District Consultation and Workshop Report on

Citizens Charter and Business Processes

October 12-14, 2009

Faridpur District

Ministry of Establishment (MoE) Civil Service Change Management Programme(CSCMP)

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212121 Faridpur District Consultation and Workshop Report Title: Date: Venue: I. Citizens Charter and Business Processes October 12-14, 2009 Faridpur District Introduction

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In accordance with the annual work plan of the Civil Service Change Management Programme (CSCMP) project, Citizens Charter and Business Processes Consultation- Workshops at the district and divisional levels shall be conducted within 2009. To date, there are three (3) district consultation-workshops conducted in Moulibazar (May 5-6), Coxs bazaar (July 22-23) and Panchagarh (August 19-20) and one (1) divisional consultationworkshop at Chittagong division held last (October 4-7). The Faridpur District is the site of the fourth consultation-workshop for the year. The Faridpur District Administration has arranged a day long workshop on Citizens Charter and Business Processes at Faridpur district on 14th October 2009. Before conducting the workshop, the CSCMP project team comprising of International Training Manager, Training Associate and Admin. & Finance Assistant has visited different government offices (District Civil Surgeon, Social Services Department, District Education Office (secondary level) and Government Sarada Sundari Mohila College) including a community-based NGO responsible for service delivery at Faridpur district on 13th October 2009. In all the consultation meetings, the Deputy Commissioner requested that the department heads, officials and staff are present to be engaged in the consultation meeting for more in-depth discussion considering the limited time available for the visit. In two organizations (Social Services and College) visited, an ocular visit was also made in their centers and office surroundings. The actual visit and interface with the direct beneficiaries of the concerned organizations provided valuable insights on the nature of services provided and the service delivery systems adopted. The consultation meetings and workshop aim to: i) make civil servants and citizens at the field level aware of the existence and the meaning of the Citizens Charter

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initiatives; and ii) start the process of responsive governance and civic engagement between civil service and citizens on the basis of Citizens Charter. Attached are the workshop proposal to the Ministry of Establishment (MoE), programme schedule, and list of participants (Annexes 1-3), copies of the power point presentations and handouts given to the participants (Annexes 4-8). II. A. Consultation Meetings Deputy Commissioners Office

Upon arrival at Faridpur district on October 12, the CSCMP team visited Mr. Helaluddin Ahmed, Deputy Commissioner (DC) for an introductory meeting and courtesy visit. The DC discussed with the team the preparatory works done in relation to the consultation meetings and workshop at the district. The DC assured all forms of cooperation will be extended by his office to make the consultation and workshop a success. Also present in this meeting are other Additional Deputy Commissioners, NDC, and RDC in the district. The DC showed to the Team how his office is implementing the Citizens charter such as installation of an information assistance desk at the ground floor of the building to receive letters, complaints, answer queries and provide services to people seeking assistance from the DC office. He also showed the different departments and sections of the DC office, and the charters of concerned units that are conspicuously hanged in their bulletin boards. The team was also asked to visit the workshop venue to see its suitability and other support facilities available for conducting the workshop. Moreover, the DC assigned Mr. Mustafizur Rahman, Asst. Commissioner to accompany the team in the consultation meetings to facilitate introduction of the team to different offices. B. RACINE RACINE is a community-based NGO operating in Faridpur since 1994. It services 26 community-based organizations focused on women empowerment and campaigns on violence against women. Its major programs and donors are: i) Gender Citizenship and Good Governance Program (Royal Tropical Institute of 3

