Citizen's Charter: What, Why and How

Citizen's CharterWhat, Why and How

Arif H. Khan


Arif H. Khan


Arif H. Khan

2


Citizen’s Charter:What, Why and HowKeynote paper presented in the seminar jointly organized by Manusher Jonno Foundation and Transparency International Bangladesh

1st published (in Bangla): January 2009

2nd published (in English): April 2010

English Translation:Shahzada M. Akram

Published by:Manusher Jonno Fundation

3

Preface

A Citizen’s Charter is a powerful tool to promote good governance in public service delivery agencies and improve services quality thereof. As per our constitution, “every person in the service of the Republic has a duty to strive at all times to serve the people.’’ Citizen’s Charters can uphold this sprit very effectively. During the rule of last Caretaker Government, Citizen’s Charter was adopted in various public institutions. This initiative, though appreciated, was not fully successful due to a number of procedural flaws. As a result, the initiative could not draw much public support and has remained, to a great extent, undiscussed and unutilized. Considering the importance of Citizen’s Charter, Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF), jointly with Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), organized a seminar on the issue. Arif H. Khan, Program Manager of MJF, presented the keynote paper in the seminar. Mr. Khan, in his paper, in addition to clarifying the conceptual aspects of Citizen’s Charter, discussed the weakness of Citizen’s Charter initiative in Bangladesh along with recommendations to overcome those. In view of the interest of civil society on the issue, MJF published the Bangla keynote paper in a booklet form in 2009. Now, we are happy to be able to publish the English version of the booklet.

We firmly believe that if the recommendations made in this paper are implemented, Citizen’s Charter will be able to play a very significant role in promoting rights of poor and ordinary citizenry including ensuring their access to essential public services. Recently MJF, in association with some of its partner NGOs has undertaken an initiative to formulate a few Citizen’s Charters for specific service delivery institutions in consultation with local people and frontline service providers. Based on experience of this pilot program we hope to undertake advocacy program for wider replication of the model. We expect cooperation of all concerned in this initiative.

Finally, I thank Mr. Shahzada M. Akram, who kindly took the pain of translating the booklet into English. Your comments and suggestions regarding this booklet will be highly appreciated.

Shaheen AnamExecutive DirectorManusher Jonno Foundation

2


Citizen’s Charter:What, Why and HowKeynote paper presented in the seminar jointly organized by Manusher Jonno Foundation and Transparency International Bangladesh

1st published (in Bangla): January 2009

2nd published (in English): April 2010

English Translation:Shahzada M. Akram

Published by:Manusher Jonno Fundation

3

Preface

A Citizen’s Charter is a powerful tool to promote good governance in public service delivery agencies and improve services quality thereof. As per our constitution, “every person in the service of the Republic has a duty to strive at all times to serve the people.’’ Citizen’s Charters can uphold this sprit very effectively. During the rule of last Caretaker Government, Citizen’s Charter was adopted in various public institutions. This initiative, though appreciated, was not fully successful due to a number of procedural flaws. As a result, the initiative could not draw much public support and has remained, to a great extent, undiscussed and unutilized. Considering the importance of Citizen’s Charter, Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF), jointly with Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), organized a seminar on the issue. Arif H. Khan, Program Manager of MJF, presented the keynote paper in the seminar. Mr. Khan, in his paper, in addition to clarifying the conceptual aspects of Citizen’s Charter, discussed the weakness of Citizen’s Charter initiative in Bangladesh along with recommendations to overcome those. In view of the interest of civil society on the issue, MJF published the Bangla keynote paper in a booklet form in 2009. Now, we are happy to be able to publish the English version of the booklet.

We firmly believe that if the recommendations made in this paper are implemented, Citizen’s Charter will be able to play a very significant role in promoting rights of poor and ordinary citizenry including ensuring their access to essential public services. Recently MJF, in association with some of its partner NGOs has undertaken an initiative to formulate a few Citizen’s Charters for specific service delivery institutions in consultation with local people and frontline service providers. Based on experience of this pilot program we hope to undertake advocacy program for wider replication of the model. We expect cooperation of all concerned in this initiative.

Finally, I thank Mr. Shahzada M. Akram, who kindly took the pain of translating the booklet into English. Your comments and suggestions regarding this booklet will be highly appreciated.

Shaheen AnamExecutive DirectorManusher Jonno Foundation

What is Citizen’s Charter?2“All powers in the Republic belong to the people” and “Every

person in the service of the Republic has a duty to strive at all times to 3serve the people” . According to these obligations as laid in the

Constitution of Bangladesh, the government provides different kinds of services to the people. These include healthcare, education, agricultural extension, transport and communication, water and power supply, law and order, security, justice, relief and rehabilitation, and so on. A significant portion of the cost for these services is channeled from the people through direct and indirect taxes paid by them. So the people, as the owner of the republic on one hand, and as taxpayers on the other, have the right to expect a certain level of standard for the services. However, the government has its own limitations. Nonetheless, it is the mandatory responsibility of the service providing institutions to provide services to the people upon their demand to the extent possible keeping in mind the ability of the government. Such services should be sensitive towards the needs of the people, efficiently provided, and without illegal transactions. The required time and fee (in applicable cases) should be rational.

Citizen’s Charter is a declaration from the service providing institution on the above-mentioned standard of service. In other words, a citizen’s charter is the expression of an understanding between the people and the public service provider regarding the quantity and quality of service the citizens receive in exchange of

1 Acknowledging important advice from Dr. Iftekharuzzaman (Executive Director, TIB), Farzana Naim (Director – Governance, MJF), Abdulla Al Mamun (Program Manager, MJF) and Tanvir Mahmud (Research Officer, TIB).

2 The Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Article 7(1).3 The Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Article 21(2).

Citizen’s Charter:1What, Why and How

Arif H Khan

54


Abbreviations

ADC Additional Deputy Commissioner

ASP Assistant Superintendent of Police

BADC Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation

BPATC Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre

JATI Judicial Administration Training Institute

BTCL Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd.

BTTB Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board

CGG Centre for Good Governance

DARG Department of Administrative Reform and Public Grievanus

DC Deputy Commissioner

GD General Diaries

MJF Manusher Jonno Foundation

NGO Non Governmental Organization

NILG National Institute of Local Government

OC Officer-in-Charge

PARC Public Administration Reform Commission

PTI Primary Training Institute

RAJUK Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (the Capital Development Authority)

RDA Rural Development Academy

REB Rural Electrification Board

SP Superintendent of Police

TIB Transparency International Bangladesh

What is Citizen’s Charter?2“All powers in the Republic belong to the people” and “Every

person in the service of the Republic has a duty to strive at all times to 3serve the people” . According to these obligations as laid in the

Constitution of Bangladesh, the government provides different kinds of services to the people. These include healthcare, education, agricultural extension, transport and communication, water and power supply, law and order, security, justice, relief and rehabilitation, and so on. A significant portion of the cost for these services is channeled from the people through direct and indirect taxes paid by them. So the people, as the owner of the republic on one hand, and as taxpayers on the other, have the right to expect a certain level of standard for the services. However, the government has its own limitations. Nonetheless, it is the mandatory responsibility of the service providing institutions to provide services to the people upon their demand to the extent possible keeping in mind the ability of the government. Such services should be sensitive towards the needs of the people, efficiently provided, and without illegal transactions. The required time and fee (in applicable cases) should be rational.

Citizen’s Charter is a declaration from the service providing institution on the above-mentioned standard of service. In other words, a citizen’s charter is the expression of an understanding between the people and the public service provider regarding the quantity and quality of service the citizens receive in exchange of

1 Acknowledging important advice from Dr. Iftekharuzzaman (Executive Director, TIB), Farzana Naim (Director – Governance, MJF), Abdulla Al Mamun (Program Manager, MJF) and Tanvir Mahmud (Research Officer, TIB).

2 The Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Article 7(1).3 The Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Article 21(2).

Citizen’s Charter:1What, Why and How

Arif H Khan

54


Abbreviations

ADC Additional Deputy Commissioner

ASP Assistant Superintendent of Police

BADC Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation

BPATC Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre

JATI Judicial Administration Training Institute

BTCL Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd.

BTTB Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board

CGG Centre for Good Governance

DARG Department of Administrative Reform and Public Grievanus

DC Deputy Commissioner

GD General Diaries

MJF Manusher Jonno Foundation

NGO Non Governmental Organization

NILG National Institute of Local Government

OC Officer-in-Charge

PARC Public Administration Reform Commission

PTI Primary Training Institute

RAJUK Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (the Capital Development Authority)

RDA Rural Development Academy

REB Rural Electrification Board

SP Superintendent of Police

TIB Transparency International Bangladesh

76


program was commenced again with the name ‘Services First’. At 10that time nine principles were set.

