
and to the elimination of poverty” (Millennium Declaration, III, Development and Poverty
Eradication).

Furthermore, the Millennium Declaration states that certain fundamental values are
indispensable for international relations in the twenty-first century. These include Freedom,
which ‘men and women have the right to live their lives and raise their children in dignity,
free from hunger and from the fear of violence, oppression or injustice. Democratic and
participatory governance based on the will of the people best assure these rights”.
(Millennium Declaration, I. Value and Principles)

It also calls for collective commitment to ‘spare no effort to promote democracy and
strengthen the rule of law, as well as respect for all internationally recognized human rights
and fundamental freedom, including the right to development’ (Millennium Declaration, V.
Human Rights, Democracy, and Good Governance). The Implementation of the United
Nations Millennium Declaration Report of the Secretary-General (2003) also highlights that
good governance is also the key ingredient in making the difference between noble
aspirations and effective realization, together with effective institutions, adequate material
resources and international support. Similarly, Technical Cooperation experiences of UN
agencies illustrate that it is ”...neither money, nor technology, nor even expertise, but good
governance that makes the difference“(UN-HABITAT Global Campaign on Urban
Governance).

Thus, the Millennium Declaration recognizes good governance, of which the civil service is
a central element for achieving the objectives of the Declaration. However, modernizing
the civil service is linked to achievements of MDGs in several ways. First, more resources
will be available for the attainments of the MDG goals if the efficiency and performance of
the civil service is to be increased. Second, by increasing transparency and eradicating
corruption, fewer scarce resources will be misdirected away from achieving the MDGs.
Third, quick responses to the needs of citizens, especially women and marginalized
people, are critical to ensuring the sustainability of the achievements within the rubric of the
MDGs. Finally, increasing the accountability of public administration or the civil service is
an essential feature of good governance to achieve the MDGs within the context of broader
Millennium Declaration.

5.1 The Rights-based Approach to Development

More recently, as the concept of governance has evolved and as the exercise of
democratic freedoms has become associated with sustainable human development, so the
role of government institutions in providing services and protecting rights and freedoms has
become more important in the light of achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

The strategies for moving forward in halving, by the year 2015, the proportion of the world’s
population whose income is less than one dollar a day and the proportion of people who
suffer from hunger, include (a) ensuring support for country-led economic and social
initiatives that focus on poverty reduction; (b) strengthening capabilities to provide basic
social services; and (c) assisting capacity-building for poverty assessment, monitoring and
planning.

Moreover, coordination among various public sector institutions is essential in achieving the
targets. It is essential to introduce and maintain effective inter-agency and inter-ministerial
cooperation. The central agencies also need to develop a powerful information

18
management system for tracking the overall progress of policy and program
implementation, evaluating the performance of line ministries, providing input into political
decision-making and managing accountability of utilized resources.

As mentioned earlier, a critical concept of the Millennium Declaration is the right to

development, for which good governance is an essential guarantee. Key components of
human rights based approach can only be achieved with the support and active
participation of an effective and competent public administration. Other actors, such as civil
society, NGOs, and international communities may play important roles in the following
areas:

1. Participation and transparency in decision-making -- participation throughout the

development process is a right, and obliges the state and other actors to create an
enabling environment for the participation of all stakeholders.
2. Non-discrimination – equity and equality cut across all rights and are the key
ingredients for development and poverty reduction.
3. Empowerment – people should be enabled to exercise their human rights through
the use of tools such as legal and political action.
4. Accountability of actors -- public and private institutions and actors should be
accountable to the public, especially to poor people, to promote, protect and fulfil
human rights and to be held responsible if these are not enforced.

Moreover, decentralized administrative systems seem to provide the context in which the
civil service plays an important role. It has been noticed that a major drawback with many
decentralization initiatives is the lack of administrative capacity of the public administration
at the local levels and the absence of accountability. For a successful decentralized
government there it is important to focus on the fiscal transfer mechanisms; integration of
local level planning and budgeting, budget allocation and monitoring mechanism, and
human resource regimes. In this regard, it is important that the MDGs are country-owned
and country-led so as to promote growth and ensure people’s participation.

5.1.1 Civil Service in the context of good governance and rights-based approach
Thus, in achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Bangladesh, there is no doubt that
an efficient civil service system is of vital importance. The civil servants are not only the
policy executors but also the most educated section of the society. Civil servants can not
only play important role in executing various MDGs related programmes but can also play a
vital role in motivating local people to convert the MDGs into local goals. Civil servants at
the local level can make a clear and coherent focus on the Goals to make the objectives
and outputs of MDGs more attractive to the rural poor. To localize the MDGs, it is crucial to
increase the inter-relationship, coherence and consistency of MDGs with national policies
and programmes and local needs and expectations. Civil servants can use the MDGs as a
framework for service delivery at the local level. The efficiency and effectiveness of service
delivery to the citizens may also develop a framework for accountability of the civil servants
not merely to the powerful sections of society but also to the poor.

19
6. Stakeholders’ Opinion on the Role of the Civil Service
The role of the civil service in achieving the Millennium Development Goals has various
perspectives. In this regard, it is important to understand the stakeholders’ opinion and
ideas. During the mission, an inception meeting and a workshop were organized to
accommodate ideas, opinion and views of the civil servants, NGOs and donor
representatives, and other interest groups. The inception meeting was held on the 20th
August 2006, and a workshop on the roles and effectiveness of civil service in achieving
the MDGs was organized on the 3rd of September 2006.

6.1 Inception Meeting

The main objectives of the inception meeting were to provide a general outline of the
planned work on the ‘Role and effectiveness of civil service in achieving Millennium
Development Goals’, and facilitating discussion on various aspects of the project in general
and specifically on the role of the civil service in achieving the MDGs. The idea was to
receive opinion and suggestions from the participants to understand stakeholders’ points of
view and to integrate those ideas during preparation of final project document on capacity
development for civil service reforms and administrative modernization for the 21st century.
The presentation during the inception meeting highlighted the background of the MDGs on
the basis of the world’s social justice system, government’s commitments on the Millennium
Declaration, reasoning on the importance of the civil service role, various challenges in
performing the roles and achieving the MDGs and the inter-relationship between politics,
objectives and results. During discussion, some important issues were raised for example
regarding the need for a fair recruitment system, proper placement, need for attitude
change, lack of responsiveness from the civil servants at the grass roots level, political
influence, involving political institutions in MDGs awareness building, need for a more
accountable and transparent civil service system, need for pro-active political commitment,
importance of career planning for the civil servants, need to include gender and ethical
issues in the curricula, importance of brainstorming in identifying various issues, need for
awareness building in all sectors of society and also among the civil servants.