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Netherlands; ii) Rural Infrastructure Development Program (Japan Bank for International Cooperation and LGED); iii) Promoting Womens Entrepreneurship Program (CIDA); iv) Women Entrepreneur and Women Friendly Business Centers Program (Action Aid Bangladesh); v) Women Leadership Development Program (PRIP Trust); vi) Adolescent Development Program (USC Canada); vii) Adult Literacy Program (PROSHIKA); and viii) Non-formal Primary Education (PROSHIKA). Ms. Asma Akter Mukti, Executive Director (ED) with her senior officials was grateful that they were included in the organizations to be consulted by the Team on Citizens charter. The ED explained about their organizational activities in relation Citizens charter initiatives to assist the people in the communities and access services they need. Aside from their existing programs, RACINE has collaborated with the UNOs in the six (6) upazila to set up a May I Help Center, wherein government personnel like the agriculture extension personnel and livestock specialist are available at certain days and time every week to respond to queries and provide technical guidance to the farmers, other government agencies conduct awareness building of services they can provide and on womens rights. The nature of the May I Help Center varies from one upazila to another depending on the needs of the communities. C. District Civil Surgeon At the District Hospital, the Team was met by the Deputy Civil Surgeon (DCS) with all the department heads, senior staff and consultants of the hospital such as the Pediatrician, ObGynecologist, Radiologist, Anesthesiologist, Pharmacist, Laboratory staff, among others. The DCS welcomed and explained their initiatives to introduce the Citizens charter by hanging the posters in the building of the hospital. Basically, the meeting highlighted the following major points: i) the charter specify what services they can provide (24 hour out-patient/ in-patient consultation, confinement services for a least 100 patients since the hospital has only 100 beds; radiology, laboratory and surgical operations, free medicines, ambulance services); ii) introduction of users fee for out-patient amounting to 5 Taka per patient, which can be used for buying some needed facilities in the hospital. However, the amount collected are deposited in the central treasury, hence they cannot use the money readily to augment the medicines and equipments requirements of the hospital; iii) the hospital has sufficient number of doctors and consultants but what is inadequate are nurses and nursing aids to service the in and out patients coming everyday; iv) the hospital has no post for surgeon, hence they are highly dependent

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on the availability of consultants; v) medicines are for free but not sufficient and available most of the time; and vi) effective medical services are hampered by limited budget. The DCS informed the Team that though they are very much committed and sincere to ensure better medical services for the people, they have many problems in terms of logistics, manpower, budget and policy which need to be responded. D. Department of Social Services Before the consultation meeting, Mr. Dulal Chandra Biswas ,Deputy Director (DD) invited the Team to visit the Children Home, Safe Custody of the District Social Service Department. We were allowed to interview the children living in the home and residing at Safe Custody for the time being. Facilities of the centers were also seen which are decent, clean and safe for the girls. Before leaving the center, the team met the DD and other colleagues coming from different Upzilas. During the meeting, the following were verbalized by the social workers and social service staff: i) despite limited resources, they are proud that many of their clients who graduated from the centers are able to pursue college through scholarships or as are working students, have good jobs, and are happily married. These previous clients of the centers visit them every year and provide financial support to the centers; ii) services provided by the department are very important in developing the well-being of the destitute, homeless, and abandoned children but there are no guidelines for cadres in social service and no career planning; iii) they are engaged in 38 services which are dismally delivered because of limited resources provided by the central government; and iv) capacity building trainings are also not available to upgrade the skills of the social services department. They mentioned that the Social Service departments are maintaining i.e. displaying the Citizens charter very effectively in their premises but they expressed their deep concern about insufficient budget and inadequate logistics to provide the needed services in the district. The charters have not been true to its promises because of limitation of organizational resources. E. District Education Office Ms. Bela Rani Sarker, District Education Officer informed the team on what services they are giving for the teaching staffs of the district. She mentioned that teachers are provided with some training to upgrade their skills and knowledge. The children/students benefited from this service, since

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teachers are more motivated and creative in the handling of their classes. However, they do not have a system to monitor the effectiveness of the teachers in relation to the magnitude of students passing the qualifying exam for tertiary level education. F. Government Sarada Sundari Mohila College Professor Md. Abdul Khaleque Miah, Principal, Govt. Sarada Sundari Mohila College, Faridpur arranged a formal meeting with all of the teaching staff of the college. In the meeting, they highlighted the achievements of the college. In fact, there were two (2) students who provided feedbacks on the effectiveness of the faculties in teaching and motivating students to be diligent in their studies. The other student also mentioned certain limitations and challenges that the college is facing in terms of availability of doctors to provide medical service to students, especially at night, limited latest edition textbooks and dilapidated classrooms, library and dormitory facilities which are not conducive to learning. Despite this situation, the faculties of the college are committed to meet the nations demand, especially if they are supported with the modern educational facilities and appropriate budget. What is revealing as highlighted in the consultation, that about 70% of the students that passed the qualifying exam and admitted in the College are students who are graduates of private schools. Hence, the children of the poor families from public schools of the district have limited opportunity to pursue tertiary education. III. A. Workshop on Citizens Charter and Business Processes Mechanics of the Workshop

The workshop was divided into 3 (three) parts: Opening Ceremony; Main Working Sessions; and the Closing Ceremony. This was attended by 52 participants ( 42 males and 8 females) coming from different stakeholders like officers from different government institutions including Joint Secretary, Deputy Secretary, from the Ministry of Establishment, Deputy Commissioners, Deputy District Civil Surgeons, Police Officers, Social Welfare Officers, UNO, Assistant Commissioner (LAND), Journalists, Lawyers, NGO representatives, Teachers, Business community and other Civil Society members took part in the day long workshop. Also in attendance that provided unwavering support are around 10 officers from the District Commissioners Office, Mr. Abu Taj Md. Zakir, Deputy Secretary, Development Wing, MoE, and and Mr. Saiful Islam, Finance Officer, CSCMP, UNDP.