1. Set standards of service;

2. Be open and provide full information;

3. Consult and involve;

4. Encourage access and the promotion of choice;

5. Treat all fairly;

6. Put things right when they go wrong;

7. Use resources effectively;

8. Innovate and improve; and

9. Work with other providers.

Why Citizen’s Charter

According to the Cabinet Office of the UK, ‘the main purpose of a charter is to improve access to public services and promote quality. It does this by helping people understand what an organization does, how to contact it, what to expect by way of service, and how to seek a

11remedy if something goes wrong.

Four main characteristics can be identified from the experiences of different countries where citizen’s charters are promoted. Firstly, the standard of service is determined in accordance with the expectation of the people through their participation, so that it is possible to continuously improve the quality of service and make it citizen friendly. Secondly, people are empowered through providing them with the information on their entitlements so that they can demand those from the service providers, and ensure social/horizontal accountability through different mechanisms (such as grievance redressing system). Thirdly, the level of conduct of the service providers are improved through different initiatives (such as establishing help desks) along with their capacity building, and establish a culture of courtesy. Fourthly, people’s trust is gained through improvement of service, participation of people, grievance redressing etc. it may be mentioned that along with gaining people’s trust on the particular service delivery institution, citizen’s charters can play significant role in developing people’s trust on the government.

4their taxes. This is a document developed with the participation of the people where details such as what kind of service the institution will provide, within what time span, with how much fee, what measures it will take to improve the quality of service, how and where the service recipients will lodge complaints, and so on. However, it should be kept in mind that a citizen’s charter is not a legal document. It does not entail a new right; rather it ensures the existing one. What the people are entitled to receive, i.e., what the service providers are

5bound to deliver, is the key of a citizen’s charter.

Origin of Citizen’s Charter

Citizen’s charter originated in 1991 in the UK during the Conservative government under the leadership of John Major. During that time one question was widely discussed in that country – if private organizations can deliver quality services, then why the

6public institutions cannot do the same? The citizens further started questioning – if the public service which people have paid for through taxation is no good, why they should not get their money back, as they would have the right to with any shop or service provider in the

7private sector. Basically, these questions prompted the origin of the citizen’s charter program. Its main objective was to continuously improve the quality of public services for the people of the country so

8that these services respond to the needs and wishes of the users. Six 9principles were identified under this program :

1. Quality: To improve the quality of services;

2. Choice: To give the opportunity of options to the extent possible to the users;

3. Standard: To determine what to expect and what to do if the expected quality is not met;

4. Value: To give the value of money of the taxpayers;

5. Accountability: To ensure individual and organizational accountability;

6. Transparency: To abide by the rules and ensure transparency in case of addressing grievance.

In 1998 during the Labour government under Tony Blair, this

5 Ibid.6 Loffler, Elke et al, Improving Customer Orientation through Service Charters, OECD/Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic/Governance International, 2007, p 16.

7 Adam Smith Institute: ‘Public Administration 53, Citizen's charter: Consumer rights for public-services users’, Around the world in 80 Ideas, London 26 Aug. 2008 <http://www.adamsmith.org/80ideas/idea/53.htm>

8 DARPG: op cit.9 lbid.

10Cabinet Office of UK: “How to draw up a local charter”, 18 Aug. 2008. <http://archive.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/servicefirst>

11 Ibid.

76


program was commenced again with the name ‘Services First’. At 10that time nine principles were set.

1. Set standards of service;

2. Be open and provide full information;

3. Consult and involve;

4. Encourage access and the promotion of choice;

5. Treat all fairly;

6. Put things right when they go wrong;

7. Use resources effectively;

8. Innovate and improve; and

9. Work with other providers.

Why Citizen’s Charter

According to the Cabinet Office of the UK, ‘the main purpose of a charter is to improve access to public services and promote quality. It does this by helping people understand what an organization does, how to contact it, what to expect by way of service, and how to seek a

11remedy if something goes wrong.

Four main characteristics can be identified from the experiences of different countries where citizen’s charters are promoted. Firstly, the standard of service is determined in accordance with the expectation of the people through their participation, so that it is possible to continuously improve the quality of service and make it citizen friendly. Secondly, people are empowered through providing them with the information on their entitlements so that they can demand those from the service providers, and ensure social/horizontal accountability through different mechanisms (such as grievance redressing system). Thirdly, the level of conduct of the service providers are improved through different initiatives (such as establishing help desks) along with their capacity building, and establish a culture of courtesy. Fourthly, people’s trust is gained through improvement of service, participation of people, grievance redressing etc. it may be mentioned that along with gaining people’s trust on the particular service delivery institution, citizen’s charters can play significant role in developing people’s trust on the government.

4their taxes. This is a document developed with the participation of the people where details such as what kind of service the institution will provide, within what time span, with how much fee, what measures it will take to improve the quality of service, how and where the service recipients will lodge complaints, and so on. However, it should be kept in mind that a citizen’s charter is not a legal document. It does not entail a new right; rather it ensures the existing one. What the people are entitled to receive, i.e., what the service providers are

5bound to deliver, is the key of a citizen’s charter.

Origin of Citizen’s Charter

Citizen’s charter originated in 1991 in the UK during the Conservative government under the leadership of John Major. During that time one question was widely discussed in that country – if private organizations can deliver quality services, then why the

6public institutions cannot do the same? The citizens further started questioning – if the public service which people have paid for through taxation is no good, why they should not get their money back, as they would have the right to with any shop or service provider in the

7private sector. Basically, these questions prompted the origin of the citizen’s charter program. Its main objective was to continuously improve the quality of public services for the people of the country so

8that these services respond to the needs and wishes of the users. Six 9principles were identified under this program :

1. Quality: To improve the quality of services;

2. Choice: To give the opportunity of options to the extent possible to the users;

3. Standard: To determine what to expect and what to do if the expected quality is not met;

4. Value: To give the value of money of the taxpayers;

5. Accountability: To ensure individual and organizational accountability;

6. Transparency: To abide by the rules and ensure transparency in case of addressing grievance.

In 1998 during the Labour government under Tony Blair, this

5 Ibid.6 Loffler, Elke et al, Improving Customer Orientation through Service Charters, OECD/Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic/Governance International, 2007, p 16.

7 Adam Smith Institute: ‘Public Administration 53, Citizen's charter: Consumer rights for public-services users’, Around the world in 80 Ideas, London 26 Aug. 2008 <http://www.adamsmith.org/80ideas/idea/53.htm>

8 DARPG: op cit.9 lbid.

10Cabinet Office of UK: “How to draw up a local charter”, 18 Aug. 2008. <http://archive.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/servicefirst>

11 Ibid.

98


Information: One of the aims of a citizen’s charter is to empower the people through information. For this reason it encourages providing complete and flawless information, so that the users know the timeline of receiving a service from the concerned organization including cost involved (in relevant cases). The information must be available and easy to understand. Its availability in terms of the right place and the right time must be ensured.

Consultation: It is essential to involve all the present and potential users of the concerned service along with the cutting-edge staff, and to consult with them. Based on the consultation with them the service standard has to be determined and gradually improved. It should not only be done during the charter development, but also in the whole process. It means that for endorsing, monitoring implementation and reviewing, their participation is important.

Courtesy and helpfulness: Fair and courteous behavior with the clients should be ensured through the charter. One of the aims of the charter is to promote a culture of courtesy. It is important to be respectful to everyone’s privacy and dignity. Special attention should be paid to those with special needs (such as the physically challenged). Many minor initiatives such as using name tags, and ‘May I Help You’ counters can play important roles in gaining trust of the service recipients.

Grievance redressing: Receiving complaints and their redressing is inseparable with the improvement of services. For this reason grievance redressing is given priority in the charter, as it not only increases the trust level among the users, but also is considered as a lesson for the service providers. Three issues have to be given importance in this regard – firstly, make the complaint lodging system easy and user-friendly for all; secondly, attend to the reasons of the problems and inform the complainer accordingly; and thirdly, identify ‘trends’ of complains so that the systemic and recurring problems may be resolved.

Contents of a Citizen’s Charter

Based on the above-mentioned discussion, we can identify the following contents as minimum requirements in a charter document.

1. Vision and mission statement: The vision and mission of the concerned institution is essential to be included in a charter. The vision is what the concerned institution wishes to achieve as an ultimate goal. Mission is the activities through which the vision can be achieved. In a charter the vision and mission should be clearly mentioned. If the vision and mission are not identified, these can be developed through people’s participation during the development of the charter document.

Salient Features of Citizen’s Charter

It becomes clear from the above discussion that a citizen’s charter is not only a mere brochure containing only the service-related information; rather it is a living document to achieve certain goals. So a citizen’s charter should not be considered only as a document, but as a process.

In order to make the citizen’s charter successful, some of its key characteristics must be maintained. Based on the experiences of a few countries including the UK, the following characteristics of a

12citizen’s charter can be identified.

Set standards: Setting standards is considered as the backbone of the 13charter. In a charter the qualitative and quantitative standard along

with the timeline is specifically set so that the service recipients can claim and monitor whether they receive a certain level of service within the stipulated time. What level of service the concerned institutions set in its aim (quality, time etc.), and against it what level of service it is providing, should be independently validated by a third party. The tendency among the service providers to determine its aims according to their own convenience without considering the clients’ needs should be avoided.