The lively discussion among civil servants (most of the participants were senior civil
servants working in various ministries, and BPATC) provided the opportunity to know civil
servants’ points of view regarding the project in general and approaches, priority needs and
relevant organizational and structural requirements to achieve the Millennium Development
Goals in Bangladesh from the civil service point of view in particular. During discussion
many suggestions were made to implement the Millennium Declaration as follows:
• Promote MDGs awareness among the members of the civil service and citizens;
• Coordination among the field officials regarding works on MDGs, introduction of
local coordinating mechanism;
• Introduction of independent data and information gathering authority, performance
monitoring and information system;
• Need for an accountable and transparent civil service system;
• Inclusion of local political and public representatives in MDGs awareness campaign;
• Importance of gender friendly work culture; cooperation among various interest
groups;
• Practical training to the civil servants especially to those working in the field
administration.

20
6.2 Workshop: Developing a Civil Service for the 21st Century

The workshop was designed as an integral part of the preparatory assistance on

‘Developing the civil service capacity for the 21st century administration’ in Bangladesh. It
was planned to disseminate preliminary findings of analysis and to discuss with
beneficiaries and various interest groups the role of the civil service in achieving the
Millennium Declaration Targets, i.e. MDGs in Bangladesh.

The workshop was organized on the 3rd September 2006. A large number of participants
from the civil service, NGOs, representatives of international and national development
partners, civil society and media personnel were present in the workshop, and provided
invaluable suggestions and opinion on the role and responsibilities of the civil service in
achieving the MDGs. The workshop had two parts, i) speeches on different aspects of the
MDGs and the role of Bangladesh civil service by senior civil servants, UNDP officials and
two key presentations by experts; ii) group work and results presentation by the
participants.

The speeches provided an outline of the MDGs and the role of the civil service in
Bangladesh including various challenges and steps needed to achieve the Millennium
Development targets. All speakers expressed their high expectations from the Millennium
Development Declaration and explicitly mentioned the important role of the civil service in
achieving the MDGs in Bangladesh. The welcome speech of Mr. Abdus Sabur dealt with
various practical issues related to the project. However, an important observation was
made in the speech, “It is incumbent on me to recognize that we are on a journey that
essentially has a destination of a better Bangladesh for all. This journey will not be
straightforward; there will be many twists and turns, and at times it will seem never-ending.
But we are determined to carry on, to put plans and strategies in place that will guide us
through the turbulent waters that we are sure to encounter”.

Similarly, Dr. Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman, Secretary of the Ministry of Establishment, in

his speech mentioned Bangladesh’s commitment as a member of the global community
and subscriber to the Millennium Declaration to the achievement of the MDGs, and the
development and adaptation of the National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction.
He explained that implementing the PSRP will improve the quality of life of citizens,
however, there should be emphasis on various efforts supported by purpose-driven
institutions, including the civil service, which has a vital and important role to play.

Mr. Larry Maramis, the Deputy Resident Representative of the UNDP, in his speech
expressed satisfaction about the progress Bangladesh has made so far but emphasized
the need for an accountable, transparent, and service oriented civil service to reach the
poor people in the rural areas. He mentioned the importance of localizing the MDGs into
local goals. Mr. Nojibur Rahman, Assistant Resident Representative and Head of
Governance Team of UNDP Bangladesh, also drew attention to the importance of an
efficient, effective and transparent civil service system to achieve the targets of the
Millennium Declaration. Mr. Rahman also mentioned the importance of a proper
coordination, information and data system and proper training for the civil servants. He
further explained the vital importance of communication and the MDGs campaign to
localize the goals of Millennium Declaration.

The Director General of the BCS Academy, Mr. Syed Ataur Rahman, in his speech as the
chairperson of the workshop also emphasized the role of the civil service in achieving the

21
Millennium Development Goals. He elaborated that it could be effective if the civil servants
work in collaboration with various civil society organizations, NGOs, public representatives
and local people. He explained that the Millennium Declaration is a bottom-up approach for
development but also part of a global vision that sets out a path to progress.

In a key presentation by Mr. Dennis Drakes, the International Advisor of the project
‘Developing the Civil Service Capacity for the 21st Century Administration’, an outline was
provided of the objectives, expected outputs and goals of the project. He elaborated the
objectives and provided information regarding various components of the project. During
deliberations, the speakers identified several areas where emphases are needed to realize
the expected results of the Millennium Declaration in Bangladesh by 2015. The areas were:

i) Performance accountability;
ii) Work transparency;
iii) Reliable data and information;
iv) Internal and External coordination;
v) Need for the MDGs coordination Unit;
vi) Public and the civil service awareness about the MDGs;
vii) Needs for training;
viii) Localizing the MDGs campaign.

The deliberation was followed by a power-point presentation, ‘MDGs and Bangladesh Civil
Service: Opportunities for development’, by Manzoor Alam, the International MDG Expert.
The presentation outlined the inter-relations of the MDGs and the main challenges to
achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The presentation also emphasized the civil
service’s challenges to realize the MDGs. The presentation further elaborated various
aspects, possibilities and opportunities for the civil service in the 21st century.

As for the group work, two groups were formed and each group received a set of six
questions to discuss and deliver the group’s answers, suggestions and ideas.

Group 1 consisted of 11 members, 10 of whom are members of the Bangladesh Civil

Service. The 11th member was a non-cadre official of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
Of the rest, the majority belonged to BCS (Admin) cadre with the exception of one member
from BCS (Education) cadre.

The group members felt that undue interference and lack of political commitment would
pose barriers to the realization of the MDGs. They felt that adequate and timely allocation
of resources was a prerequisite of achieving the MDGs in the context of Bangladesh. They
also thought that if targets are to be achieved some sort of operational procedures need to
be followed to ensure accountability and transparency, though they were not sure of the
procedures. The group also discussed the issue of localization of the MDGs and
involvement of local government and other institutions in the process and felt they should
be involved. Another noteworthy theme of discussion centred on the idea of recognition for
officials capable of accomplishing noteworthy tasks, even in the case of realization of the
MDGs. For a detailed group report, please see Appendix 2.

Group 2 consisted of 15 members, a good combination of civil servants from Ministries,

local level officials, BPATC, and UNDP officials.