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In the opening ceremony Mr. A. M. Badrudduja, Joint Secretary, CPT Wing, Ministry of Establishment (MoE) inaugurated the workshop as Chief Guest and the Superintendent of Police, Faridpur and a political leader/local elite served as Special Guests. Mr. Helaluddin Ahmed, Deputy Commissioner of the district, acted as Chairperson of the workshop. At the beginning of the ceremony, Mr. Helaluddin Ahmed delivered his welcome address followed by the speeches of the Special Guests Mr. Awlad Hossain Fakir, Police Superintendent and Mr. Nurun Nabi, local elite/political leader. Both the Special Guests highlighted the demand for proper implementation of Citizens Charter. Mr. Fakir explained briefly the services they are providing to bring the police closer to the people and encourage public vigilance against irregularities and maintain peace and order in the district. Mr. Nabi asked government officials and staff to perform their role sincerely to meet the public demands. Finally, the Chief Guest A.M. Badrudduja emphasized in his speech the ministries endeavors to meet government commitment to build a digital Bangladesh and attain vision 2021 through effective service delivery. At the end of his speech he formally inaugurated the workshop. After formal opening and tea break, the main Working Sessions started with a discussion of Ms. Susana Evangelista-Leones, International Training Manager, CSCMP on the achievements of Bangladesh in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), the relevance and significance of the workshop in relation to the challenges confronting Bangladesh at present and how Citizens charter and business process can help in effective service delivery. Mechanics and expected outputs were also highlighted before the breaking up of the participants into four (4) small discussion groups.

The Workshop was divided into four (4) sub-workshops tackling specific concerns on Citizens Charter and Business Processes. The participants were divided into small discussion groups comprising of 10-12 participants per group. To facilitate the smooth flow of the dialogue and deliberation in the small groups, a facilitator, documenter, and presenter were selected in every group by the participants. The outputs were presented in the plenary for clarification, and later were summarized by Ms. Leones, reflecting the recommendations and overall agreements of the participants in the workshop. The following are the sub-workshops and the guide questions used:

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1.

Sub-Workshop I Expectations and Significance As a citizen and/or civil servant, what is/are that you are proud of and value most (at least five) in your Citizens Charter?

2. Sub-Workshop II Possible Additions If you have 5 wishes to make meaningful contribution to public welfare of Bangladesh, what potential additions in the Citizens Charter would you propose? 3. Sub-Workshop III Opportunities and Challenges What opportunities (at least 5) can you see in the implementation of the Citizens Charter? What challenges (at least 5) might come your way in the implementation of the Citizens Charter? 4. Sub-Workshop IV Innovative Ways and Action Plan to implement and deliver the Citizens Charter Identify one (1) innovative way/strategy to implement the Citizens Charter in the most effective manner. What seeds (activities) might we plant together today to deliver the Citizens Charter, which will serve as your personal commitments and realistic contributions as an organization? B. Workshop Outputs

The presentation of workshop 1-3 outputs started after lunch. Mr. Ahmed, Training Associate facilitated the plenary discussion, with Ms. Leones, International Training Manager synthesizing the four (4) small group presentation outputs of every sub- workshop in relation to the overall objectives of the workshop. Specifically, in Workshop I, the participants started their discussions by describing the Citizens charter they brought to make everybody in the group aware of the content of the charters. Workshop I pinpointed what they value most or are proud of in their Citizens charters: opportunity to continuously serve the people, especially the marginalized, slumdwellers and helpless in a cordial, effective and extensive manner; right to information to build awareness of the people on services available and for them to have easy access to these services; well coordinated and development of better working relationship between service providers and end-users;

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practice good governance in terms of making service providers accountable (delivering services on time), transparent (i.e transparent ballot boxes); and facilitate the participation of the citizens in defining/prioritizing services.

charters namely:

