CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT
Impact Story: Building Public Service Capacities to Implement the SDGs in Bangladesh with the Bangladesh Public Administration Training Center (BPATC)
October 03, 2019
Impact Story
Building Public Service Capacities to Implement the SDGs in Bangladesh
with the Bangladesh Public Administration Training Center (BPATC)
Source: Bangladesh Public Administration Training Center (BPATC)
Bangladesh has incorporated all 17 SDGs into its national plan. This has been an effort of the Ministry of Public Administration and coordinated by the office of the Principal Coordinator of the SDGs in the Prime Minister’s Office. The Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC) — the apex institute for building public service capacities—has been instrumental in this process.
The United Nations Project Office on Governance (UNPOG) hosted BPATC’s Rector during its 2017 Symposium on “Building Effective, Accountable and Inclusive Institutions and Public Administration for Advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” Since that Symposium, BPATC recognized the importance of public service being ‘fit for purpose’ to ensure SDG implementation in the country. It noted the importance of equipping public servants with the necessary values, mindsets and skills to deliver on the many Goals and Targets in the 2030 Agenda, many of which depend on public delivery. Immediately following the Symposium, in December 2017, BPATC adapted the symposium’s outcomes and content to its own context and adopted the theme of “Building Capacity for an Effective, Inclusive and Accountable Public Administration System.” Since then, BPATC has played a pivotal role in training public servants on the SDGs. The Centre reviewed its course curriculum and resource pool, assessed the need for SDG training, organized TOT (Training of Trainers) on the SDGs, and formed a pool of resource persons.
In the last two years the Bangladesh Public Administration Training Center (BPATC) has completely overhauled their system and implemented innovative measures to better equip civil servants for effective public administration. In this period BPATC also continued to showcase its progress through participation in UN DESA events – such as the 2018 and 2019 UN Public Service Forums, and regional symposia. It also used these platforms to integrate new lessons learned, research priorities and more.
BPATC now runs several core courses for the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) officials. They include a Foundation Training Course (FTC) for new entrants, an Advanced Course on Administration and Development (ACAD) for mid-career Deputy Secretaries, a Senior Staff Course (SSC) for Joint Secretaries and a Policy Planning and Management Course (PPMC) for Additional Secretaries. As of 15 September 2019, BPATC has trained 1,739 officials from BCS. To make the SDGs training more effective and continuous, BPATC has 77 master trainers on SDGs through TOTs.
Source: Bangladesh Public Administration Training Center (BPATC)
Head of UNPOG participated in (ISAASD 2019, organized by the Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre from 7 to 9 February 2019 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The Centre also conducts high-level policy dialogues comprising of professionals and academics from multiple disciplines. Two of the latest policy dialogues were held on the themes of, 'Transformational Leadership in a Changing Time’ and 'Changing Management in a Complex Environment.’ In these dialogues, 72 Senior Secretaries and Government Secretaries vowed to work as catalysts to achieve the SDGs. All attendees agreed on taking strategic initiatives and committed to working with a whole-of-society and whole-of-government approach.
In January 2019, another vital programme was organizing the 1st International Symposium on Achieving the 2030 Agenda at BPATC. Representatives from 19 administration training institutes from South and Southeast Asia attended, including the Head of UNPOG as the Guest of Honor. The symposium was an opportunity to exchange knowledge on best practices for training programs and to emphasize the need for competency frameworks to strengthen public administration.
BPATC also organized the 1st International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management (i-IKM) during April 2019.
Source: Bangladesh Public Administration Training Center (BPATC)
The Centre has also placed special importance on conducting research to assess their performance and identify any gaps that need to be addressed. BPATC produced a research paper titled “Assessing SDG related knowledge and understanding gap: A study on entry-level officers of the Bangladesh Civil Service.” The data collected will help conduct more efficient training among entry level officers of the BCS with updated content on SDGs. Another research paper titled “Regulatory and institutional framework for sustainable use of coastal and marine resource: A comparative analysis between Bangladesh and Australia,” focused on the SDGs-related actions of different ministries. Based on their results, the BPATC suggested a regulatory framework for national institutions. The Centre is currently working on a third paper titled “Achieving Sustainable Development Goals in Bangladesh: Organizational gap analysis.” This project has already greatly contributed to increasing national institution’ awareness of the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda.
BPATC has demonstrated its impact and proactive leadership to equip civil servants, in line with all the recommendations provide through the centre’s participation in various UN DESA events. UNPOG hopes to continue working closely with BPATC and support its continued efforts to disseminate knowledge about the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda, noting the country as a case in national leadership to strengthen public service for the SDGs.