Decision at policy level

Determining aims and scope of the charter

Delegating authority over coordinating organisation

Forming taskforce / committee

Discussion with stakeholders and staff

Augmenting citizen’s charter

Receiving feedbacks

Continuous monitoring

Correcting limitations in the charter

Reveiwing citizen’s charter

Training of concerned staff

Mass campaign

12See for instance, Centre for Good Governance (CGG), Citizen’s Charter, Hyderabad, India, 26 Aug 2008 <http://www.sasanet.org/jsp/Tools.jsp>

13 Ibid.

Figure: Process of Developing a Citizen’s Charter

98


Information: One of the aims of a citizen’s charter is to empower the people through information. For this reason it encourages providing complete and flawless information, so that the users know the timeline of receiving a service from the concerned organization including cost involved (in relevant cases). The information must be available and easy to understand. Its availability in terms of the right place and the right time must be ensured.

Consultation: It is essential to involve all the present and potential users of the concerned service along with the cutting-edge staff, and to consult with them. Based on the consultation with them the service standard has to be determined and gradually improved. It should not only be done during the charter development, but also in the whole process. It means that for endorsing, monitoring implementation and reviewing, their participation is important.

Courtesy and helpfulness: Fair and courteous behavior with the clients should be ensured through the charter. One of the aims of the charter is to promote a culture of courtesy. It is important to be respectful to everyone’s privacy and dignity. Special attention should be paid to those with special needs (such as the physically challenged). Many minor initiatives such as using name tags, and ‘May I Help You’ counters can play important roles in gaining trust of the service recipients.

Grievance redressing: Receiving complaints and their redressing is inseparable with the improvement of services. For this reason grievance redressing is given priority in the charter, as it not only increases the trust level among the users, but also is considered as a lesson for the service providers. Three issues have to be given importance in this regard – firstly, make the complaint lodging system easy and user-friendly for all; secondly, attend to the reasons of the problems and inform the complainer accordingly; and thirdly, identify ‘trends’ of complains so that the systemic and recurring problems may be resolved.

Contents of a Citizen’s Charter

Based on the above-mentioned discussion, we can identify the following contents as minimum requirements in a charter document.

1. Vision and mission statement: The vision and mission of the concerned institution is essential to be included in a charter. The vision is what the concerned institution wishes to achieve as an ultimate goal. Mission is the activities through which the vision can be achieved. In a charter the vision and mission should be clearly mentioned. If the vision and mission are not identified, these can be developed through people’s participation during the development of the charter document.

Salient Features of Citizen’s Charter

It becomes clear from the above discussion that a citizen’s charter is not only a mere brochure containing only the service-related information; rather it is a living document to achieve certain goals. So a citizen’s charter should not be considered only as a document, but as a process.

In order to make the citizen’s charter successful, some of its key characteristics must be maintained. Based on the experiences of a few countries including the UK, the following characteristics of a

12citizen’s charter can be identified.

Set standards: Setting standards is considered as the backbone of the 13charter. In a charter the qualitative and quantitative standard along

with the timeline is specifically set so that the service recipients can claim and monitor whether they receive a certain level of service within the stipulated time. What level of service the concerned institutions set in its aim (quality, time etc.), and against it what level of service it is providing, should be independently validated by a third party. The tendency among the service providers to determine its aims according to their own convenience without considering the clients’ needs should be avoided.

Decision at policy level

Determining aims and scope of the charter

Delegating authority over coordinating organisation

Forming taskforce / committee

Discussion with stakeholders and staff

Augmenting citizen’s charter

Receiving feedbacks

Continuous monitoring

Correcting limitations in the charter

Reveiwing citizen’s charter

Training of concerned staff

Mass campaign

12See for instance, Centre for Good Governance (CGG), Citizen’s Charter, Hyderabad, India, 26 Aug 2008 <http://www.sasanet.org/jsp/Tools.jsp>

13 Ibid.

Figure: Process of Developing a Citizen’s Charter

10 11


the quality of the service, the level of satisfaction of the service recipients (through report card survey or exit interview), and necessary reform activities on a certain time interval (at least once a year) should be mentioned in the charter.

8. Contact: Another important part of a charter is the detail contact address, including phone number and email, when and whom to contact in order to get more information regarding service should be clearly mentioned.

9. Expectation from clients: Even if the service providers have key role in implementing the charter or improving the quality of service, the role of the service recipients cannot be ignored. The description on what the service recipients should do to get quality service , required, or in other words is what behavior the institution expects from its clients should be included in the charter.

10. Publication / review date: The date of publication / review of the charter should clearly be mentioned so that the users can easily understand whether it is updated or not. The next date of reviewing the charter should also be mentioned.

Citizen’s Charter and People’s Participation

It is embedded in the definition of citizen’s charter that it is a charter for the citizens and by the citizens. Without the participation of the people, no citizen’s charter can become a charter of true nature. The main objective of the charter is to improve the quality of service according to the expectation of the service recipients. The reflection of people’s expectation is weak if the charter is prepared without consultation with the people. It is usually observed that there remains

2. Relevant policy and legal framework: On what laws the rights entailed in the charter are based should be mentioned at the beginning, so that the clients do not expect something that the existing law does not permit. If there is any grievance against the law or policy, the people can contact the policy-making level, and refrain themselves from wasting time on such matters that cannot be resolved by the concerned institution itself.

3. Details of service and quality: What kind of service is given to whom by the concerned service delivery institution should be mentioned in the charter in detail. Moreover, what quality of service within what time can the service recipients expect and how much they have to pay as fee / charge should be made clear in the charter.

4. Details of the clients: A detail description on who the service recipients are, to what services they are entitled to, and what they have to do to get the service is also an important part of the charter.

5. Plan for further improvement: There is always a scope for improvement even if the quality of service is already up to the mark. Whether the concerned institution has specific plans for further improvement of its service (such as introducing of any new system or technology) should be mentioned in the charter.

6. Grievance redressing mechanism: It has been discussed that grievance redressing system is one of the main criteria of a citizen’s charter. There must be a mechanism to lodge complaints if any service recipient does not receive the service as an entitlement without any justified reason, or is not treated well, or is harassed (such as not getting service on time or more money than the actual fee is demanded from the client). An important part of the charter is the description on how and where to lodge complaints, within what time it will be acknowledged, within when the grievance will be addressed, and the complain reciver will be informed. In this case the name of the complainer, his/her whereabouts, contact address and availability must be mentioned.

7. Evaluation of service: Continuous monitoring and regular evaluation of the fact whether the activities of the concerned institution is in conformity with its charter is very crucial for the implementation of the charter. A citizen’s charter without a performance measurement system will always remain a paper

14tiger. Participation of all the stakeholders in the process of monitoring and evaluation should be ensured. Evaluation of

14Loffler, Elke et. al.: op cit, p 18.

Expectation Gap: An Example

During the first days of the introduction of citizen’s charter in the UK, many institutions perceived that their clients who called their customer service expected quick response. So they decided that a call would be received within six rings.

However, after consulting with the clients they came to know that picking up phones quickly is not that much important for their clients. Rather the clients expected that they would be responded with such a person who is efficient and could provide the right kind of service or at least could connect them with the right person.

Source: Elke, Loffler et al: “Improving Customer Orientation through Service Charters” 2007, p 54

10 11


the quality of the service, the level of satisfaction of the service recipients (through report card survey or exit interview), and necessary reform activities on a certain time interval (at least once a year) should be mentioned in the charter.

8. Contact: Another important part of a charter is the detail contact address, including phone number and email, when and whom to contact in order to get more information regarding service should be clearly mentioned.

9. Expectation from clients: Even if the service providers have key role in implementing the charter or improving the quality of service, the role of the service recipients cannot be ignored. The description on what the service recipients should do to get quality service , required, or in other words is what behavior the institution expects from its clients should be included in the charter.

10. Publication / review date: The date of publication / review of the charter should clearly be mentioned so that the users can easily understand whether it is updated or not. The next date of reviewing the charter should also be mentioned.

Citizen’s Charter and People’s Participation

It is embedded in the definition of citizen’s charter that it is a charter for the citizens and by the citizens. Without the participation of the people, no citizen’s charter can become a charter of true nature. The main objective of the charter is to improve the quality of service according to the expectation of the service recipients. The reflection of people’s expectation is weak if the charter is prepared without consultation with the people. It is usually observed that there remains

2. Relevant policy and legal framework: On what laws the rights entailed in the charter are based should be mentioned at the beginning, so that the clients do not expect something that the existing law does not permit. If there is any grievance against the law or policy, the people can contact the policy-making level, and refrain themselves from wasting time on such matters that cannot be resolved by the concerned institution itself.