Workshop 2 outputs spelled out potential additions or enhancements in the Citizens define clearly the goals and objectives of Citizens charter initiatives in simple language for better understanding and appreciation of the citizens; define and prioritize services based on the needs of the end-users; set service standards (timeframe and quality of service); treat fairly all end- users regardless of gender, cast and class; build the capability (skills, knowledge and attitude) of service providers to deliver effective services; budgetary requirements, staff complement and logistic supports are provided by central government to service providers adequately and on time to deliver good services; stakeholders participation in defining, implementing and monitoring service delivery; develop new services, programs and laws for a responsive service delivery; install information desk for giving information on Citizens charter initiatives; popularize the implementation of citizens charter; strengthen monitoring system of public service delivery to prevent abuse of power of public officials, political interference and corruption; strict enforcement of public policies such as availability of doctors, teachers and other public service personnel during office hours by requiring them to live within the districts or catchment areas to provide services on time; implement the Citizens charter and provide services in a transparent manner

Workshop 3 defined the opportunities and challenges in the implementation of Citizens charters. Specifically, the following are the opportunities identified: citizens will be informed on available services and may have easy access to these services; may foster better working relationship between and among service providers and citizens;

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more realistic, better and needed services can be provided on time and in a more transparent manner; will make service providers accountable in delivering quality services; can be an avenue for engaging stakeholders to participate in service delivery and public welfare of Bangladesh; may be able to reduce/eliminate bureaucratic red tapes and corruption; service providers to practice good governance and improve its public image of civil service in the country; and achieve Citizens satisfaction with the services provided On the other hand, the challenges listed are the following: adherence to traditional values and practices (bureaucratic complexity and red tapes) in service delivery by service providers may hamper Citizens access to services and exercising their rights; illiteracy and peoples lack of awareness on their right to information and right to access services; capacity of service providers in terms of expertise, manpower, financial resources and clear plan to deliver the services; political interference and insensitiveness in service delivery; obsolete and unimplemented laws which may obstruct implementation of citizens charter initiatives; imposition of perceived un-equal foreign treaties and prescriptions; Public service policies not properly implemented by public officials; and Maximize the utilization of information technology to facilitate service delivery

Workshop 4 was focused on identifying innovative ways and defining action plan to implement the Citizens charter. The enumerated innovative ways to implement Citizens charters are: generate awareness on the charter; popularize the Citizens charter; introduce and establish information desk and complaint handling system in every organizations across levels; install a system of coordination and supervision among service providers; and develop an evaluation and monitoring system.

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The workshop ended with an overall summary of the workshop outputs provided by Ms. Leones. The detailed output of the small group discussions is presented as Annex 9. The Closing Ceremony was presided over by the DC. But before closing the session, the DC solicited feedbacks from the participants - NGO representative, Chamber of Commerce representative, Mayor of Faridpur, and College Principal. All of them stated that the workshop was very informative, allowed interactions and participation among them to share their views, experiences and recommendations, and learned new things on the imperatives of change and citizens charter. Mr. Badrudduja, Joint Secretary of MoE also praised the initiatives and interventions taken by the district administration as well as the participants. Finally Mr. Helaluddin Ahmed concluded the session with a vote of thanks to all the participants including the Chief Guest, Special Guests and the representatives from ministry and UNDP. IV. Observations

The report will integrate the outputs of the workshop in relation to major public service issues: Citizens charter and basic service delivery, business processes and organizational capacity, capacity and change management. The report will also reinforce and/or reiterate similar findings in Moulibazar, Coxs Bazar and Panchagarh Districts and Chittagong Divisional Workshops to show emerging trends in terms of the existing Citizens charter implementation. Other unique findings in Faridpur Workshop are incorporated in the report.

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212121 A. Citizens Charter and Service Delivery Issues 1. The state of the citizens charter in Faridpur