22
During discussion, the group recognized that the field level public officials are not well
aware of the terminology ‘Millennium Declaration or Millennium Development Goals’, the
MDGs targets or strategies. The group members also identified a wide gap between those
who formulate policies and who implement those policies, and lack of support from the
press and electronic media in building awareness among public officials and citizens
regarding the MDGs. The participants also mentioned that the field level officials do not
have enough discussion opportunity or possibility to receive training. Moreover, the training
institutions were not providing enough training on the Millennium Development Goals and
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper objectives. The group members also identified some
areas where immediate attention is needed to achieve the MDGs or PRSP objectives:
(i) Resource constraints,
(ii) Lack of motivation,
(iii) Delay in project implementation,
(iv) Excessive political intervention or politicising development projects.
The group members also suggested the need to motivate the field level civil servants for
good performance on the basis of performance evaluation on sectoral issues (goal-oriented
targets).
The group members suggested that a participatory management mechanism involving
public officials, civil society, local political leaders, NGO-activists and beneficiaries would be
the best option for achieving MDGs, where decentralization and deregulation of power and
authority (obviously ensuring transparency and accountability) are the pre-requisites. They
were also of the view that this participatory management group should be given the
authority to devise appropriate mechanisms for reaching target groups, allocating resources
efficiently and developing welfare packages for needy people in a time-befitting manner.
The group members recommended a decentralized form of Government with strong local
Government machinery where citizen’s charters will be well defined; service delivery
organizations are promoted and motivated to select appropriate target groups and deliver
time-bound services; community participation ensured and a well-defined performance
management system introduced. Finally, the group members expressed the importance of
‘positive mind-set’ of the public officials; pro-people and pro-poor attitudes of the planners
and executors in achieving the PRSP objectives and MDGs. For a detailed group
presentation please, see Appendix 3.

6.3 Issues for Future Discussion

• What can be done to better integrate the PRSP into other national processes? Is such
integration needed to increase the transparency of policy making generally, and also
the influence of donors?

• Designing PRSP that achieve the MDGs. What mix of policies and expenditure patterns
is consistent with sustained growth for poverty reduction and the MDGs?

• What processes and institutions are needed to ensure that the Development Assistance
is optimally allocated, effectively utilized, and monitored for development outcomes?

• How to make close relations and develop links between national strategies for growth and
poverty reduction and the annual budget planning and execution?

23
• What best practices exist in the region and elsewhere vis-à-vis political leadership and a
successful agenda setting for growth, MDGs and broad-based wealth creation?

• What can be done to strengthen political commitment to growth and poverty reduction
strategies?

• What best practice country examples exist with regard to improvements in accountability
structures for managing development results?

• Are budget systems a good tool for such accountability? What is the role of civil society,
including media, NGOs in this regard?

• How various stakeholders can groups work together to build capacity across the
institutional framework – including building appropriate incentive structures across
public institutions and enhancing the overall environment for professionalism?

• What can be done to strengthen political commitment to growth and poverty reduction
strategies? Would greater involvement of Cabinet, Parliament, political parties and
other stakeholders in the formulation and monitoring of PRSP help strengthen political
willingness?

• What is the experience in establishing government institutions including ministries

dedicated to enhance capacity? Can they catalyse changes in the whole public sector?

• What role can regional and international bodies play in supporting priority capacity
development areas?

• What are the main roles of the civil service in achieving the MDGs? Why is the civil
service important and how it can play that important role in an efficient way?

• What are the main problems or opportunities for the civil service in relation to the MDGs
or PRSP? How to develop an accountable and performance oriented civil service?

• What is the role of partnerships in building capacity to achieve the MDGs? How can an
appropriate climate be created in which synergies from working with international
partners, NGOs and the private sector can be maximized?

7. Recommendations
Analysis of information, discussion with various interest groups, inception meeting and
workshop results revealed some areas where immediate attention is needed to make the
Bangladesh civil service more efficient, effective and capable of handling the challenges
and achieve objectives of the PRSP, and the Millennium Declaration.

Within the broad recommendations/suggestions presented in this report, there are many
intervention areas. At this stage, considering various limitations, time-frame for actions,
future project propositions and focus on internal development, a number of intervention
areas were identified. The proposed intervention areas are as follows:

24
1. Developing a National Strategy
Developing a National Strategy via broad participation by stakeholders, including the
private sector, NGOs, and donor agencies; thorough analysis of the scope and typologies
of poverty and other MDG areas, including identification of poverty hotspots; sound policy
design and the integration of the Millennium Development Goals into existing national
poverty reduction strategies or PRSP. In the national strategy, the private sector can help
in addressing various MDG goals and PRSP objectives by providing affordable products
and services, building links with and among local businesses, creating employment
opportunities, building local capacity, supporting government efforts to attract foreign
investment, and building the domestic private sector.

Moreover, it is also important to develop a strategy, where the civil service will not be the
‘super player’ but an important player with other interest groups to achieve common
national or local goals according to the direction and proposition of the Millennium
Declaration.

2. Central MDG coordinating Cell

There is a need for internal and external coordination to achieve the MDGs. There is also a
need to keep records of progress and planning for future activities. A central coordination
Unit could provide the structural and functional rationality of working on the MDGs and also
a sense of importance. The Unit could work as a link-pin between the objectives, results,
planned expectations, resource mobilizations, evaluation and monitoring projects.

3. Move from Political Commitment to Action

Political commitments need to be translated into effective action as Bangladesh has shown
its strong commitment to achieve the MDGs and developed the PRSP according to its
commitment in the Millennium Declaration at the Millennium Summit of 2000. The
interventions in this domain may include: i) political action to meet the objectives of the
MDGs and PRSP; ii) strengthen the contribution of local resources/activities to achieve the
targets; iii) improve public awareness of MDG issues and strengthen advocacy
organizations; iv) improve monitoring and evaluation processes and practices and ensure
accountability among those responsible for implementing various programmes.

4. Strengthening National and Local Capacity

The achievement of the MDGs depends on building national and local capacity. The
development partners and the government need to make long-term commitments in
strengthening human, technical, managerial, and institutional capacity at all levels.
Capacity building, as one of the key entry points, needs to start immediately. Without local
action, efforts to achieve the Goals will remain top-down, supply-driven — and ineffective.
All stakeholders need to be involved, particularly local community members, which will
require considerable investment in the training of facilitators. Issues of gender equality
should form a central component of all community action processes.

5. Setting up an Advisory Structure

An advisory structure on the MDGs and PRSP issues could provide invaluable policy
support to the government. Whatever structure is adopted, the advising function should
have some statutory, legislative, or jurisdictional mandate to advise the highest levels of
government. It should have its own operating budget and a budget for funding policy
research. The advisor should have access to credible and technical information from the
government, national academies, and international networks. The advisory processes

25
should be accountable to the public and be able to analyse public opinion about various
areas of MDGs and PRSP and their achievements.

