Workshop

on
 Social Accountability Tools
NIS, APA, GRS CC & RTI

Facilitators
Mohammad Razibul Islam
 Workshop Outline
• Conceptual overview of NIS, GRS, APA, CC &
RTI
• Tool based groupwork
• Group Presentation
• Wrap up

Baki Director @ BPATC 2017 2

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Factors affecting SAts

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NIS

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 Background of NIS
• Bangladesh earned its independence only 50
years ago. Like all young democracies it has
had to build the foundation of governance
gradually and has taken a lot of time to
develop the framework of institutions that
maintains law and order

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• Bangladesh has the necessary institutions
required for a fully functional democracy, our
institutions are still very young and vulnerable.
Corruption thrives on systemic weaknesses
and the strengthening of our institutions will
help us bring back integrity into our society.

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• The overall purpose of a National Integrity
Strategy is to provide a system of governance
that creates trust among citizens. The NIS
recognizes that the state's legal institutions
require watchdogs within the general
population to keep it accountable. For this
reason the strategy targets a broad audience,
and takes in to account political, social and
cultural factors.
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• The 2008 Global Integrity Index gives
Bangladesh's legal framework very high marks
of 84%. However, in practical implementation
it gets a comparatively lower 52%.

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• The NIS is an instrument to enhance integrity
and eliminate corruption within institutions.
Improved honesty and morality in people,
policies and procedures are seen as a vehicle
to address and rectify the crisis of integrity
that the institutions are presently in.

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Establishing Rule of Law, Human Rights and Justice
through Economic, Social and Political independence
of citizen and ensuring their rights and equalities are
the fundamental responsibilities of the state.
To that end state tries to ensure good governance.
Good governance is not the privilege, rather it is the
right of the citizens. To establish good governance in
the state or in the society, integrity is the essential
strategy.

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 Integrity
If you
lose your wealth and you have lost nothing;
lose your health and you have lost
something;
lose your integrity and you have lost
everything.

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Integrity is the single most attainment of the
human quality.
Integrity is the essential quality to be human
being.

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 Integrity

Is the inner voice that warns us

Somebody

is
Looking

Don’t compromise yourself

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 Integrity
Rather fail with honor

Than
succeed
by
fraud

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Why ethical work environment is important

• Promotes goodwill and respect within and

outside the organisation
• Acts as a psychological constraint against
unethical, and criminal behavior
• Impacts viability and profitability

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 Constitutional commitments

• Ensure the attainment of a just and egalitarian

society, free from exploitation of man by man
(Article 10);
• Guarantee fundamental human rights and
freedom (Art. 11);
• Create equal opportunity for all citizens (Art.
19);

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 Background of NIS
 Bangladesh as a state, dedicated to people’s welfare
and upholding high ideals in national life;
 Commitment for ensuring equality, human dignity and
social justice was expressed in our proclamation of
Independence;
 ‘Vision 2021’, envisages - within the coming decade
the country will be free from hunger, illiteracy,
unemployment, deprivation and poverty.

 NIS is a concerted initiative for combating corruption.

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 Vision and Mission of NIS

• Vision:
A happy & prosperous Golden Bengal

• Mission:
Establishment of good governance in state
institutions and society

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• The ‘Perspective Plan, 2021’ through putting a high
importance to prevention of corruption, has promised to
launch a movement in this regard.
• The Government has formulated this ‘National Integrity
Strategy’ to fulfill that commitment effectively.
• 7th FYP (2016-20) identifies “Low public administration
capacity, occasional weaknesses in economic
management and persistent corruption lie at the heart of
the overall shortcoming in national governance.”

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 The concept of Integrity
• Integrity in this document means :
 behavioural excellence influenced by morality and
honesty;
 adherence to time-tested norms, values, customs and
principles of a society
• At the individual level, it means being duty-bound
and honest;
• Promotion of integrity critically important both
at individual level and organisations;
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 Institutions
State institutions Non State institutions
1. Executive Organ and Public 1. Political Parties
Administration 2. Industrial and Commercial
2. The Parliament Organisations in the Private
3. The Judiciary Sector
4. The Election Commission 3. NGOs and Civil Society
5. The Attorney-General 4. Family
6. The Public Service Commission 5. Educational Institutions
7. The C&AG 6. Media
8. The Ombudsman
9. The ACC
10. Local Govt. Institutions
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 National Integrity Strategy
Legislature
Executive
Law

Judiciary
Rule of

Public Service Commission

Local government

Law enforcing Agency

Election commission
Audit body
Dev.
nable
Sustai

ACC

Ombudsman
Attorney General

Family
Media
of Life
Quality

Civil society
Foundations: Politics – Society – Economy - Culture

Business
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Education Institutions
• The NIS is like a well-constructed house; it
rests on public awareness & demand. The
stronger our societal core values, the firmer
is the foundation.