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The Citizens charter was first implemented in Bangladesh two years ago when the caretaker government initiated the promulgation of charters of every ministry at the central level. The reason behind this initiative is to make citizens aware of the services that they can access from different service providers and provide the needed services to the people. Hence, it aims to improve quality of public service. The Citizens charters of the different ministries were written in the local language and distributed at the district level for posting in the premises of their buildings. CSCMP team consultations in the district revealed that not all offices have posted their charters but kept them in their files. The formulation of the Citizens charters was centrally made by the head office for distribution at the districts. Widespread dissemination of the charters was also not undertaken but in compliance with instructions from the central government, many of these charters were posted or hanged in the offices premises. However, when charters are not hanged, a file copy is kept in the office. This is also the reason why most of the employees are not well oriented on the citizens charter initiative and much more the citizens in the district. Seemingly, there are confusions on the substantive content of the citizens charter. Generally, what is stipulated is a list of services that they can provide. In the Civil Surgeon, aside from the services to be provided, the Citizens charter clearly stipulated that the citizens have the right to avail of free medical services. In the AC Land, it presents the timeframe for each step of the mutation process with the fees required to be paid, and the name of the officers where to file complaints, as necessary. However, in the DC office, it reflects the job description of the section or unit with corresponding person responsible and duration of time to accomplish certain task.

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212121 2. Relevance and Importance of Citizens Charter

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With this state of the Citizens charter initiative in Faridpur district, most often citizens are unable to avail of timely and needed services because of lack of information on what services to access, where, when, how, how much it cost, who can avail of the services and if there are other service providers that are delivering similar services. The Citizens charter, which is a very simple document provide vital information that can empower citizens to use their right to information and right to access services. Citizens charter does not by itself create new legal rights but it helps in enforcing existing rights for as long as citizens are aware of these rights (information and to access services). This is done by letting citizens know the mandate of the concerned ministry/organization, how they can get in touch with the officials of the office, what services to get and how to seek a remedy if something goes wrong. Citizens charter can also play an important role in bringing public service closer to the citizens by making then aware of the services they can claim from service providers. It can build better working relationship between service providers and end-users or build citizens trust to governance by making delivery of services transparent and making service providers accountable to the citizens in terms of the type, quality and quantity of services. Citizens charter initiative can also be an avenue to motivate civil servants and give them a sense of purpose and mission for delivering quality services to the citizens thereby making a meaningful contribution to public welfare of Bangladesh.

3. Citizens Charter as a Platform for Citizens Orientation As continuously mentioned in the small group discussions, Citizens charter implementation should be considered by the service providers, especially civil servants, an opportunity to serve and not to be master of the citizens. Hence, 13

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Citizens charter must be an on-going initiative between and among stakeholders, service providers and end-users, where they are given the opportunity to be engaged and effectively participate in drafting/enhancing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating the Citizens charter. Since Citizens charter is not only a product but more of a process, it then becomes an avenue to institute systematic change for improved service delivery, increased public accountability and transparency. With the abovementioned context, Citizens charter can be a platform for conscious Citizens orientation. As a platform, Citizens charter can engage civil service and citizens to meet and deliberate possible improvements in service delivery. It can be a mechanism for Citizens voice to influence government priorities, governance processes, including demanding transparency and accountability (Sharma, 2009). This has been proven in many donors assisted projects in Bangladesh, with the Citizens voices and accountability (CVA) interventions, the citizens have the capacity to influence changes in policy (introduction of new laws, implementing decentralization), changes in practices (provision of information, improved transparency, access to services, new mechanism to exercise accountability), changes in behaviors ( individually and collectively-greater awareness, more adequate and timely response to Citizens demands, greater participation); and changes/redressing unequal power relations (CVA evaluation, 2008). Ultimately, the effectiveness of public service is predicated upon transparency and the responsiveness of the government and the ability of the citizens to hold government accountable (Rizvi, 2009). Internationally, different countries (UK, India, Malaysia, Australia, Belgium, France, Portugal etc.) that ventured in Citizens charter implementation realized that a top-down style of public administration will not yield desirable results. Rather, through stakeholders engagement and strategic partnering, Citizens orientation was harnessed, and civil service reaches out to the citizens to encourage them to participate in defining effective service delivery system. Citizens charter initiatives as a platform shall be concerned with establishing decision making processes that empowers the citizens and communities so they can manage their resources (defining/prioritizing needed services), demand changes in policies, systems, procedures, resource allocations, strengthening accountability mechanisms that allows the state to respond accordingly. It should be recognized that by making Citizens charter as platform for Citizens orientation, this would require change in mindset and shifting to new development paradigm (creating voice, accountability, civic engagement), which may be a tedious and even be a protracted process. The pro-active next steps deliberated in this workshop to implement Citizens charter need to be started with the cultural change (mindset) in civil service and development of skills for the citizens in creating voices. The opportunities and challenges for Citizens charter as a platform for civic engagement to ensure responsive service delivery have been crystallized in the

