Continued Excellence
The 37th year of continued journey to excellence for Nepal Administrative Staff College (NASC) has been historical in several respects. The third year of implementation of the Strategic Plan (2072/73 to 2076/77) has been instrumental to align our efforts to fulfill the core mandate of public sector capacity building. Completion of all targeted programmes for the year is itself a testimony of our commitment towards this journey.
In a quest for keeping attuned with the changing landscape in public sector governance, we have redesigned in-service training courses for Class-II and Class-III officers making them competency based. As the signature features, these courses take departure to build overall competency required to public officials through learning components like Service Improvement Plan, Connecting to Community (C2C) and Engaging with Local Governments (ELG). In spite of our limited capacity, we have successfully been providing induction training for hundreds of newly appointed officers and other in-service training programmes. We have also expanded our outreach to public enterprises and sub-national government, recognizing the value that only a joint effort among the actors can make a difference in public sector governance.
NASC has been strengthening knowledge base of public governance since its inception. At the historical juncture of state-transformation from unitary to federal system, NASC conducted 'Nepal National Governance Survey 2017/18' for the first time with a sample of 12,872 individuals across 43 districts of Nepal. People’s perception on different aspects of state affairs will provide a baseline for preparing evidence based governance reform plan for governments at federal, provincial and local levels. This Survey has also been recognized as a main source for monitoring progress in Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) to be achieved by 2030. Similarly, ‘Competency Mapping of Civil Service’, another novel study will provide a basis in making human resource management practices of government competency based. NASC faculties were also substantially engaged to understand dynamics at local government and support them develop organizational capacity through ‘Backstopping the Capacity Development of Sub-national government for Improved Service Delivery and Democratization’. Through this initiative, two political economy analysis studies were completed while two hundred elected representatives were trained in policy making at local level. We also extended our support to the Government of Nepal in restructuring the central level agencies including ministries and departments at federal level, in the changed context.
‘Conference on Public Policy and Governance in South Asia: Towards Justice and Prosperity’ marked another milestone to promote research culture by strengthening knowledge community in the South Asia. The programme was organized in partnership with research and development institutions in Nepal and South Asia. It also provided valuable opportunity for NASC faculties to share their research findings in the Conference.
NASC engagement in management consulting has expanded this year. ‘Preparing HR Policy and Administrative Bylaws’ of Pancheshwar Development Authority, a much awaited bi-lateral development initiative between Government of Nepal and India; ‘Comprehensive Management Audit of Rastriya Banijya Bank’; and ‘Organization and Management Survey of Grameen Bikash Bank’ are a few evidence for expanding scope of consulting services.
We believe in service process improvements to be priority area for ensuring effective delivery of our commitments. We renovated training halls and residential facility, set up computer lab and developed Human Resource Information System (HRIS), Inventory Management System (IMS) and Intranet. We have also up graded the dining facilities and installed high-tech equipment in physical fitness club for creating conducive learning environment.
We have a dream of developing stat-of-the-art residential infrastructure to meet the growing demands of quality learning facilities. The Namobuddha Municipality, Kabhre Palanchowk district is generous enough to offer required space in its territory while the National Planning Commission has already recognized this as P1 project and Ministry of Forest and Environment has given consent for environmental impact assessment, feasibility study and preparing detailed project report. Procurement of consulting service for these activities is in process. Infrastructure development is expected to commence next year after completion of these activities in current fiscal year.
All these initiatives have been successful with dedication and commitment of all the staff, support from Government, development partners and well-wishers. We are creating opportunities for new generation to enter in the institution and invest in their capacity development. We are also collaborating with similar institutions in Nepal and abroad in exchanging expertise and sharing resources.
Finally, I appreciate the hard work and dedication of all the staff and extend sincere thanks to the Government of Nepal, valued clients, development partners, national and international organizations, and other stakeholders for their continuous support in our endeavors. I am confident that with the same zeal, we can and we will make NASC "a Center of Excellence".