6 Localizing MDGs
Local culture, and expectations should be given proper priority so that people take the
MDG targets as their own targets. They find the rationality between the MDGs and their
basic demands. They realize that the MDGs are a good tool for them to pressure the
authorities to fulfil their basic demand and rights, which the government has promised to
deliver by 2015.

7. Building Awareness
Building public awareness of hunger and the issues that surround it can provide political
leaders with the mandate and support they need to take action.

Anti-poverty coalitions can articulate arguments for action that are compelling, both morally
and practically. To build broad public support, it is necessary to create a ground of popular
opinion at the local level.

Strengthening public advocacy is also necessary where local NGOs can act as facilitators
in voicing their concerns to government. The strengthening and networking of local
community and advocacy groups over the past decade can support the government in
achieving the MDGs and fight against poverty and hunger.

8. Reliable Data and Information

Key ingredients in working toward the Millennium Development Goals will be accurate data
collection and benchmarks to monitor progress. Developing relevant and robust monitoring
and evaluation processes and practices is challenging, not least because of the difficulty of
reaching agreement on sound and uniform methodologies.

9. Reform Policies to Create an Enabling Environment

Good governance, including the rule of law, lack of corruption, and respect for human
rights, is essential for achieving the MDGs. Policies conducive to achieving the MDGs need
to be put in place at all levels, from the local to the national. The policy reform process
needs to be undertaken in partnership with all stakeholders, including civil society and the
private sector. One may propose the following interventions: i) promote an integrated policy
approach to achieve MDGs; ii) restore budgetary priority to the agricultural and rural
sectors; iii) build capacity to achieve the hunger Goal; iv) link nutritional, agricultural
interventions with institutional development; v) empower women and girls; vi) increase the
effectiveness of donor agencies’ MDGs related programmes; vii) remove various barriers in
administrative coordination; vii) promote free flow of information among various field level
officials and ministries regarding the MDGs and the PRSP; viii) train local officials on
various aspects of MDG initiatives and implementation: ix) train local public representatives
and seniors on various aspects of MDGs and PRSP objectives. X) introduce a ‘local
monitoring cell’ to monitor development work on the MDGs; axe) create vibrant local and
international partnerships to ensure effective policy implementation

10. Accountability in the Civil Service

To achieve any objectives of the PRSP or the MDGs, it is very important that the main
implementers and executors of various projects and programmes are accountable for their

26
performance and activities. Without proper accountability and responsibility it will be
impossible to achieve any targets or goals in an efficient and effective manner. Thus, it is
important to introduce reforms to make the civil servants accountable for their actions or
non-actions. Administrative accountability implies a system of control internal to the
government, including civil service standards and incentives, ethics codes and
administrative reviews.

Accountability as a pillar of democracy and good governance need to be introduced to

compel the state, the private sector, NGOs, and civil society to focus on results, seek clear
objectives, develop effective strategies and monitor and report on performance measured
as objectively as possible.

11. People’s Access to Information

Access to, and use of, information is a means not only to hold national and local
government to account, but also to combat social and political exclusion. Without correct
and reliable information on mandates and financial flows, citizens will be unable to hold
government bodies to account. It is also difficult to justify the results and achievements.

A greater role for parliament in the debate, consultation and oversight of development
policies should be accompanied with enhanced public access to information on how
decisions are made, what decisions are made and how they will be monitored. Recent
research showed that providing users with more and better information on both the
financing and delivery of public services is one of the more promising interventions to hold
government to account and improve service delivery. Access to public information was
also seen as a prerequisite in empowering poor and vulnerable groups to participate in key
decision-making and oversight functions. It is also important to disaggregate monitoring of
progress towards the MDGs. Such detailed information would help identify regional and
group-specific poverty, and thereby improve targeting of resources.

It is important that the clients should be aware of the services and objectives of the service
provisions. The MDGs and PRSP clients must be included in the decision making process
and their opinion should be accommodated during the planning, organizing, and
implementing process. A coordination committee could be formed in each Upazilla where
people’s voice should be given proper importance.

12. Coordination between the Civil Servants Working in the Field

It is important that civil servants working in the field cooperate with each other regarding the
progress of the MDGs, and the PRSP. There is a need to develop a mechanism where
local officials are not only responsible for reporting on the development in their respective
fields to their line ministries but also to a ‘Coordinating body’ at the local level. The
modalities can be formed through discussion with different ministries responsible directly
for achieving the MDGs and the PRSP.

13. Political Will and Accountability

To convert the Millennium Declaration into a reality, Government’s willingness to make
achievement of the MDGs a national priority is of utmost importance. Political will is the
most important factor in achieving the Goals.

This is a real challenge. Political leaders are only accountable to their own people and
electorates. Thus, to bring real change it is necessary for the citizens and civil society to

27
hold their leaders to account. There is a strong need to initiate ‘national campaigns’ to
ensure a stronger political commitment to the MDGs.

Political accountability means regular and open methods for sanctioning or rewarding those
who hold positions of public offices through a system of checks and balances among the
executive, legislative and judicial branches. Accountability is the willingness of politicians to
justify their actions and to accept electoral, legal, or administrative penalties if the
justification is found lacking. Accountability must have the quality of answerability (the right
to receive relevant information and explanation for actions), and enforceability (the right to
impose sanctions if the information or rationale is deemed inappropriate). There is a notion
that citizens’ voices may not be sufficient for accountability; it may lead to answerability but
it does not necessarily lead to enforceability of actions by those making decisions.

14. Campaigning
The Millennium Declaration requires long and sustained campaigns to ensure fundamental
information to key networks to draw attention of decision makers, to build effective
coalitions, to convince media, to change mind-sets of officials and citizens and change
priorities and policies. Campaigns have to be critical, educating, inclusive and engaging.
They may use diverse and locally relevant approaches, but they need to have some
urgency to get the MDGs on track and to influence mainstream discourse.

15. Monitoring
As indicated earlier, monitoring of progress, necessary at all levels, not only at international
and national levels, but also at the local level with focus on gender, social groups and
regions is essential to enhance the effectiveness and achievements of the MDGs. There
are various civil societies, NGOs and interest groups monitoring projects on international,
sectoral and national scales and those initiatives need to be encouraged and systematized.

There is a need to integrate the initiatives of civil society, NGOs, and various interest
groups in monitoring progress of various projects aimed to achieve the MDGs. Developing
a systematic monitoring system where government monitoring mechanisms and other
initiatives can work as a system of checks and balances. Civil society can also make a
positive contribution to the debate over policies for the future and the institutions of
governance necessary to implement them.