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workshop. These could serve as guidepost in the implementation and enhancement of the Citizens charter. 4. Essential Elements and Operating Principles of Citizens Charter Many of the people we consulted in the district and those who attended the workshop have heard about Citizens charter. But only a few are well oriented on its objectives and content. This was actually verbalized by the participants that this workshop have provided them better understanding on what Citizens charter initiatives is all about and how it can be a potent tool for effective service delivery. Since the Citizens charters brought by the part participants are of different forms and content, there were suggestions from the workshop. One of the suggestions was that Citizens charter should spell out the details of what should be done in dealing with clients/end-users and the processes and services standards of a particular office to get away with continuous processes which are usually prone to malpractice. The charter should guide the clients/end-users of each government agency in accessing frontline services to promote faster and transparent service in the bureaucracy. In order to have a common content of the Citizens charter in every organization, the following should include the following basic information: i) name of the organization; ii) location and scope of coverage; iii) mission or mandate; iv) core/specific frontline services; v) each steps or procedures to obtain each services; vi) personnel responsible for each step; vii) maximum time to complete the process; viii) documents to be presented by the end-users, if necessary; ix) amount of fees to be paid, if any; x) procedures for filing complaints in case of violation of provisions of the Citizens charter; and xii) responsibilities of the citizens. Repeatedly, the workshop participants mentioned that citizens should be treated fairly regardless of gender, cast, religion and class to avoid social exclusion. In India, Citizens charter has benefited predominantly the affluent customers and majority of those who suffer from various forms of social exclusion based on cast, gender, religion and class were less likely to access the services brought about by excessive concern for marketorientation or efficiency, which slowly eroded the traditional public service ethics, detached the public sector activities from Citizens needs and demands and led to decline in public trust in state institutions (Haque ). Based on experiences of other countries, specifically the United Kingdom, they have identified the essential principles that should guide the organizations in the formulation of the Citizens charter, which may also be taken into considerations by the MoE, Bangladesh such as: i) Quality - the end goal is to improve the services; ii) Choice-the citizens are given the option to choose the

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service providers that can provide the best services possible on time; iii) Standards - specify what to expect (in terms of time and quality) and how to act if standards are not met; iv) Value- recognition of the importance of taxpayers money; v) Accountability- both the individual members of the organization and the whole organization are accountable to the citizens in the delivery of service; and vi) Transparency rules, procedures grievance mechanisms are identified. B. Business Processes and Organizational Capacity Issues Business processes and organizational capacity of the government to implement Citizens charters across the country at different levels are very important issues to consider. As discussed and suggested, the Citizens charter initiative must be an on-going process to ensure the delivery of services based on quality, promptness, transparency and end-users choice. The workshop participants have listed important innovative ways to implement the citizens charter namely: i) generate awareness on the charter; ii) popularize the Citizens charter; iii) introduce and establish information desk and complaint handling system in every organizations across levels; iv) install a system of coordination and supervision among service providers; and v) develop an evaluation and monitoring system. With the end goal of generating awareness on the charter, popularization of the charter is a vital strategy. The participants have enumerated various ways of popularizing the Citizens charter such as: i) mass campaign using print and electronic media; ii) information dissemination involving religious leaders to be conducted in the mosques; iii) incorporating in the primary and secondary education curriculum the relevance and importance of citizens charter in relation to public welfare of Bangladesh; iv) publicity through billboards and distributions of leaflets; v) information dissemination through court-yard meetings, community meetings, public hearings, street drama, cinema and music program; and vi) slogan making like I know and let other know. The awareness building and popularization of the charter will utilize participatory tools and methodologies to win the hearts and minds of the citizens and civil service. The second innovative way of implementing the charter is to introduce the establishment of an information desk in every organization of the country and across levels (central, division, district and upazila). The information desk is considered as a May I help Counter. It is envisioned that an office space will be provided in every organization, manned by personnel who will accept letters, complaints, answer queries and will provide technical guidance to the general public or citizens. The counter will provide information on the charters for

