Chain of command, accountability in bureaucracy urgent: Experts

There should be coordinated efforts, chain of command and accountability in the bureaucratic domain to rightly implement government development projects, experts at a training camp for officials said Wednesday.
They stressed development of government performance- management system as a mechanism for realizing the project policy properly.
 "Without the effective follow-up to the project-policy implementation there could be no effective outcome," the function was told.
The workshop titled "Designing and Implementing Government Performance Management Systems" began at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in Dhaka.
The Cabinet Division of the Government of Bangladesh and the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) of BRAC University with the support of the World Bank have jointly organised the event.
The core objective of the brainstorming session is to develop the skills of the bureaucrats on how best they could serve the people by carrying out their responsibilities and implementing the projects through applying the developed government performance- management system for the benefit of the people.  
The speakers said there should be "consistence between the rhetoric and action" in executing the government policies.
Cabinet Secretary Muhammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan as the chief guest at the workshop said the performance of the government offices would be improved if a performance- management system can be introduced.
 "This will contribute positively to the governance system."
He stressed the need for cooperation from all the government officers in introducing a successful performance-management system in Bangladesh.
The high official hoped that the workshop would enormously help the government offices in the country for effective performance management.
Former secretary of the Performance Management Division (PMD) of the Government of India Dr Prajapti Trivedi, Senior Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Md Abul Kalam Azad and senior research and head of Politics, Democracy and Governance cluster of BIGD Dr Tofail Ahmed were present as special guests.  Secretary-in-Charge (Coordination and Reforms) of the Cabinet Division Md Nazrul Islam presided.  
A book titled "The Proceedings of the Global Roundtable on Government Performance Management" was released by Mr Muhammad Musharraf Hussain Bhuiyan.
The publication summarises the best global practices in Government Performance Management (GPM) by comparing and contrasting practices from several countries with the Indian system.  
It is the outcome of a 'Global Roundtable on Government Performance Management' organised by the Performance Management Division (PMD) of the Government of India in collaboration with the Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE) in December 2013.
The roundtable was a dialogue among experts and decision-makers from across the world. It was designed to draw lessons for improving government performance management and practices in India.   
The workshop is taking place in two phases. Additional Secretaries and Joint Secretaries of different ministries and divisions are attending in the first phase on November 12-13.  
Its concluding session will take place tomorrow (Friday) with all secretaries of different ministries and divisions attending. International Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister Gowher Riziv is expected to be chief guest.

talhabinhabib@yahoo.com