16. Greater Involvement of Parliament

It is important to involve parliament in the process. The MDGs and the PRSP of the country
should be discussed in detail in the parliament so that members of parliament and general
citizens become aware of these policy documents. The Parliamentary Standing Committee
on the Ministry of Establishment may play an important role in overseeing the civil servants’
role in achieving the MDGs and the findings may be presented to the parliament.

17. Proper Coordination of Sectoral Projects Interventions in the Governorate under

the Law concerning Local Authorities. Support to the Governorates is needed to help them
formulate regional development plans which would: (i) seek a balanced development by
developing the economic complementarities between urban and rural areas; (ii) identify the
rural/regional engines of growth as well as the key constraints and investments needed to
alleviate these constraints; and (iii) seek public/private/civil society partnerships to identify
opportunities for investments, developments and implementation.

28
18. Capacity Building of the Local Administration in Planning and Implementing
Local Development Goals through: (i) building up planning, programming, budgeting
capacity: (ii) develop the capacity of local authorities in civil works management in involving
projects in the development of Local Authorities’ Manual of Procedures; (iii) considering
community development initiatives as a source of project initiatives for the local authorities;
and (iv) assisting local authorities in resource mobilization.

In addition to above recommendations, one may also recommend the following to make the
general administrative system of Bangladesh more efficient, effective and service oriented
and thus to accelerate progress towards Poverty Reduction Strategies and the Millennium
Development Goals:

1. Important to develop a clear and specific legal framework for decentralized

governance that includes the constitutional devolution of political, financial and
administrative powers to lower level units.

2. To formulate a long-term developmental perspective on good local community

governance to allow adequate time frames for learning-by-doing, supplemented with
demand-driven capacity development rather than the imposition of certain standards
and supply-driven training by means of rational project management mechanisms.

3. To enlarge the decentralized programmes or the delegation of responsibilities for

local services to lower level units must take the subsidiary principle into account and
involve commensurate transfers of financial resources and fiscal powers to ensure
continued quality, coverage and sustainability of service delivery.

4. Need for strategic decisions related to cost effectiveness and the delegation of
responsibilities to ensure quality service delivery and accountability. Also need to
assess the devolution of powers to mitigate the costs of infrastructure and
personnel.

5. Need to develop a stronger policy basis to increase transparency and improve

accountability via developing indicators and standards for measuring performance in
service delivery at the local level, strengthening guidelines for internal managerial
controls, and broadening the role of oversight institutions which perform financial
and service delivery audits, investigate corruption and irregularities and report to the
public on their findings.

6. To build capacity of all stakeholders, including Upazila, Municipality and Thana

officials and citizens representatives; Union Parishad chairmen, members and
senior citizens, as well as community members, NGOs, and political leaders.

7. To encourage local leaders to play an active role in harnessing government

resources for the local programmes and services, and continue to motivate and
mobilize the local community to participate actively in ensuring that community
standards and goals of the well being of all members are met.

8. To create governance systems with constitutional and statutory devolution of

powers to sub-national units according to the principles of subsidiary, effective
empowerment and equitable sharing of responsibilities and resources.

29
 9. To improve the relationship between the politicians and the civil servants, where
politicians should act as the bosses and the civil servants should translate the vision
of the government into action. In doing so civil servants should insulate themselves
from the personal influence of politicians and political parties.

10. To create an enabling legal and regulatory environment for both civil society and
private sector organizations to become effective partners in governance, which
should include the media and other learning institutions that have key roles in
advocacy and in achieving transparency and empowerment.

11. To develop a participatory decision-making and partnership with stakeholders’ core

principles of the operation of the governance system at all levels, recognizing that
these are at the core of good governance and not just conveniences in the interest
of increased legitimacy, effectiveness and efficiency.

12. To institute citizen’s charters to provide regular feedback on publicly-derived and

validated indices of good governance at all levels and reward units for meeting
public expectations in service delivery and other aspects of governance.

13. To bring changes in the scheme of civil service training. Instead of providing a wide
sweep of various subjects, modules should be designed according to the skills and
knowledge required to perform the various jobs during the initial years in the civil
service. Some of the modules could include training in behavioural areas and
general administration. Those who have served for a period of ten years should be
given specialized training in district administration emphasizing training, for
example, on development administration, data and information technologies,
modern techniques for coordination, etc. For those who have worked more than
twenty years, training in policy administration and new aspects of modern
management in the field of policy formulation and implementation should be
provided.

14. Ensure that selection for training overseas is based on specific criteria and needs,
not on the basis of favouritism, nepotism or other reasons. The selection process
needs to be open and transparent.

15. Initiatives to improve the relationship between politicians and civil servants, where
politicians should facilitate the civil servants in translating the vision of the
government into action. In doing so civil servants could insulate themselves from
personal influence from politicians and political parties and aim to win the trust and
confidence of the citizen.

8. Conclusions
The 2000 UN Millennium Declaration reaffirms universal values of equality, mutual respect
and shared responsibility for the conditions of all peoples and seeks to redress the lopsided
benefits of globalisation. The declaration consists of 8 goals, 18 targets and 48 indicators
but it stresses that the goals must be nationally led and driven. The Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) are the world's time-bound and quantified targets for
addressing extreme poverty in its many dimensions - income poverty, hunger, disease, lack
of adequate shelter and exclusion — while promoting gender equality, education, and

30
environmental sustainability. Basically, the MDGs were designed on the basis of global
demands and necessities. The PRSP of Bangladesh emphasized local needs, expectations
and vision. There is no conflict between these two policy documents. They complement
each other. Both documents, rightfully, emphasize the importance of good
governance/efficient public administration/capable civil service.

The Millennium Declaration recognizes the importance of good governance, of which civil
servants are very important considering their role, place and position in administration and
in the society. It is commonly understood that the successful achievement of the Millennium
Declaration targets is closely related to the efficiency and effectiveness of the civil service
system. In doing so, it is important that the civil service is tuned to professionalism and
service orientation. It is also important that the civil service system creates conditions in
which new avenues can be pursued to fight corruption, improve accountability and
transparency in service delivery, which is very important to achieve any development goals
including the MDGs.

Perhaps the weakest link between government capacity and economic challenges is in the
area of policy analysis and policy formulation. Enhanced capacity is needed for more
pragmatic, meaningful and transparent policy formulation to achieve the objectives of the
PRSP and the Millennium Declaration. Good policy analysis requires dependable
information in terms of credible data and statistics as well as improved human resources.
Both require training and skills enhancement, institutional strengthening and a proper
incentive structure to encourage civil servants to work in an efficient and effective manner
and thus to achieve the MDGs.