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each frontline service that can be accessed in the organization. Hence, the citizens will be given information as to which unit (s) and person(s) in the organization is/are responsible to provide the services needed. Included in the counter is also an opinion/complaint box, where citizens can write down their comments, suggestions, complaint on the nature of services received or not accessed. This box can also indicate the level of satisfaction of the clients/citizens. With this information desk available, the participants think that corruption may be reduced since rent-seeking behavior through middlemen or fixers may be curtailed. The bulletin board of the organization will be posted with their charter. Ultimately, participants hope that committed civil service will enrich the service and regularize them, as well. The third innovative way identified was the supervision and monitoring of the implementation of the Citizens charter, the participants stated that supervision and monitoring teams comprising of civil service, citizens coming from the civil society organizations, non-government organizations and ordinary citizens/end-users shall be formed at different levels. One-stop service center shall also be introduced at different levels to support the supervision and monitoring teams. To develop skills and commitment of civil service, capacity development trainings shall be undertaken to ensure effective and efficient service delivery. The fourth innovative way to implement Citizens charter is to install a coordination system between and among service providers and end-users. Specifically, the participants envisioned that the coordination system is a support mechanism to the supervision and monitoring teams. To have an implementable coordination system, an integrated work plan incorporating the strategies with be developed, which will be given to the supervision and monitoring teams. Capacity building shall also be included in the plan. All the innovative ways to deliver the Citizens charter initiatives recommended participatory business processes to be adopted for generation of maximum participation between civil service and citizens, and to instill ownership for more sustainable and creative implementation. The participatory business processes may guarantee that the implementation of Citizens charter initiatives will be on-going to respond to changing needs of the citizens and in accordance with capacity of the service providers. The effective and successful implementation of the Citizens charter is highly dependent on the organizational capacity of the Civil Service to deliver the services stipulated in the charters. And the organizational capacity include competencies of the civil service, expertise to establish strategic partnering with stakeholders, realistic budget and supportive environment of the civil service to deliver what is promised in the charters. Without the capacity, the Citizens charter will remain to be a useless piece of paper which will increase skepticisms of the public, demoralize civil service and the inefficient image of the government will persist. Hence, it is 17

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imperative that civil service is able to calibrate the desired organizational capacity required at every stage of the implementation and correspondingly develop these capacities to warrant delivery of responsive services. There are numerous recommendations that were surfaced in the workshop waiting for the administration to consider and implement. C. Capacity Issues In all the administration offices that we have visited and in the workshop, the lack of capacity to deliver services has been highlighted as the biggest hindrance in the implementation Citizens charter. Basically, they refer to lack of capacity as meager budget, unskilled personnel, absence of and/or unfilled up vacant post, non-conducive working environment due to dilapidated building facilities and equipments, among others. The reasons behind the lack of capacity are indeed manifestations of a deeper problem in public administration. The core problem is the highly centralized administration and management practices of civil service which hampers effective and efficient service delivery. All major concerns are decided at the center such as budget allocation which is not congruent with needs/ service requirements at the district levels. The frequent personnel movement either due to transfer or promotion adds to the disruption in service delivery due to adjustment in learning process and mismatched expertise based on work demands. As narrated by the civil service consulted, almost everything is decided at the center, which more often, the decisions are always delayed to the detriment of performance of the field level personnel. These personnel are always blamed for ineffective service delivery, which is not a good practice in the existing public service administration. The capacity issues spelled out in the consultations and workshop is not only referring to knowledge, skills and experiences of individual staff and/or the organization but it also include leadership, structures, rules, regulations and procedures, utilization of social capital, the intangible values and informal system prevailing in the organization, which are not simple inadequacies. Capacity is not only a summation of individual capacities but covers also the individual strengths that weave an organization to be strong and resilient to respond to the challenges in its environment. CIDA defines capacities as comprising of abilities, skills, understandings, attitudes, values, relationships, behaviors, motivations, resources and conditions that enable individuals, organizations, networks/sectors and broader social system to carry out functions and achieve objectives over time. It was also observed that capacity and capacity development is interchangeable used by the public administration officers to mean training of personnel. It must be clarified that capacity is an outcome while capacity development is a process, an approach, a strategy and methodology to improve performance of individuals, organizations, networks/sector and