3. Details of service and quality: What kind of service is given to whom by the concerned service delivery institution should be mentioned in the charter in detail. Moreover, what quality of service within what time can the service recipients expect and how much they have to pay as fee / charge should be made clear in the charter.

4. Details of the clients: A detail description on who the service recipients are, to what services they are entitled to, and what they have to do to get the service is also an important part of the charter.

5. Plan for further improvement: There is always a scope for improvement even if the quality of service is already up to the mark. Whether the concerned institution has specific plans for further improvement of its service (such as introducing of any new system or technology) should be mentioned in the charter.

6. Grievance redressing mechanism: It has been discussed that grievance redressing system is one of the main criteria of a citizen’s charter. There must be a mechanism to lodge complaints if any service recipient does not receive the service as an entitlement without any justified reason, or is not treated well, or is harassed (such as not getting service on time or more money than the actual fee is demanded from the client). An important part of the charter is the description on how and where to lodge complaints, within what time it will be acknowledged, within when the grievance will be addressed, and the complain reciver will be informed. In this case the name of the complainer, his/her whereabouts, contact address and availability must be mentioned.

7. Evaluation of service: Continuous monitoring and regular evaluation of the fact whether the activities of the concerned institution is in conformity with its charter is very crucial for the implementation of the charter. A citizen’s charter without a performance measurement system will always remain a paper

14tiger. Participation of all the stakeholders in the process of monitoring and evaluation should be ensured. Evaluation of

14Loffler, Elke et. al.: op cit, p 18.

Expectation Gap: An Example

During the first days of the introduction of citizen’s charter in the UK, many institutions perceived that their clients who called their customer service expected quick response. So they decided that a call would be received within six rings.

However, after consulting with the clients they came to know that picking up phones quickly is not that much important for their clients. Rather the clients expected that they would be responded with such a person who is efficient and could provide the right kind of service or at least could connect them with the right person.

Source: Elke, Loffler et al: “Improving Customer Orientation through Service Charters” 2007, p 54

1312


different service delivery institutions to develop their respective charters. In the same year the government introduced the ‘Best Charter Award’. Besides, ‘Service Recovery Concept’ was initiated to recover clients’ trust through correcting any deviation in providing services.

The Commonwealth Government of Australia launched the ‘Service Charter’ in 1997. Through this initiative an effort was made to turn the public service into a customer focused outcome from bureaucratic process.

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat started the ‘Service Standard Initiative’ in 1995. Its scope was made wider even though it followed the program of the US. Through this, an initiative was taken to make the service delivery institutions more friendly, responsible and honoring. Rules for working overtime and ‘one-stop-shopping’ were enacted for the government offices.

Citizen’s Charter: Indian Experience

The clients’ rights movement activists initiated the citizens’ charter movement through developing a charter for the healthcare service providers in 1994. In view of this movement, the then Prime Minister of India took the initiative of a citizens’ charter program in 1996. The ‘Action Plan for Effective and Responsive Government at the Centre and the State Levels’ was adopted in a conference of the Chief Ministers on 24 May 1997, with the Prime Minister chairing the session. One of the decisions taken in the conference was that the central and state governments would adopt citizens’ charters. The public institutions having intense interaction with the people (such as railway, post, tele-communications etc.) would adopt citizens’ charters earlier.

The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) was given the responsibility of supervising the citizens’ charter program. It coordinated the whole program. It developed a guideline in the form of a handbook on adopting a charter, and prepared a list of dos and don’ts and sent it to different public institutions. DARPG advised the central and provincial service delivery institutions to create a taskforce incorporating the clients, higher authorities and cutting-edge staff. In the handbook it was stated, “These charters were to include first, standards of services as well as time limits that the public could reasonably expect for service delivery, avenues of grievance redress, and a provision for independent scrutiny through the involvement of citizens and

a gap between what the public officials perceive about the expectation of their clients and their actual expectation. This is

15termed as the ‘expectation gap’.

People’s participation in the citizen‘s charter process is a must to reduce this gap. Without meaningful participation by the people, the ownership of the citizens is not developed. As a result the charter cannot play an effective role as a tool to ensure the clients’ empowerment and the service providers’ social accountability. In order to make the charter a living document rather than turn it a sheer paper exercise, people’s participation is required in at least three areas – firstly, people’s opinions to be sought on what things to be included in the charter before endorsing it; secondly, discussion with them on whether there is a reflection of their expectation; and thirdly, discussion with the people to bring in necessary changes after reviewing the charter at a regular interval (at least once a year). Besides, there must be a mechanism to receive people’s opinion regularly about the services in order to ensure people’s participation in the monitoring of the implementation of the charter. In should be kept in mind that in order to ensure participation, the diversity among the people should be given special attention. For example, it must be ensured that any particular quarter should not be missing (such as the women, indigenous, physically challenged etc.). Basically improvement of services is only possible through participation of the people from all classes. Al Gore, the former Vice President of the US,

16considered listening to citizens the key to quality improvement.

International Scenario

The success of the Citizen’s Charter Program in the UK made different other countries interested in similar kind of program. Many countries launched this program in different names. For example, France (Service Charter, 1992), Spain (The Quality Observatory, 1992), Belgium (Public Service Users’ Charter, 1992), Malaysia (Client Charter, 1993), Portugal (The Quality Charter in Public Service, 1993), Jamaica (Citizen’s Charter, 1994), Canada (Service Standards Initiative, 1995), Australia (Service Charter, 1997), and India (Citizen’s Charter, 1997) launched similar programs. Some of these followed the UK format, while others were in different forms.

Malaysia launched its Citizen’s Charter program following the UK format in 1993. The Malaysian Government issued a guideline for

15Zeithaml, Valarie A. et al, ‘Delivering quality Service: Balancing Customer Perception and Expectation’, The Free Press, New York and Toronto, 1990, p 37-39 qtd. in Loffler, Elke et al. op cit, p 16.

16Hare Al: Speech given at the 3rd Quality Conference for Public Administration, quoted in Elke, Loffler et al. op cit, p 16.

17DARPG: op cit qtd. in Public Affairs Centre, India's Citizen's Charters A decade of Experience, Bangalore, 2007, p 3.

1312


different service delivery institutions to develop their respective charters. In the same year the government introduced the ‘Best Charter Award’. Besides, ‘Service Recovery Concept’ was initiated to recover clients’ trust through correcting any deviation in providing services.

The Commonwealth Government of Australia launched the ‘Service Charter’ in 1997. Through this initiative an effort was made to turn the public service into a customer focused outcome from bureaucratic process.

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat started the ‘Service Standard Initiative’ in 1995. Its scope was made wider even though it followed the program of the US. Through this, an initiative was taken to make the service delivery institutions more friendly, responsible and honoring. Rules for working overtime and ‘one-stop-shopping’ were enacted for the government offices.

Citizen’s Charter: Indian Experience

The clients’ rights movement activists initiated the citizens’ charter movement through developing a charter for the healthcare service providers in 1994. In view of this movement, the then Prime Minister of India took the initiative of a citizens’ charter program in 1996. The ‘Action Plan for Effective and Responsive Government at the Centre and the State Levels’ was adopted in a conference of the Chief Ministers on 24 May 1997, with the Prime Minister chairing the session. One of the decisions taken in the conference was that the central and state governments would adopt citizens’ charters. The public institutions having intense interaction with the people (such as railway, post, tele-communications etc.) would adopt citizens’ charters earlier.

The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) was given the responsibility of supervising the citizens’ charter program. It coordinated the whole program. It developed a guideline in the form of a handbook on adopting a charter, and prepared a list of dos and don’ts and sent it to different public institutions. DARPG advised the central and provincial service delivery institutions to create a taskforce incorporating the clients, higher authorities and cutting-edge staff. In the handbook it was stated, “These charters were to include first, standards of services as well as time limits that the public could reasonably expect for service delivery, avenues of grievance redress, and a provision for independent scrutiny through the involvement of citizens and

a gap between what the public officials perceive about the expectation of their clients and their actual expectation. This is

15termed as the ‘expectation gap’.

People’s participation in the citizen‘s charter process is a must to reduce this gap. Without meaningful participation by the people, the ownership of the citizens is not developed. As a result the charter cannot play an effective role as a tool to ensure the clients’ empowerment and the service providers’ social accountability. In order to make the charter a living document rather than turn it a sheer paper exercise, people’s participation is required in at least three areas – firstly, people’s opinions to be sought on what things to be included in the charter before endorsing it; secondly, discussion with them on whether there is a reflection of their expectation; and thirdly, discussion with the people to bring in necessary changes after reviewing the charter at a regular interval (at least once a year). Besides, there must be a mechanism to receive people’s opinion regularly about the services in order to ensure people’s participation in the monitoring of the implementation of the charter. In should be kept in mind that in order to ensure participation, the diversity among the people should be given special attention. For example, it must be ensured that any particular quarter should not be missing (such as the women, indigenous, physically challenged etc.). Basically improvement of services is only possible through participation of the people from all classes. Al Gore, the former Vice President of the US,

16considered listening to citizens the key to quality improvement.