In practical term, the civil service can not only play an important role in executing various
MDG-related programmes but can also motivate and support local people in converting
various Millennium Development Goals into local goals. Moreover, civil servants at the
local level can make a clear and coherent focus on the Goals to make the objectives and
outputs of the MDGs more attractive to the rural poor.

However, preparing the civil service to achieve the targets of the Millennium Development
Goals can be a major challenge. This will require, first, overcoming the paradox inherited
from the structural adjustment reforms; second, reforming the civil service system so that it
will reach out to civil society and the private sector as development alliances; third,
developing planning capacity, and with it, the statistical and policy analysis services of
national administrations; fourth, developing a co-ordination system to integrate activities of
various branches of the civil service responsible for implementing the Millennium
Development Goals at the local level.

The analysis indicated that the ‘capacity development’ in the Bangladesh Civil Service
needs emphasis at three levels, i.e. the individual level, the institutional level, and the
societal level. At the individual level it involves establishing the conditions under which civil
servants are able to embark on a continuous process of learning and adapting to change –
building on existing knowledge and skills and enhancing and using them in new directions.
This requires a new approach to human resource management and also points to the
importance of knowledge management, as the new vehicle for increased learning. At the
institutional level, a similar approach needs to be applied and support should focus on
administrative modernization with a priority on systems and processes. Key requirement in
this process is capacity development for policy support and for organizational effectiveness.
Finally capacity development at the societal level is required to support the paradigm of a

31
more interactive public administration that equally learns from its actions and from the
feedback it receives from the population.

However, the civil service civil service in Bangladesh has also its’ own limitations. Some
limitations are inherited and some have developed during the last 35 years. Inherited or
not, unfortunately no serious effort has been made to reform the civil service of Bangladesh
from top to bottom to make the service modern, transparent and service oriented – capable
of handling any challenge in an efficient and effective manner, i.e. challenge to achieve the
targets of the PRSP and the Millennium Declaration. Unfortunately, in Bangladesh many
reform initiatives were undertaken but most of the recommendations of those reform
initiatives were not implemented. Thus, In addition to the implementation of necessary
reform initiatives, it is also important to establish a professional civil service system that
acknowledges the special requirements of management in the civil service, emphasizes the
values of integrity and accountability as well as self-discipline, and places greater
importance on responsiveness in public administration. It is also important that the concept
of ‘good governance’ is not confined to planning but that the principles of ‘good
governance’ be implemented in every aspect of governance. Thus, it is a challenge for the
Bangladesh civil service to become ready for the 21st century administration and to achieve
the objectives of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper and the Millennium Declaration.

32
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 Appendix 1

Millennium Development Goals, targets and indicators for

monitoring progress

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Target 1: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one
dollar a day

Indicators:
1. Proportion of population below $1 (PPP) per day
2. Poverty gap ratio [incidence x depth of poverty]
3. Share of poorest quintile in national consumption

Target 2: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

Indicators:
4. Prevalence of underweight children under-five years of age
5. Proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

Target 3:
Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course
of primary schooling

Indicators:
6. Net enrolment ratio in primary education
7. Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who reach grade 5
8. Literacy rate of 15-24 year-olds

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

Target 4: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005 and to
all levels of education no later than 2015

Indicators:
9. Ratios of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education
10. Ratio of literate females to males of 15-24 year-olds
11. Share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector
12. Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality

Target 5: Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate

Indicators:
13. Under-five mortality rate
14. Infant mortality rate
15. Proportion of 1 year-old children immunized against measles

35
Goal 5: Improve maternal health

Target 6: Reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio

Indicators:
16. Maternal mortality ratio
17. Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Target 7: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS

Indicators:
18. HIV prevalence among 15-24 year old pregnant women
19. Condom use rate of the contraceptive prevalence rate
20. Number of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS

Target 8: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major
diseases

Indicators:
21. Prevalence and death rates associated with malaria
22. Proportion of population in malaria risk areas using effective malaria prevention and treatment
measures
23. Prevalence and death rates associated with tuberculosis
24. Proportion of tuberculosis cases detected and cured under directly observed treatment short
course (DOTS)

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

Target 9: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and
reverse the loss of environmental resources

Indicators:
25. Proportion of land area covered by forest
26. Ratio of area protected to maintain biological diversity to surface area
27. Energy use (kg oil equivalent) per $1 GDP (PPP)
28. Carbon dioxide emissions (per capita) and consumption of ozone-depleting CFCs (ODP tons)
29. Proportion of population using solid fuels

Target 10: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking
water

Indicators:
30. Proportion of population with sustainable access to an improved water source, urban and rural

Target 11: By, 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million
slum dwellers

Indicators:
31. Proportion of urban population with access to improved sanitation
32. Proportion of households with access to secure tenure (owned or rented)

36
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

Target 12: Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial
system
Includes a commitment to good governance, development, and poverty reduction – both nationally
and internationally

Target 13: Address the special needs of the least developed countries
Includes: tariff and quota free access for least developed countries' exports; enhanced program of
debt relief for HIPC and cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous
ODA for countries committed to poverty reduction

Target 14: Address the special needs of landlocked countries and Small Island developing States
(through the Program of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States
and the outcome of the twenty-second special session of the General Assembly)

Target 15: Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national
and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term

Some of the indicators listed below are monitored separately for the least developed countries
(LDCs), Africa, landlocked countries and Small Island developing States. Official development
assistance

Indicators:
33. Net ODA, total and to LDCs, as percentage of OECD/DAC donors’ gross national income
34. Proportion of total bilateral, sector-allocable ODA of OECD/DAC donors to basic social services
(basic education, primary health care, nutrition, safe water and sanitation)
35. Proportion of bilateral ODA of OECD/DAC donors that is untied
36. ODA received in landlocked countries as proportion of their GNIs
37. ODA received in Small Island developing States as proportion of their GNIs

Market access

38. Proportion of total developed country imports (by value and excluding arms) from developing
countries and LDCs, admitted free of duties
39. Average tariffs imposed by developed countries on agricultural products and textiles and clothing
from developing countries
40. Agricultural support estimate for OECD countries as percentage of their GDP
41. Proportion of ODA provided to help build trade capacity Debt sustainability
42. Total number of countries that have reached their HIPC decision points and number that have
reached their HIPC completion points (cumulative)
43. Debt relief committed under HIPC initiative, US$
44. Debt service as a percentage of exports of goods and services
Target 16: In co-operation with developing countries, develop and implement strategies for decent
and productive work for youth
45. Unemployment rate of 15-24 year-olds, each sex and total
Target 17: In co-operation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable, essential
drugs in developing countries
46. Proportion of population with access to affordable essential drugs on a sustainable basis

Target 18: In co-operation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies,
especially information and communications

Indicators:
47. Telephone lines and cellular subscribers per 100 populations
48. Personal computers in use per 100 population and Internet users per 100 populations.