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broader social system. Training is one of the approaches to build capacity and not sufficient to strengthen capacity of an organization to deal with its changing environment. It is also important to recognize that when we develop capacities, we are not only expanding individual human skills but we need to create opportunities and incentives for people to use and extend those skills for their personal growth and professional fulfillment. As observed the public administration offices in Faridpur district have numerous potentials to fully utilize these capacities in implementing Citizens charter initiative. Specifically, the public administration officers are exhibiting people-centered perspective in service delivery, open to interactions with stakeholders and have more modern office building and facilities. The Citizens charter initiative happening not only in Faridpur district but also in Moulibazar, Coxs bazaar, Panchagarh, Comila, Feni, Chittagong districts provided a conducive opportunity to reflect on how the required capacity of the civil service can be harnessed/developed. The findings in the consultation meetings and workshops in these districts revealed the various dimensions of organization change that must be pursued to achieve desired results. Definitely, the external environment (conditions for change and various stakeholders and citizens claiming for services) are facilitating factors to push organizational change in civil service. D. Change Management Issues The Faridur district workshop presented some change management issues. One of them is whether there must be a change in how Citizens charter

initiative is implemented, and if change is necessary, from whose perspective. The consultation workshop revealed that many of the civil

service and citizens are not well oriented on the Citizens charter initiative since this emanated from the central government. The administration officers complied with the guidelines by hanging/posting the Citizens charters in their building premises without conscious dissemination to its employees and end-users. During the workshop, they suggested that Citizens charter initiative needs to be understood well by all the personnel involved in service delivery, endusers and other stakeholders to deliver services to the citizens. But do the civil servants recognize the need for extensive dialogue and deliberation, civic engagement, dissemination campaign and other changerelated activities are seen as important, relevant and urgent for having citizenoriented charters than having a plain written guideline, which will not work and will just repeat what is happening at present. It is imperative that public administrators at the central administration are convinced that for effective service delivery, the Citizens charter initiative is a considered as more a process than a product. This also reflects that change in mindset

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must emanate from the center since the field administration personnel are really asking that there suggestions be seriously considered. The second change management issue is whether the suggestion of making Citizens charter as platform for civic engagement will be supported by the central and field public administration officers. Again, for change to happen, public administration officers need to support the processes, do strategic partnering with as many stakeholders as possible. With a clear awareness and understanding on the imperatives of Citizens charter initiative, the motivation to initiate the change must also be well explored. If there is no motivation to put into actions the suggestions in workshop, then this will remain as just workshop outputs.

The third change management is issue whether there is capacity for the service providers across levels to initiate the change. Definitely, the present

line of thinking of the public administration officers to look at capacity and capacity development as training will not be congruent with the processes and principles of doing civic engagement for Citizens charter initiative. As mentioned in the early part of the report, capacity is an outcome of capacity development. And capacity development is not a summary of individuals capacities, knowledge and abilities but more complex involving both the formal and informal learning systems of the whole organization, strategic partnering with networks/ sectors and interfacing with broader system of its external environment. Hence, what is called for by this change management issue is for CPT Wing/Development Wing, in particular and Ministry of Establishment (MoE), in general be a learning organization to deliver the Citizens charter.

Finally the last change management issue is whether MoE can sustain the change process. As suggested, Citizens charter must be an on-going process of civic engagement in order to have a responsive service delivery. This initiative may also pave the way for creating the mechanism for sustaining improvements in service delivery.

V.

Recommendations The Faridpur Workshop is the fifth district workshop on Citizens charter and business process and similar findings are revealed in terms of the Citizens charter implementation strengths and weaknesses. There are many relevant recommendations that need to be acted upon by the civil service in order to respond to

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the demands of the citizens. It may be appropriate that instead of a district workshop, divisional workshops are organized to establish the general trends and corresponding define collective actions. After divisional workshops on Citizens charter and business processes, a national workshop should be organized to summarize the general findings of the district and divisional workshops, invite experts to share best practices in Citizens charter implementation and draw out enhancement guidelines in implementing the Bangladesh Citizens charter initiative. Separate events have also to be organized to make citizens aware of the Citizen's Charter initiative, after the National Workshop. These events should focus on providing citizens with information and on facilitating civilian action. At a later stage, when both the civil service and the citizenry are ready (i.e. when citizens have the ability to raise their 'voice' with regards to Citizen's Charter and the civil service has started to address the major capacity issues), additional collaborative meetings can be organized. The Citizen's Charter initiative provides a perfect entry point to address crucial capacity issues and could therefore serve as a catalyst in drawing up new decentralization policies and starting consultative sessions between the central and the field administration. Part of the information dissemination is to publish the documentations of the Citizens charter consultations and workshops highlighting the recommendations on the possible additions on the essential elements and operating principles of Citizens charter initiative. CPT Wing, MoE starts utilizing the result of the workshop in developing the implementing guidelines on enhanced Citizens charter implementation, which can be presented in the National workshop.

Prepared By:

SUSANA EVANGELISTA-LEONES International Training Manager CSCMP, UNDP Bangladesh

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