International Scenario

The success of the Citizen’s Charter Program in the UK made different other countries interested in similar kind of program. Many countries launched this program in different names. For example, France (Service Charter, 1992), Spain (The Quality Observatory, 1992), Belgium (Public Service Users’ Charter, 1992), Malaysia (Client Charter, 1993), Portugal (The Quality Charter in Public Service, 1993), Jamaica (Citizen’s Charter, 1994), Canada (Service Standards Initiative, 1995), Australia (Service Charter, 1997), and India (Citizen’s Charter, 1997) launched similar programs. Some of these followed the UK format, while others were in different forms.

Malaysia launched its Citizen’s Charter program following the UK format in 1993. The Malaysian Government issued a guideline for

15Zeithaml, Valarie A. et al, ‘Delivering quality Service: Balancing Customer Perception and Expectation’, The Free Press, New York and Toronto, 1990, p 37-39 qtd. in Loffler, Elke et al. op cit, p 16.

16Hare Al: Speech given at the 3rd Quality Conference for Public Administration, quoted in Elke, Loffler et al. op cit, p 16.

17DARPG: op cit qtd. in Public Affairs Centre, India's Citizen's Charters A decade of Experience, Bangalore, 2007, p 3.

14 15


government, a letter was sent from the office of the Chief Advisor to all the ministries to bring “pace in administrative activities”. In that letter, along with other, instruction was given to adopt citizen’s charters. In the letter it was stated, “… determine standard of services of offices/institutions, adopt citizen’s charter … required pace in the administration will be achieved if decisions of the Committee of

20Advisors are implemented .

Following the instruction, citizen’s charters were adopted in all ministries and a number of departments through forming citizen’s charter committees. The Ministry of Establishment gave instruction to all Divisional and Deputy Commissioners to develop citizen’s

21charters at local level. As a result, citizen’s charters were adopted in all the offices of the Deputy Commissioners.

Citizen’s Charter in Bangladesh: Positive Aspects

There are some positive aspects in the initiative of adopting citizen’s charters in Bangladesh.

§ Firstly, there was no demand for adopting citizen’s charters from the civil society. Even then, the government took this initiative spontaneously which is the reflection of sincerity from the government’s part to improve the quality of public service.

§ Secondly, along with the citizen’s charter, the government took some more initiatives (such as making the Anti-corruption Commission effective, approving the Right to Information Ordinance), which played a crucial role in making citizen’s charters successful, while the citizen’s charter reciprocally contributed to the success of these initiatives.

§ Thirdly, through this initiative the scope for the people to know responsibilities of public offices was created. As a result, a new tool for the civil society and the media was institutionalized to ensure the social accountability of public institutions towards all levels of citizens. Through this a new dimension has been added to administrative accountability.

Weakness of Citizen’s Charters of Bangladesh

Introducing any new concept in any institution is always challenging. It is more difficult for the countries like ours where the bureaucracy holds a traditional and colonial outlook. Whether it is possible in real

”

17consumer groups.” During the program DARPG took the initiative to develop a citizens’ charter in one sector to set example for other institutions. Considering regular interactions with the people, and having an edge for providing services and use of latest technology, the banking sector was selected for this purpose. DARPG selected Punjab National Bank, Punjab and Sindh Bank and Oriental Commercial Bank in 2000, and provided with hand-holding exercise, so that they could play as a role model for other institutions in developing a charter.

According to DARPG, the total number of citizens’ charter in 2006 was 767, among which 112 at central level, 588 at provincial level and 67 in Union Territories. DARPG undertook a number of surveys through third party organizations. In these surveys it was observed that in the development process of most of the charters the level of people’s participation was not up to the mark. The time set for providing services was too short in many cases, whereas in some cases too long. The staff of the service delivery institutions lacked necessary training, and there was not enough campaign among the people as a pre-requisite for the successful implementation of the charter. The campaign tools were also not free from errors.

Based on the survey findings, DARPG took a number of initiatives to improve the charters. These included developing a coordinated website for all charters (www.goicharters.nic.in), developing a model for internal and external audit of the charters, organizing seminars at local level to create awareness among different

18stakeholders, training for capacity building, and so on. Besides, recently DARPG undertook the ‘Charter Mark’ scheme following the UK experience. In order to achieve the charter mark, an institution has to show the highest level of quality service. An independent panel of judges gives this award based on a certain set of criteria. The objective of this scheme is to encourage the service delivery institutions to comply with the commitments laid in a charter on one hand, while on the other hand there will be healthy competitions among these institutions.

Citizen’s Charter Initiative in Bangladesh

The Public Administration Reform Commission (PARC) recommended for adopting citizen’s charters in three ministries and

19 five important institutions in 2000. However, this was not implemented for a long time. In June 2007 during the last caretaker

18DARPG: op cit.19Jahan, Ferdous: “Public Administration in Bangladesh”, Centre for Governance Studies, BRAC University, Dhaka 2006, p 6.

20Letter sent from the office of the Chief Advisor to all the ministries on “bringing pace in administrative activities”, 11 June 2007.

21New Age, 3 September 2007.

14 15


government, a letter was sent from the office of the Chief Advisor to all the ministries to bring “pace in administrative activities”. In that letter, along with other, instruction was given to adopt citizen’s charters. In the letter it was stated, “… determine standard of services of offices/institutions, adopt citizen’s charter … required pace in the administration will be achieved if decisions of the Committee of

20Advisors are implemented .

Following the instruction, citizen’s charters were adopted in all ministries and a number of departments through forming citizen’s charter committees. The Ministry of Establishment gave instruction to all Divisional and Deputy Commissioners to develop citizen’s

21charters at local level. As a result, citizen’s charters were adopted in all the offices of the Deputy Commissioners.

Citizen’s Charter in Bangladesh: Positive Aspects

There are some positive aspects in the initiative of adopting citizen’s charters in Bangladesh.

§ Firstly, there was no demand for adopting citizen’s charters from the civil society. Even then, the government took this initiative spontaneously which is the reflection of sincerity from the government’s part to improve the quality of public service.

§ Secondly, along with the citizen’s charter, the government took some more initiatives (such as making the Anti-corruption Commission effective, approving the Right to Information Ordinance), which played a crucial role in making citizen’s charters successful, while the citizen’s charter reciprocally contributed to the success of these initiatives.

§ Thirdly, through this initiative the scope for the people to know responsibilities of public offices was created. As a result, a new tool for the civil society and the media was institutionalized to ensure the social accountability of public institutions towards all levels of citizens. Through this a new dimension has been added to administrative accountability.

Weakness of Citizen’s Charters of Bangladesh

Introducing any new concept in any institution is always challenging. It is more difficult for the countries like ours where the bureaucracy holds a traditional and colonial outlook. Whether it is possible in real

”

17consumer groups.” During the program DARPG took the initiative to develop a citizens’ charter in one sector to set example for other institutions. Considering regular interactions with the people, and having an edge for providing services and use of latest technology, the banking sector was selected for this purpose. DARPG selected Punjab National Bank, Punjab and Sindh Bank and Oriental Commercial Bank in 2000, and provided with hand-holding exercise, so that they could play as a role model for other institutions in developing a charter.

According to DARPG, the total number of citizens’ charter in 2006 was 767, among which 112 at central level, 588 at provincial level and 67 in Union Territories. DARPG undertook a number of surveys through third party organizations. In these surveys it was observed that in the development process of most of the charters the level of people’s participation was not up to the mark. The time set for providing services was too short in many cases, whereas in some cases too long. The staff of the service delivery institutions lacked necessary training, and there was not enough campaign among the people as a pre-requisite for the successful implementation of the charter. The campaign tools were also not free from errors.

Based on the survey findings, DARPG took a number of initiatives to improve the charters. These included developing a coordinated website for all charters (www.goicharters.nic.in), developing a model for internal and external audit of the charters, organizing seminars at local level to create awareness among different

18stakeholders, training for capacity building, and so on. Besides, recently DARPG undertook the ‘Charter Mark’ scheme following the UK experience. In order to achieve the charter mark, an institution has to show the highest level of quality service. An independent panel of judges gives this award based on a certain set of criteria. The objective of this scheme is to encourage the service delivery institutions to comply with the commitments laid in a charter on one hand, while on the other hand there will be healthy competitions among these institutions.

Citizen’s Charter Initiative in Bangladesh

The Public Administration Reform Commission (PARC) recommended for adopting citizen’s charters in three ministries and

19 five important institutions in 2000. However, this was not implemented for a long time. In June 2007 during the last caretaker

18DARPG: op cit.19Jahan, Ferdous: “Public Administration in Bangladesh”, Centre for Governance Studies, BRAC University, Dhaka 2006, p 6.

20Letter sent from the office of the Chief Advisor to all the ministries on “bringing pace in administrative activities”, 11 June 2007.

21New Age, 3 September 2007.