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 STRATEGY FOR ATTAINING
INTEGRITY
• This strategy paper-
o Identifies the contexts & challenges of different state
and non-state institutions/organisations;
o Fixes goals of the institutions to ensure integrity;
o Makes short, medium & log-term recommendations
for achieving the goals;
o Suggests time bound action plan for implementation
of recommendations.

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 NIAC

Ethics FP
Ethics FP PSC, ACC, EC,
(NGO, Private Ombudsman
Sector, Civil NIS
Society) Cell/Unit

Ethics FP
Ministry

Ethics FP
Districts

NIS
Ethics FP
Implementation
Upazila
Plan

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• National Integrity Advisory Committee under the
stewardship of the hon’ble Prime Minister;
• An Executive Committee led the Finance Minister;
• NIS Implementation Unit led an Additional Secretary
of the Administrative and Implementation
Department of the Cabinet Division
• Appointment of focal person in all ministry, divisions
and institutions under directives of the NIS unit to
implement the NIS.

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 Institution-wise actions
• Government Institutions

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 Parliament

Capacity building of MPs and officials of the Parliament’s

secretariat;
Transparent debate on C&AG’s reports;
Allowing Oppositions MPs more time during the PM’s and
Ministers’ Q&A sessions;
Quick formation of the parliamentary standing committees
with proportionate representations from the parties,
Allowing of independent experts to participate in
committee meeting

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 Executive

Public communication strategy;

Development of executive existing knowledge
and expertise;
Asset Disclosure of the executives, compliance
with Audits

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 Judiciary

Strict implementation of Judicial Officers

Conduct Rules;
Introduce alternative dispute resolution;
Formation of statutory commission for
appointment of Supreme Court Judges

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 Public Service

Proper implementation of Whistleblower Act;

 Introduction of an annual modern
performance evaluation system;
Restructuring Public Administration Training
Centre (PATC);
Introduction of e-governance;
Materialization of Public Service Act to
streamline and modernize public service
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 Office of the Attorney General :

Formulation of Attorney service Act;

Introduction of civil writ, and Criminal Section

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Ombudsman
Review of Ombudsman Act 1980;
Establishment of the office Ombudsman.
Public Service Commission
Introduce merit based recruitment and reduce the scope
of quota;
Review of criteria and process of appointment of PSC
Members.
Anti-Corruption Commission
Implement mechanisms to promote and protect
Whistleblowers;
 public communication strategy; Partnership with citizens’
groups; Collaboration with Government Institutions.
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 Office of the Attorney General :

Office of the C&AG:

Timely publication of audit report and putting them in the public
domain;
 Implementation of sanction scheme for non-complaince of audit
objection;
Strengthen the OCAG as a constitutional body;
Election Commission
Approval of the proposed organogram by the government;
 Proposal of an Act regulating the appointment of Commissioners,
Capacity development;
Rising awareness of electorates and candidates in terms of
improved electoral practices.

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 Local government

Improving access to public resources based on

criteria such as population density and
vulnerability;
Undertaking multifaceted capacity building
initiatives for local government
representatives

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Government institutions made some short term progress such as:

Introduction of national web portal and e-service,

Formation of standing committees in the first
session of the 10th parliament,
 installation of significant number of server
stations by Election Commission,
initiatives to introduce social performance audit,
 formation of monitoring cell to resist corruption
by Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) officials and
initiatives to enact different laws
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• On the other hand the Supreme Judicial
Council is yet to have any specific
methodology, guideline or policy to run its
business,
• Ombudsman is not yet appointed and
• Safe Food Act 2013 is yet to be implemented.

Baki Director @ BPATC 2017 39

 Institution-wise actions

• Non-government Institutions

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Media
Implementation of the RTI Act;
Review of public advertising policy, Strengthening Press Council,
Standardizing Editorial policy and Code of Conduct
Private Sector
Strengthening public sector institutions to support private sector
based development;
Developing Anti-Trust Law,
Environment protection,
Labour laws, Minimum Wage, Property Rights, Corporate
governance

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Political Parties
Adopting constitution consistent with the People
Representation Act;
Encourage political parties to develop and present their
manifestoes before elections for public to make informed
choice;
Code of Conduct to regulate relationship with other parties.
NGO
 Establishment of single registration agency for NGOs;
 Introduction of greater NGO accountability vis a vis users of
services; Self regulation through standardized Policies

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Family
Moral education;
Creation of citizens’ self-help initiatives to encourage
sharing and learning of life experience.
Education and faith based institutions:
Dissemination of value-based messages through faith-
based institutions and schools with communicable
materials;
Introduce community oversight of local level faith-based
institutions
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 Civil Society

Enable Civil society to access public

information;
 Encourage citizens’ group to prepare report
cards on NGO service;
Support interaction between citizens groups
and public institutions

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 State of NIS in NGI
• 6 non-state institutions namely political party,
private industries and business entities, NGOs,
family, educational institutions and media are
yet to have any specific methodology and
process to implement the NIS at their end.

