Call to ensure good governance at government offices

The second international Kaizen Convention 2014 was held Thursday in the capital with a call to ensure good governance of government offices for the benefit of the people.
Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) organised the event at a city hotel on the day.
MDS, BPATC Ferdous Akhter delivered the address of welcome while Director of BPATC Abdul Baki offered vote of thanks.
Rector of BPATC AKM Abdul Awal Mazumder presided over the convention while Professor of Kwansei Gakuin University of Japan Toshihiko Ishihara presented keynote speech.
State Minister for Public Administration Begum Ismat Ara Sadique was present as the chief guest in the convention while Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, Mayor of Sanjo city of Japan Isato Kunisada, Chief Representative of JICA Mikio Hataeda, Councillor of Japan Embassy Mitsutake Numahata and Associate Director, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication of Japan Shigeru Fukutomi also attended it as special guests.  
The Kaizen initiative aims to improve public services through total quality man agement (TQM).   
Chief Representative of JICA Mikio Hataeda said good governance is important for vital economic progress and Kaizen could play an important role in this connection.
He said the convention will contribute to further active expansion of Kaizen initiative in Bangladesh which ultimately leads to establishment of a trustworthy cordial relationship between public servants and clients-citizens.
"We will continue our cooperation for the development of Bangladesh," he said.
Mayor of Sanjo city, Niigata of Japan Isato Kunisada said the Kaizen will help strengthen relations between Bangladesh and Japan. And the two countries have many things to learn from each other for mutual benefits.
He said that his city (Sanjo) will host the next international Kaizen Convention in March 2015.  
Assistant Manager of Kashiwara City, Division of Park, Urban Development Department of Japan Akinori Kimura, Assistant Division Chief, Policy Promotion Division, General Affairs Department of Sanjyo city of Japan Kazuhiro Sakata, Professor of Institute of Business and Accounting, Professional Graduate School, Kwansei Gakin University of Japan Dr Toshihiko Ishihara and Head of Client Engagement of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) of the United Kingdom (UK) Faisal Khan, among others, attended the convention.  
Kaizen is a system of continuous improvement in quality, technology, processes, company culture, productivity, safety and leadership.
Kaizen was created in Japan following World War II. The word Kaizen means "continuous improvement". It comes from the Japanese words ? ("kai") which means "change" or "to correct" and ? ("zen") which means "good".
Kaizen involves setting standards and then continually improving those standards. To support the higher standards Kaizen also involves providing the training, materials and supervision that are needed for employees to achieve higher standards and maintain their ability to meet those standards on an on-going basis.
In Bangladesh, the public servant system has been facing the twin challenges of public administration reform while meeting the increasing social needs of citizens in a developing economy. The project for Improving Public Services through Total Quality Management (IPS-TQM) is a five-year (2014-2018) project addressing these issues implemented by the BPATC and partner institutes - (BARD, RDA, NAEM, NAPD and NILG) in cooperation with the JICA as joint endeavour with the Nation Building Departments (NBDs).
The international Kaizen Convention is arranged annually to apprise the top management of NBDs and the ministries concerned about Kaizen activities being done by the upazila level officials.
JICA supports various projects in the field of governance in cooperation with the government of Bangladesh. Among them is the project for Improving Public Services through Total Quality Management (IPS-TQM). JICA experts' team works with BPATC and partner institutions for technical assistance.
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