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Key Text How to Bring About Change in the Bangladesh Civil Service? Attempts to Change Mindsets, Behaviours and Practice

Author: Colin Jacobs
Date: 2009
Size: 10 pages (89 KB)

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Summary

What is the way forward for civil service reform in Bangladesh? This article from Public Administration and Development looks at the role that the Bangladesh civil service might play in enabling pro-poor reform and growth. It explores how a senior leadership programme, such as Managing at the Top (MATT2), can create a critical mass of reform minded civil servants. Developing leaders, reforming their attitudes and providing practical skills are all critical aspects of enabling change. However, a single programme is unlikely to be successful. Furthermore, while an incremental approach to reform may be realistic it should not fall into an acceptance of the current status-quo.

The civil service can play a key role in furthering development goals and ensuring services meet citizen needs. Rather than serving its own bureaucratic needs or those of politicians, a reformed civil service would need to show independence and a genuine desire to serve its citizens. In Bangladesh, the MATT2 project, which is funded by DFID, provides technical assistance to enable leaders to reach these objectives. It can be seen as a model for creating a critical mass of officers with work-based experience of reforms in an environment where a reform agenda has to be strengthened. Nevertheless, faced with the day-to-day demands of the job, being a ‘reform-minded’ civil servant may not be sufficient without a formal reform mandate driven by the highest authority. This needs to include recognition of the performance of those leaders who adopt pro-poor strategies.

Despite some encouraging results from MATT2, several issues emerge that have repercussions for the future of the civil service in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh has a history of subverting the principles of institutional reform.
A civil service designed for control has been inherited without sufficient attention being paid to its updating and the need for it to play a role in a modern democracy.
The poor are often powerless, under-represented and divided. In contrast the civil service has remained sealed from external pressures for reform from citizens or civil society.
While there are some leaders with vision, their impact and effectiveness is diluted by the rapid turnover of post-holders and the failure to enforce regulations or reward the best performers.
Although agenda setting and policy formulation takes place, there is little willingness to push things through to a successful conclusion with strong implementation and enforcement.

The civil service in Bangladesh has an important role to play in delivering pro-poor reform. A senior leadership programme, such as MATT2 can make a difference. However, for improvements to be sustained they need to be supported by wider institutional reform driven by a strong central mandate.

The role of leadership programmes must be to build a common sense of purpose across ministries and departments.
The development of internal resources through the recruitment and promotion of meritorious staff and their training and adequate deployment are part of the solution.
External stakeholders including civil society, donors and business must exert pressure on the civil service to reform.
In the short term, the best chances are likely to be in the election of a new government with an overwhelming majority and therefore substantial authority to compel civil service reform.

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Source: Jacobs, C., 2009, ‘How to Bring About Change in the Bangladesh Civil Service? Attempts to Change Mindsets, Behaviours and Practice’, Public Administration and Development, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 218-227.
Author: Dr Colin Jacobs , Colin.Jacobs@britishcouncil.org