1716


Apart from these, no other campaign is known to be initiated on citizen’s charter. In many cases the place of displaying the

23charter of an institution has not been selected properly.

§ Seventhly, the process of monitoring and evaluation should be is a part of the content of a citizen’s charter. However, there is no such section in our citizen’s charters. No mechanism for monitoring and evaluation of a charter has been established.

§ Eighthly, the citizen’s charters at local level should have been developed with the participation of the local people. However, in most cases these were developed by committees formed at the central level. For example, all the seven charters on primary education of different levels (primary school, Upazila Education Office, District Primary Education Office, divisional Deputy Director’s Office, Upazila Resource Centre, PTI and Directorate of Primary Education) were adopted by a seven-member committee formed at the central level. As a result of imposing from the top, on one hand there has not been any reflection of local needs, while on the other hand there has not been any eagerness at the local

24administration for its implementation.

§ Ninthly, for many services only one generic charter, which is basically service specific, has been adopted. However, there should have been institution-specific charters for these services. For example, the Ministry of Health adopted the Clients’ Charter of Rights in 1998 (long before the recent initiative of citizen’s charter). However, till date no citizen’s charter has known to be adopted for individual hospitals and

25healthcare centers.

For the above-mentioned procedural weaknesses there are not only limitations in the contents of the adopted charters, but also no sincere effort is observed to implement these.

It is observed from reviewing the charters of some service providing institutions that in most of these documents some essential elements are absent (see Annex 1). For example,

sense to adopt the citizen’s charters the way these were adopted is questionable. Some of the procedural limitations in adopting citizen’s charter in Bangladesh are as follows.

§ Firstly, participation of the people, i.e., the service recipients was not ensured. No effort was made to know what kind of service the people expect from the concerned institution. It was clearly stated earlier that without people’s participation a citizen’s charter cannot become a charter in true sense.

§ Secondly, every country has determined its own brand of definition of citizen’s charter, and accordingly set the aims. For example, the Malaysian government defined its Client’s Charter as “a written commitment by an agency to deliver outputs or services according to specified standards of

22quality”. However, in Bangladesh, there is no official definition for the citizen’s charters. As a result a common understanding has not been developed among different public institutions; rather they interpreted the meaning differently. Moreover, no improvement in the quality of service was observed as the aim of this program was not set properly.

§ Thirdly, the initiative for adopting citizen’s charters was undertaken in all ministries and many institutions at the same time. It was not done experimentally in a smaller number of institutions so that others can benefit from the experience and learn lesson to overcome potential challenges.

§ Fourthly, the responsibility of coordinating whole initiative was not given to one specialized institution. As a result the charters were adopted without any guidance.

§ Fifthly, to implement the citizen’s charter there has not been any initiative to either involve the staff of the service providing institution or build their capacity. As a result not only they failed to internalize the key spirit of citizen’s charter, but also were kept in dark about the charter of their own respective department.

§ Sixthly, wide campaign and public awareness are required for the success of the citizen’s charter. However, no such initiative can be observed in Bangladesh. Only a few institutions (such as Police and Rural Electrification Board) published their respective citizen’s charters in news papers, and a number of institutions uploaded their charters on their websites (most of which are in English). Institutions like Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB, now BTCL) published their citizen’s charters in the form of flyers.

22Government of Malaysia, 1998, qtd. in DARPG: op cit.

23For example in a primary school of the capital the citizen’s charter is exhibited in the Headmaster’s room, despite the fact that not everyone coming to receive service from the school enters his room.

24Regarding this, DARPG clearly gave instruction to the service providing organizations in its handbook stating, “The Charter must be framed not only by senior experts, but by interaction with the cutting edge staff who will finally implement it and with the users”.

25Recently a high official of the health ministry informed the author that the citizen’s charters of the healthcare service providing institutions at local level are at final stage.

1716


Apart from these, no other campaign is known to be initiated on citizen’s charter. In many cases the place of displaying the

23charter of an institution has not been selected properly.

§ Seventhly, the process of monitoring and evaluation should be is a part of the content of a citizen’s charter. However, there is no such section in our citizen’s charters. No mechanism for monitoring and evaluation of a charter has been established.

§ Eighthly, the citizen’s charters at local level should have been developed with the participation of the local people. However, in most cases these were developed by committees formed at the central level. For example, all the seven charters on primary education of different levels (primary school, Upazila Education Office, District Primary Education Office, divisional Deputy Director’s Office, Upazila Resource Centre, PTI and Directorate of Primary Education) were adopted by a seven-member committee formed at the central level. As a result of imposing from the top, on one hand there has not been any reflection of local needs, while on the other hand there has not been any eagerness at the local

24administration for its implementation.

§ Ninthly, for many services only one generic charter, which is basically service specific, has been adopted. However, there should have been institution-specific charters for these services. For example, the Ministry of Health adopted the Clients’ Charter of Rights in 1998 (long before the recent initiative of citizen’s charter). However, till date no citizen’s charter has known to be adopted for individual hospitals and

25healthcare centers.

For the above-mentioned procedural weaknesses there are not only limitations in the contents of the adopted charters, but also no sincere effort is observed to implement these.

It is observed from reviewing the charters of some service providing institutions that in most of these documents some essential elements are absent (see Annex 1). For example,

sense to adopt the citizen’s charters the way these were adopted is questionable. Some of the procedural limitations in adopting citizen’s charter in Bangladesh are as follows.

§ Firstly, participation of the people, i.e., the service recipients was not ensured. No effort was made to know what kind of service the people expect from the concerned institution. It was clearly stated earlier that without people’s participation a citizen’s charter cannot become a charter in true sense.

§ Secondly, every country has determined its own brand of definition of citizen’s charter, and accordingly set the aims. For example, the Malaysian government defined its Client’s Charter as “a written commitment by an agency to deliver outputs or services according to specified standards of

22quality”. However, in Bangladesh, there is no official definition for the citizen’s charters. As a result a common understanding has not been developed among different public institutions; rather they interpreted the meaning differently. Moreover, no improvement in the quality of service was observed as the aim of this program was not set properly.

§ Thirdly, the initiative for adopting citizen’s charters was undertaken in all ministries and many institutions at the same time. It was not done experimentally in a smaller number of institutions so that others can benefit from the experience and learn lesson to overcome potential challenges.

§ Fourthly, the responsibility of coordinating whole initiative was not given to one specialized institution. As a result the charters were adopted without any guidance.

§ Fifthly, to implement the citizen’s charter there has not been any initiative to either involve the staff of the service providing institution or build their capacity. As a result not only they failed to internalize the key spirit of citizen’s charter, but also were kept in dark about the charter of their own respective department.

§ Sixthly, wide campaign and public awareness are required for the success of the citizen’s charter. However, no such initiative can be observed in Bangladesh. Only a few institutions (such as Police and Rural Electrification Board) published their respective citizen’s charters in news papers, and a number of institutions uploaded their charters on their websites (most of which are in English). Institutions like Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB, now BTCL) published their citizen’s charters in the form of flyers.

22Government of Malaysia, 1998, qtd. in DARPG: op cit.

23For example in a primary school of the capital the citizen’s charter is exhibited in the Headmaster’s room, despite the fact that not everyone coming to receive service from the school enters his room.

24Regarding this, DARPG clearly gave instruction to the service providing organizations in its handbook stating, “The Charter must be framed not only by senior experts, but by interaction with the cutting edge staff who will finally implement it and with the users”.

25Recently a high official of the health ministry informed the author that the citizen’s charters of the healthcare service providing institutions at local level are at final stage.

1918


1. In many citizen’s charters the vision and mission of the concerned institution is not mentioned. For example, in the

26Citizen’s Charter of the Police it is only mentioned that “It is a service delivery organization for the people”. However, the real vision and mission is not mentioned. Similarly, in many

27 28charters like that of primary education , rural electrification 29and Dhaka City Corporation , the vision and mission is

absent.

2. In case of detail description on the service and its standard, the information given in many charters is incomplete, as well as difficult to understand. In the citizen’s charter on police no timeline has been given for the service except only for the verification of applications for passport and license of fire arms. Moreover, some vague terms such as ‘as soon as possible’, ‘as much as possible’, ‘in due time’ have been used. In the charter of Bangladesh Agricultural Development

30Corporation (BADC) , it is observed that instead of detailing out the services, the roles and responsibilities of the organization are described and time limits are set only for

31 administrative activities. In the charters of RAJUK and 32BTTB (now BTCL), for some services it has been mentioned

as ‘determined fees’ instead of mentioning the actual fees. In the charter of BTTB a number of terminologies (in English) have been used which the common people are not supposed to understand.

3. In many charters there is no description of the service recipients. For example, the charters of the police, Dhaka City

33Corporation, Chittagong Port , General Insurance 34Corporation , REB etc. do not have clients’ description.

