Preface:

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven."
                                                                                 --- Ecclesiastes 3:1

Text area caption goes here Bangladesh has had more than its fair share of studies on public
administration-- with few practical results. So why yet another? Well, something just changing
the angle of approach can lend a fresh perspective which helps to reveal solutions to seemingly
instractable issues. The starting point of this Report was to ask some fundamental questions.
What should be the role and nature of governmentent in Bangladesh? How can it best serve
its citizens? How can the Goverment energize the private sector and harness its potential?

So far, studies on public management reforms have been restricted to the "how" of government.
Any effective reform program has to recognize the link between the "how" and "what" of
government. In reforming countries, the "what" has influenced the approach to the "how".
At another level, the ultimate test of doing the "how" better is whether it supports the government
and community in making better decisions about the "what".

One of the unique feature of this Report is that it is homegrown. The key public sector issues
were studied by a group of Bangladeshi citizens with knowledge of and interest in public sector
reforms. The findings of the Report are based on case studies, survey of citizens, and content
analysis of newspapers. The Report is organized into eight chapter, covering the following key
public sector management topics: overextension of government; incentives and organizational
features of successful government initiatives; inaderuate level and nature of accountability;
regulatory overburden and poorly formulation and implementation, and slow decision making;
and finally dysfunctional compensation and personnel management systems.

The report is expected to : enhance the quality and depth and breadth of the on-going debate
within the country on the role of the state and public sector performance; raise awareness in
the body politic on the linkage between public sector performance and growth; provide the
cross-country experience and analytical underpinnings for reform of the public sector; and help
accelerate the momentum for change and strengthen those forces in Bangladesh which are
pressing for change . The report generates ideas for changes to GOB’s on-going public
sector reform initiative potentially enable them to have an impact which has thus far been
elusive. Indeed, these initiative lacked the broader context and focus on actions essential
to induce behavioral change in organizations. In general, the report is normative in nature .
To aid the incoming Government in drawing up an agenda for public sector reform, it makes:
recommendations on priority areas of reform during the shot-term; and provides advice on
preparation of a comprehensive medium-term Action Plan in context of a long-term vision
of the redefined role of the state.