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• Many of these institutions lack from initiatives to
implement the NIS action plan. For example political
parties does not exercise democracy at expected level,
• No initiative has been taken so far to introduce code
of conduct for political parties,
• nexus among government and business for unethical
gain and influence fair competition and
• journalists are facing risks in carrying out professional
duties.

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NIS relation with Executive Organ and Public
Administration
Goal:
o Establishment of a transparent and
accountable executive organ responsive
to the demands and needs of the people.

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 Duties of public servants

Article 21.
(2) Every person in the service of the Republic has
a duty to strive at all times to serve the people.

(20)
2. The State shall endeavour to create conditions
in which, as a general principle, persons shall not
be able to enjoy unearned incomes, ---------.

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 NIS in Organization
• Organizational arrangement
• Development of capacity and integrity
• Development of related Laws/Rules---
• Establishing Service Box and updating
• Ensuring good governance
• NIS in Project
• NIS in Purchase
• Strengthen Transparency and Accountability
• Prevention of corruption
• NIS Award
• NIS Fund
• Monitoring and Evaluation

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 Recommendations: Short term
 Making systematic arrangements for submission of
asset statements;
 Proper enforcement of ‘Whistle Blowers’ (Protection)
Act’;
 Dealing with grievances by operationalising the
‘Grievance Redress System’;
 Introduction of modern performance appraisal,
incentive and emolument systems;
 Ensuring appointment of government officers and
employees on a regular basis.

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NIS and Public Servants’ perception
A recent survey has revealed that Bangladesh civil servants
experience high job satisfaction, in stark contrast to little job
motivation and ethical practice.

The survey was carried out by the University of London and the
University of Nottingham, with funding by the UK Department for
International Development and the British Academy.

Prof Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling from the University of Nottingham

revealed the findings in Dhaka.

He said the survey placed Bangladesh at the second lowest position

for work motivation and ethical practices. The survey also identified
64% of the public servants believe it is difficult to be dismissed from
civil service. 51
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 Understanding NIS by civil officers :

The civil officers of Bangladesh need to really comprehend

the NIS to develop the image of the country and to progress
as a developed nation by 2041.
It is presumed that NIS can create self-belief and keep
spotless if the civil officers practice heart and soul. In fact,
there should be standard operating procedure SOP of
planning and implementation of NIS and that needs to be
morally realized and understood by the civil officers. In a
survey report of JICA 97.4% of the interviewed officials
answered that they know the NIS and 43% reported that
they know it good

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 Combating Public Sector Corruption:

The government of Bangladesh has declared zero-tolerance against corruption

in vision 2021 and vision 2041to build not only a prosperous but also an
esteemed nation in the world. The concept of governance combines ideas of
political authority, management of economic and social resources, as well as
the capacity of the governments to formulate prudent polices and their
implementation in an effective, efficient, and equitable manner. Bangladesh
has taken policies on good governance and anti-corruption. It has introduced
several measures to increase its accountability and transparency, such as
 the Right to Information,
 GRS,
 Public hearing.

The position in CPI Index is 146

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Recommendations: Medium and long term
• Proper implementation of Civil Service Act;
• Establishment of an efficient, accountable, qualified
and responsive executive organ by ensuring ‘career
development’;
• Providing in-service training for developing capacity;
• Introduction of a competitive promotion system based
on a combination of seniority, merit, efficiency and
performance;
• Expansion of e-governance system;
• Framing a just pay-structure for the public servants
with provisions for adjustments with cost of living.
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 The challenges of implementing NIS

The competency, shouldering the responsibilities to serve the

people, independent decision making and better understanding
and coordination with the political government are the
mentionable challenges of NIS. Other challenges are ;
Making effective of the financial oversight committee and
establishing a responsible relationship between the
parliament and the executive
Creating the trust of the general people on the judiciary
Maintaining independence of election commission and free
from the influence of the political party in power

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 The challenges of implementing NIS

Recruitment of public servants on the basis of merit and nonpartisan

Working independently of anti-corruption commission
Lacking enthusiasm of the local representatives to collect local revenue
and proper planning and implementing are the obstacle in the local
government
Creating sense and exercising democracy within and among political
parties
Solving the problem in the financial sector especially the culture of bank
loan default by the private sector
Maintaining family bondage and moral learning in the family
Providing quality and demand driven education in both public and
private sectors.

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 So, What you are

Is more important than what you say &

what you do

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Stand up for what is right

Even
Is more important that what you say
if you
are standing
alone

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Common Workplace Ethics

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 Responsibility

Punctuality

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Integrity & Loyalty

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Teamwork

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Attitude makes the thing different

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Professionalism

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 Where we are???

It’s a question to be answered by ourself:

• We close our eyes and we find our position very
clearly: at home, in the society, in the workplace,
in the academic arena;
• Is it too frustrating? The answer must be no.
Because we should not be pessimist;
• Have firm faith on own potentials and proceed;
• There is always the ray of hope even at the end of
the tunnel.
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 What to do?

• Never give up. Believe in yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=wsEfwBtcDqI
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