37
 Appendix 2

Workshop on “MDGs and Bangladesh Civil Service”

Group Works’ Report
Group : 1 (A + B)

The group was assigned to answer two sets of questionnaires, each containing 3 different questions.
At the outset, the group selected Mr. A. L. M. Abdur Rahman, Joint Secretary, Ministry of
Establishment, as Group Leader and determined the modalities for preparing group report. Ms.
Nandita Dutta of UNDP was assigned to take notes of the discussion and prepare the slides for group
presentation. They worked according to the following pre-set questions:

Group : A
1. Are the public officials at the field level well aware of the Millennium Development
Goals? If not, why? What can be done to improve the awareness situation?
(a) The group members recognized that the field level public officials “are not well
aware” of the terminology “MDGs”, its targets and strategies set out to achieve. But
they have been working towards realizing them as per the instructions and
directions given by their line ministries.
(b) The group members identified a number of reasons why they are not well aware of
the MDGs. They are as follows:
- The public officials working in the field level are not adequately sensitised about
the issues and that creates a strong coordination gap between policy planners
and policy implementers.
- The print and electronic media did not come forward to build required
awareness among public officials and its beneficiary groups as they did for
many other programmes.
- The field level officials have limited opportunity to participate in any discussion
forum dealing with the issues.
- Even the present training curricula of the concerned training institutions do not
adequately incorporate the MDGs or PRSP agenda. Moreover, most of the field
level public officials received training earlier when the concept of MDGs or
PRSP was not in existence and basically there is no system of such training
updates for the field level officials.
(c) The group members were of the view that that the drawbacks identified in 1 (b)
should be taken care of and appropriate focus on those areas would improve the
awareness situation.
2. What ROLE does the civil service play at present to achieve the targets of the
MDGs in the light of PRSP? What problems do they face with regard to this
additional work? How they can be motivated?
(a) The group members opined that the field level public officials work as part of
thematic groups of “Unlocking the Potentials .......” In fact PRSP is implemented
through different public sector projects and programmes undertaken by the
Government, where they play a vital role in taking decisions, formulating and
implementing those projects and programmes.

38
 (b) The group members identified (i) resource constraints, (ii) lack of motivation, (iii)
delay in project implementation and (iv) political intervention [politicising
development projects] as the major problems of playing such roles.
(c) They suggested that the field level public officials can be motivated through
rewarding good performance. They also suggested adopting a performance
evaluation mechanism based on regional (such as Division, District, Upazila or
Union etc. level) achievement of the sectoral issues (goal-oriented targets).

3. How can the role of the civil service be made more practical, productive and
citizen/customer-oriented with regard to the MDGs?
The group members opined that a participatory management mechanism (incorporating
public officials, civil society, local political leaders, NGO-activists, beneficiaries etc. in
the management Corp) would be the best option for achieving the MDGs, where
decentralization and deregulation of powers and authorities (obviously ensuring
transparency and accountability) are the pre-requisites. They also opined that the
“Participatory Management Corp” (PMC) should be given the authority to devise
appropriate mechanisms for reaching target groups, allocating resources efficiently and
developing welfare packages for needy people based on the arial differences in a time-
befitting manner.
Group : B
1. What internal changes or reforms are needed to tune the present civil service
system to achieve the Millennium Development Goals?
The group members suggested a decentralized form of Government with a strong local
Government machinery, where citizen’s charters will have to well defined; service
delivery organizations to be promoted and motivated to select appropriate target groups
and deliver time-bound services; GO-NGO and community participation has to be
ensured and a well-defined performance management system has to be introduced as
prescribed in A-2(c). Moreover, they strongly supported a well-structured and self-
contained career planning system, required deregulation and a full-proof systems for
combating corruptions.

2. What are the main obstacles to achieving the targets of the MDGs from the civil
service point of view? Can you suggest areas where immediate attention/reforms
are needed?
The group members prescribed the same issues as identified and suggested required
intervention/changes/reforms in A-1.

3. Why and in what ways may the changes/reforms you have suggested contribute
in achieving the MDGs?
The group members argued the whole process prescribed above would create a
positive mind-set of the public officials and the people concerned; pro-people and pro-
poor attitudes would be developed; they would be able to take the MDGs beyond its
technicality which would take it to people’s level of understanding. It was important to
make the field level public officials more aware of policies, plans, programmes and its

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 implementation and the public officials who would be trained centrally might be able to
decentralize the acquired training (knowledge, skills and attitudes) at the field level.

The Group-1 consisted of the following members:

Sl.No. Name, Designation and Address Status in the Group

1. Mr. A. L.M. Abdur Rahman, Joint Secretary, Ministry of

Establishment Group Leader
2. Mr. Md. Abul Hossain Mian, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Member
Establishment
3. Ms. Rowshan Ara Zaman, BPSC Member
4. Mr. Ahsab Sharfunobi, Deputy Secretary, Cabinet Division Member
5. Dr. Md. Monsur Ali, Civil Surgeon, Ministry of Health & Family Member
Planning
6. Mr. Md. Fakhrul Islam, Deputy Secretary, Planning Division, Member
Ministry of Plannning
7. Mr. Mian Mushtaque Ahmed, Secretary, Ministry of Science Member
and ICT
8. Dr. Muhammed Sadique, Director (Admin), BCS (Admin) Member
Academy, Dhaka
9. Mr. Md. Khalilur Rahman Siddiqui, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Member
Information
10. Mr. Md. Nojibur Rahman, UNDP Member
11. Mr. Md. Abul Hossain Mian, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Member
Establishment
12. Mr. Md. Abdul Monnaf Khan, DEO, Manikgonj Member
13. Mr. Subrata Kr. Banik, Upazila Education Officer, Sadar, Member
Manikgonj

Facilitator: Kazi Hasan Imam, Deputy Director, BPATC, Savar, Dhaka

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 Appendix 3

Report on Group Activities of the Workshop on ‘Developing Civil Service Capacity

for 21st Century Administration’ (Groups C & D)

Date: 3 August 2006

Time: 14:15 hrs

General Comments on Group Dynamics

The group consisted of 11 members, 10 of whom are members of the Bangladesh Civil
Service (Please see Annex-A). The 11th member was a non-cadre official of the
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. Of the rest, the majority belonged to BCS (Admn) cadre
with the exception of one member from BCS (Education) cadre.