4. In many charters there is no grievance redressing system, which is one of the most essential elements. It may be kept in mind that complaint lodging and grievance redressing are not same. The system of lodging complaints is the first step of redressing grievances. Many charters lack grievance redressing systems, even there are no systems of lodging complaints. Charters of primary education, DCC, General Insurance Corporation, BTTB are such examples. In the

35charters of police and post office there are systems for lodging complaints, but there is no mention of any name or address where this complain will be lodged. On the other hand, in the charters of BADC and Chittagong Port there is no mention of any time limit within which the complain will be redressed. It should also be given a deeper thought whether it is practical in the context of Bangladesh the way the system of grievance redressing is mentioned in the charters of BADC

36and the Ministry of Agriculture . In these charters “farmers of all levels” have been included, although the addresses given to lodge complaints to the Director General (Investigation) and Deputy Secretary respectively are e-mail addresses.

Figure: Development Process of Citizen’s Charter in Bangladesh

Decision at Advisory

Committee

Letter sent from the office of the Chief Advisor to all the ministries

Citizen’s charter formulated

through formation of citizen’s charter

committees

Limited campaign including

campaign on website

Instruction given to

departments to adopt charters

Charter adopted by committee /

concerned official

26 < http://www.police.gov.bd/index5.php?category=183>27 <www.dpe.gov.bd>28 Daily Samokal, 28 April 2008.29 <www.dhakacity.org>30 <www.badc.gov.bd>31 <http://www.rajukdhaka.gov.bd/citizenCharter/index.htm>32 <www.bttb.net>

33<http://www.cpa.gov.bd/citizen_charter.html>34<http://www.sbc.gov.bd/charter.php>35<http://www.sbc.gov.bd/charter.php>36 <http://www.moa.gov.bd/Citizen_Charter/Citizens.htm>

Citizen’s Charter

Bangladesh Police

1. Bangladesh Police is an institution providing service to the people.

2. Every citizen has the right to get equal legal rights at every police station irrespective of nationality, religion, race and political, social, economic status.

3. The service at the police station will be provided on first come first serve basis.

4. The official on duty will show respect to everyone coming for service and address them respectfully.

5. The concerned Duty Officer will extend all support to those coming to lodge General Diaries (GD), and provide the applicant with the GD

1918


1. In many citizen’s charters the vision and mission of the concerned institution is not mentioned. For example, in the

26Citizen’s Charter of the Police it is only mentioned that “It is a service delivery organization for the people”. However, the real vision and mission is not mentioned. Similarly, in many

27 28charters like that of primary education , rural electrification 29and Dhaka City Corporation , the vision and mission is

absent.

2. In case of detail description on the service and its standard, the information given in many charters is incomplete, as well as difficult to understand. In the citizen’s charter on police no timeline has been given for the service except only for the verification of applications for passport and license of fire arms. Moreover, some vague terms such as ‘as soon as possible’, ‘as much as possible’, ‘in due time’ have been used. In the charter of Bangladesh Agricultural Development

30Corporation (BADC) , it is observed that instead of detailing out the services, the roles and responsibilities of the organization are described and time limits are set only for

31 administrative activities. In the charters of RAJUK and 32BTTB (now BTCL), for some services it has been mentioned

as ‘determined fees’ instead of mentioning the actual fees. In the charter of BTTB a number of terminologies (in English) have been used which the common people are not supposed to understand.

3. In many charters there is no description of the service recipients. For example, the charters of the police, Dhaka City

33Corporation, Chittagong Port , General Insurance 34Corporation , REB etc. do not have clients’ description.

4. In many charters there is no grievance redressing system, which is one of the most essential elements. It may be kept in mind that complaint lodging and grievance redressing are not same. The system of lodging complaints is the first step of redressing grievances. Many charters lack grievance redressing systems, even there are no systems of lodging complaints. Charters of primary education, DCC, General Insurance Corporation, BTTB are such examples. In the

35charters of police and post office there are systems for lodging complaints, but there is no mention of any name or address where this complain will be lodged. On the other hand, in the charters of BADC and Chittagong Port there is no mention of any time limit within which the complain will be redressed. It should also be given a deeper thought whether it is practical in the context of Bangladesh the way the system of grievance redressing is mentioned in the charters of BADC

36and the Ministry of Agriculture . In these charters “farmers of all levels” have been included, although the addresses given to lodge complaints to the Director General (Investigation) and Deputy Secretary respectively are e-mail addresses.

Figure: Development Process of Citizen’s Charter in Bangladesh

Decision at Advisory

Committee

Letter sent from the office of the Chief Advisor to all the ministries

Citizen’s charter formulated

through formation of citizen’s charter

committees

Limited campaign including

campaign on website

Instruction given to

departments to adopt charters

Charter adopted by committee /

concerned official

26 < http://www.police.gov.bd/index5.php?category=183>27 <www.dpe.gov.bd>28 Daily Samokal, 28 April 2008.29 <www.dhakacity.org>30 <www.badc.gov.bd>31 <http://www.rajukdhaka.gov.bd/citizenCharter/index.htm>32 <www.bttb.net>

33<http://www.cpa.gov.bd/citizen_charter.html>34<http://www.sbc.gov.bd/charter.php>35<http://www.sbc.gov.bd/charter.php>36 <http://www.moa.gov.bd/Citizen_Charter/Citizens.htm>

Citizen’s Charter

Bangladesh Police

1. Bangladesh Police is an institution providing service to the people.

2. Every citizen has the right to get equal legal rights at every police station irrespective of nationality, religion, race and political, social, economic status.

3. The service at the police station will be provided on first come first serve basis.

4. The official on duty will show respect to everyone coming for service and address them respectfully.

5. The concerned Duty Officer will extend all support to those coming to lodge General Diaries (GD), and provide the applicant with the GD

20 21


b. Listen to the person physically present, take necessary action and inform the complainer.

c. Take necessary action based on the news received over phone.

15. The telephone numbers of the Commissioner, Additional Commissioner, concerned Joint Commissioner, DC, ADC and Zonal AC for all police stations in metropolitan areas, and Police Super, Additional Police Super, ASP (Headquarters), concerned Circle ASP and OC in a district will be displayed in an open place at the police station.

16. Officers of all levels of metropolitan and district will provide necessary support to the service recipients on every work day.

17. The staff of police stations will maintain continuous contact with the community and initiate community oriented police service.

18. Higher officials of the police will regularly hold anti-crime or public relations meetings and make efforts to resolve social problems legally.

19. Police Clearance Certificate will be provided to people going abroad either for work or higher education.

20. Police escorts will be arranged according to need for drawing large amounts of money from bank by any organization and transferring to another place safely. 21.The services provided by the Traffic Department in metropolitan areas or district towns will be displayed in open place.

Police HeadquartersSource: Daily Janakantha, 23 April 2008

number, date, and signature of the concerned officer with a seal on the copy. Actions will be taken as soon as possible on the respective GD, and the applicant will be informed about the action accordingly.

6. The Officer-in-Charge (OC) will register the oral or written statement of the person coming to file a case. S/he will duly inform the service recipient the number of the case, date and concerned clause, and the name of the investigating officer and his/her designation. The investigating officer will regularly maintain contact with the complainant to update him about the progress of the case, and inform him in writing when the investigation is complete.

7. If the concerned OC or the Duty Officer refuses to entry any case on the register, the complainant will make an application in the following way -

a. S/he can send application to the Assistant Police Commissioner (Zone) in a metropolitan area or the Assistant Police Super (Circle) of the district.

b. If s/he does not take any action in this regard, application may be sent to the Deputy Commissioner of Police or District Police Super.

c. Even if s/he does not pay attention, the complainant should apply to the concerned Commissioner of Police or Deputy Inspector General.

d. If none of the above officials takes any action, application may be sent to the Inspector General.

8. Comprehensive support will be provided to the wounded victim and the concerned police station will collect all necessary medical certificates.

9. The Child Act, 1974 will be followed in case of child and juvenile criminals, and it will be ensured that they do not come close to adult criminals. In order to ensure this juvenile custody will be set in all police stations in phases.

10. The overall security of female criminals or victims will be ensured as much as possible through female police officers.

11. One stop delivery centers have been set up in few of the police stations. Gradually it will be initiated in all stations of the country.

12. The victim support unit will be set up gradually in all police stations to provide overall support to physically wounded and mentally disturbed victims.

13. The investigation reports on verification of passport or license of fire arms will be sent to the concerned unit from the police station within three days after receiving the report. 14.Complaints can be lodged to higher authority against any police staff or if necessary service is not provided according to the law. In such cases, the higher authority will -

a. Take effective legal step within 15 days after receiving the complain and inform the complainer accordingly.

5. It is sad but true that in most of the charters there is no reflection of the effort for improving the quality of service. In the charter of police some visionary plans are mentioned. In the charter of Chittagong Port only the opinions of the service recipients are sought, but there is no commitment to improve the service based on the opinions. It is mentioned that the Additional Secretary (PPC) of the Ministry of Agriculture will review the citizen’s charter of the ministry once a year. However, there is no mention to improve service based on the clients’ opinions. So it seems that the drafters of these charters have not been able to internalize the key spirit of a citizen’s charter, which is continuous improvement in service delivery.