Overall, all members of the group took part in the discussions with some dominating the
discussions. It was noted that male members dominated the discussions, while the three
female members occasionally gave inputs. Though the problem was pointed out to the
group a couple of times things did not improve. Among the male members, the
representative from Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics initially dominated the group but soon
the officials working at the field level (as UNOs) and other officers who have worked at the
field level (e.g. Dr. Mafiz and Mr. Tapos Kumar Roy) took over the discussions. It was quite
apparent that most of them are not fully aware of the MDGs and their role in achieving the
goals.

Most of the officials working at the field level (UNOs) were of the opinion that field-level
officials were already working with some of the issues of the MDGs such as poverty
alleviation, sanitation, etc. Then it was pointed out to them by another member (working in
the Ministry of Establishment) that the MDGs are time-bound and target-oriented goals.
During the discussions the question of political ownership of the MDGs and the usual
political interference in the activities of field level officials came up. The group members felt
that undue interference and lack of political commitment would pose as barriers in
realisation of the MDGs.

Other themes that initially dominated the discussions were the problem of lack of resources
and standard procedures to be followed in achieving the MDGs. They felt that adequate
and timely allocation of resources was a prerequisite of achieving the MDGs in the context
of Bangladesh. They also opined that if targets are to be achieved some sort of operational
procedures need to be followed to ensure accountability and transparency. Interestingly,
the group did not venture as far as to how to ensure better accountability. They felt that
standard procedures would ensure that! The group also discussed the issue of localization
of the MDGs and involvement of local government and other institutions in the process and
felt they should be involved. Another theme of discussion centred on the idea of recognition
for officials capable of accomplishing noteworthy tasks, for example realization of the
MDGs.

The group systematically analysed the questions provided to them and came up with the
following answers and recommendations:

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Recommendations of the Groups (C&D)

Question No.1

Are the public officials at the field level well aware of the Millennium Development
Goals? If Not, why? What can be done to improve the awareness situation?

Answers/ Recommendations

No. The reasons are:

™ Lack of information dissemination
™ Goals of the relevant Ministries are known, but the total MDG is not known t
the offices of the relevant departments.
™ Lack of coordination among Ministries, Divisions and departments.
™ Local officials are not invited to the MDG related seminars/ workshops.
™ No national level campaign exists for MDG achievement.
™ Lack of ICT facilities.
™ MDG issues are not taken very seriously by the government unlike other
programmes such as EPI.

Suggested Measures:
ƒ Awareness building
ƒ National campaign involving local stakeholders
ƒ Coordination committees at different levels.
ƒ Proper authorization to local authorities
ƒ Strengthening local institutions like Union Paris had/ Upazila Parishad

Question No.2

What ROLE does the civil service play at present to achieve the targets of the MDGs in
the light of PRSP? What problems do they face in regard to this additional work? How
they can be motivated?

Answers/ Recommendations

In general civil servants are not well aware of the MDGs and PRSP. Moreover, the new
concept of Mid-Term Budgeting introduced by the Ministry of Finance of GOB involves
allocation of budget for various ministries and this would dilute MDG and PRSP as
traditional development allocation for socio-economic improvement in general covers
the MDGs and PRSP activities. Lack of detailed job specification leading to job
description for field level officials, lack of coordination and absence of proper and timely
documented guidelines for achieving results would act as barriers to the achievement of
the MDGs at the field level.

The civil servants could be motivated by:

™ Appropriate training
™ Compensation for additional work
™ Recognition for good performance

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Question No.3

How can the role of the civil service can be made more practical, productive and
citizen/customer oriented with regard to the MDGs?

Answers/ Recommendations

With regard to the MDGs the role of the civil service could be made more practical,
productive and citizen oriented by:

¾ Ensuring independence of the civil service, free from political intervention

¾ Decentralization of decision making
¾ Introduction of participatory planning process
¾ Access to information
¾ Participation of local government institutions in achieving MDG objectives
¾ Partnerships with NGOs/ local government agencies/ private sector in realization of
MDGs
¾ Outsourcing some services when applicable

Question No.4

What internal changes or reforms are needed to tune the present civil service system to
achieve the Millennium Development Goals?

Answer

Internal changes/reforms needed in present civil service to achieve MDGs:

ƒ Providing legal framework for local coordination
ƒ Training facilities should be equitable for all officials working at all levels.
ƒ Introduction of bottom-up/ participatory planning

Question No. 5

What are the main obstacles to achieving the targets of MDGs from the civil service
point of view? Can you suggest areas where immediate attention/reforms are needed?

Answers/ Recommendations

Main obstacles in achievement of MDGs would be:

Î Lack of political commitment
Î Stability of tenure of officials in relevant desks ( no career planning)
Î Inadequate and delayed resource mobilization
Î Absence of gender-friendly environment

Suggestions for improvements:

o Coordination at the grass roots level to be increased

o Empowerment of local level officials
o Establishing gender-friendly environment
o Proper career planning for enhancing skills of civil servants

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Question No: 6

Why and in what ways may the changes/reforms you suggested contribute in achieving the
MDGs?

Answers

The above changes would contribute in achieving MDGs as:

o It would strengthen local institutions like Union Parishads.
o Right people would be placed in appropriate places
o There would be timely and adequate resource mobilization
o There would be empowerment of coordinating agencies working for
realization of MDGs.
o A national campaign for MDGs would result in more awareness building.

List of Participants

Sl. No Name & Designation of Participants

1. Mr. Tapes Kumar Roy, Director, BPATC, Savar, Dhaka
2. Ms. Shirring Akhter, Upazila Education Officer, Narayanganj
3. Ms. Ismat Mahmuda, Asstt. Director, BCS (Admn) Academy
4. Ms. Shamima Nasrin, Asstt. Director, BCS (Admn) Academy
5. Mr. Foyej Ahmed, UNO (Sadar) Narayanganj
6. Mr. Sayed Bealal Hossain, UNO (Sadar), Manikganj
7. Mr. Anwar Hossain, Senior Asstt. Secretary, Ministry of Establishment
8. Mr. Md. Shamsul Alam, Deputy Director, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
9. Dr. Md. Mafizur Rahman, Director, BPATC, Savar, Dhaka
10. Mr. Md. Anwar Hossain, ADC (Gen) Gazipur
11. Mr. Md. Abu Abudullah, UNO (Sadar), Narsingdi

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