6. Most of the citizen’s charters lack necessary address for seeking more information on the service of the concerned institution. Only in the charter of REB this has been ensured. In the charters of agriculture ministry and Chittagong Port only the web address is provided.

20 21


b. Listen to the person physically present, take necessary action and inform the complainer.

c. Take necessary action based on the news received over phone.

15. The telephone numbers of the Commissioner, Additional Commissioner, concerned Joint Commissioner, DC, ADC and Zonal AC for all police stations in metropolitan areas, and Police Super, Additional Police Super, ASP (Headquarters), concerned Circle ASP and OC in a district will be displayed in an open place at the police station.

16. Officers of all levels of metropolitan and district will provide necessary support to the service recipients on every work day.

17. The staff of police stations will maintain continuous contact with the community and initiate community oriented police service.

18. Higher officials of the police will regularly hold anti-crime or public relations meetings and make efforts to resolve social problems legally.

19. Police Clearance Certificate will be provided to people going abroad either for work or higher education.

20. Police escorts will be arranged according to need for drawing large amounts of money from bank by any organization and transferring to another place safely. 21.The services provided by the Traffic Department in metropolitan areas or district towns will be displayed in open place.

Police HeadquartersSource: Daily Janakantha, 23 April 2008

number, date, and signature of the concerned officer with a seal on the copy. Actions will be taken as soon as possible on the respective GD, and the applicant will be informed about the action accordingly.

6. The Officer-in-Charge (OC) will register the oral or written statement of the person coming to file a case. S/he will duly inform the service recipient the number of the case, date and concerned clause, and the name of the investigating officer and his/her designation. The investigating officer will regularly maintain contact with the complainant to update him about the progress of the case, and inform him in writing when the investigation is complete.

7. If the concerned OC or the Duty Officer refuses to entry any case on the register, the complainant will make an application in the following way -

a. S/he can send application to the Assistant Police Commissioner (Zone) in a metropolitan area or the Assistant Police Super (Circle) of the district.

b. If s/he does not take any action in this regard, application may be sent to the Deputy Commissioner of Police or District Police Super.

c. Even if s/he does not pay attention, the complainant should apply to the concerned Commissioner of Police or Deputy Inspector General.

d. If none of the above officials takes any action, application may be sent to the Inspector General.

8. Comprehensive support will be provided to the wounded victim and the concerned police station will collect all necessary medical certificates.

9. The Child Act, 1974 will be followed in case of child and juvenile criminals, and it will be ensured that they do not come close to adult criminals. In order to ensure this juvenile custody will be set in all police stations in phases.

10. The overall security of female criminals or victims will be ensured as much as possible through female police officers.

11. One stop delivery centers have been set up in few of the police stations. Gradually it will be initiated in all stations of the country.

12. The victim support unit will be set up gradually in all police stations to provide overall support to physically wounded and mentally disturbed victims.

13. The investigation reports on verification of passport or license of fire arms will be sent to the concerned unit from the police station within three days after receiving the report. 14.Complaints can be lodged to higher authority against any police staff or if necessary service is not provided according to the law. In such cases, the higher authority will -

a. Take effective legal step within 15 days after receiving the complain and inform the complainer accordingly.

5. It is sad but true that in most of the charters there is no reflection of the effort for improving the quality of service. In the charter of police some visionary plans are mentioned. In the charter of Chittagong Port only the opinions of the service recipients are sought, but there is no commitment to improve the service based on the opinions. It is mentioned that the Additional Secretary (PPC) of the Ministry of Agriculture will review the citizen’s charter of the ministry once a year. However, there is no mention to improve service based on the clients’ opinions. So it seems that the drafters of these charters have not been able to internalize the key spirit of a citizen’s charter, which is continuous improvement in service delivery.

6. Most of the citizen’s charters lack necessary address for seeking more information on the service of the concerned institution. Only in the charter of REB this has been ensured. In the charters of agriculture ministry and Chittagong Port only the web address is provided.

2322


with the people (such as hospitals, railway, passport office, land office). Citizen’s charters should be adopted in all service providing institutions gradually.

5. Assistance may be taken from NGOs, civil society organizations and community based organizations to mobilize the people and campaign of the adopted charters. It may be mentioned here that a few NGOs have been doing awareness raising activities spontaneously on the Clients’ Charter of Rights and the Providers’ Charter of Rights

37developed by the Ministry of Health.

C. Content improvement

6. The already adopted citizen’s charters needs to improve through the participation of the people so that the expectation of the clients and the plan for improvement of services are reflected.

7. Every citizen’s charter should be developed and adopted in such a way so that all the necessary elements (already discussed earlier) are present. The language of the charter should be adequately easy for the clients to understand. Technical terms should be avoided as much as possible.

7. No charter contains the date of adoption or publication.

Recommendations

Although a little bit late, the Government of Bangladesh has initiated citizen’s charters. This undoubtedly is a commendable initiative. However, the success of this initiative requires proper, thoughtful and participatory planning and coordinated effort based on other countries’ experiences and reality of this country. A number of recommendations have been proposed in order to make citizen’s charters more meaningful.

A. Policy decisions

1. A regulatory body may be given the responsibility to coordinate the whole initiative. Responsibilities of this organization will include determining aims, developing necessary guideline for formulating citizen’s charters, building capacity of public officials, observing the formulation process of a citizen’s charter, and evaluating the adopted charters.

2. It has been mentioned earlier that institution-specific citizen’s charters are more important than service-specific ones. So the ministries should concentrate more on mobilizing the institutions directly engaged in service delivery to develop their charters rather than focusing on the ministries’ own charters. In this case the charters already developed for the ministries may be used as a guideline (in relevant cases).

3. Instead of adopting citizen's charters in a large number of institutions at the same time, it should be done gradually. Initially institutions with large public interface can like hospitals, passport office, railway etc. be chosen for piloting the initiative.

B. Procedural development

3. Participation of the service recipients and cutting-edge staff should be ensured in the development process of a citizen’s charter, i.e., adoption of a charter, implementation, and review. For this a taskforce may be created in every institution for the development of a charter. Participation of the clients and the cutting-edge staff should be ensured in this taskforce. Representation of people from all levels and profession, and women, ethnic groups, physically challenged and other people with special needs must be ensured.

4. Instead of adopting citizen’s charters at the same time, this can be done step-by-step. In this case the highest priority should be given to the institutions that have higher level of interaction

37Marie Stopes Clinic Society in six Upazilas with support of DFID, and Population Service and Training Centre (PSTC) with financial and technical support from Manusher Jonno Foundation have been continuing such activities in 10 Upazilas through a three-year project.

A citizen’s charter should be able to give answers to the following questions:

a. To whom the concerned institution provides what services?

b. What kind of service requires how much time?

c. What should be done to receive services? How much fee (in relevant cases) is required?

d. How should a complaint be lodge if services are not provided or the client is not satisfied or there are any complaints, and based on the complaint within how much time the solution will be made?

e. When and where to contact if more information is required on services?

f. What system is there to improve services in the concerned institution?

g. How an interested person can take part in the service improvement process?

h. When has the charter adopted or updated last?

2322


with the people (such as hospitals, railway, passport office, land office). Citizen’s charters should be adopted in all service providing institutions gradually.

5. Assistance may be taken from NGOs, civil society organizations and community based organizations to mobilize the people and campaign of the adopted charters. It may be mentioned here that a few NGOs have been doing awareness raising activities spontaneously on the Clients’ Charter of Rights and the Providers’ Charter of Rights

37developed by the Ministry of Health.

C. Content improvement

6. The already adopted citizen’s charters needs to improve through the participation of the people so that the expectation of the clients and the plan for improvement of services are reflected.

7. Every citizen’s charter should be developed and adopted in such a way so that all the necessary elements (already discussed earlier) are present. The language of the charter should be adequately easy for the clients to understand. Technical terms should be avoided as much as possible.

7. No charter contains the date of adoption or publication.

Recommendations

Although a little bit late, the Government of Bangladesh has initiated citizen’s charters. This undoubtedly is a commendable initiative. However, the success of this initiative requires proper, thoughtful and participatory planning and coordinated effort based on other countries’ experiences and reality of this country. A number of recommendations have been proposed in order to make citizen’s charters more meaningful.

A. Policy decisions

1. A regulatory body may be given the responsibility to coordinate the whole initiative. Responsibilities of this organization will include determining aims, developing necessary guideline for formulating citizen’s charters, building capacity of public officials, observing the formulation process of a citizen’s charter, and evaluating the adopted charters.

2. It has been mentioned earlier that institution-specific citizen’s charters are more important than service-specific ones. So the ministries should concentrate more on mobilizing the institutions directly engaged in service delivery to develop their charters rather than focusing on the ministries’ own charters. In this case the charters already developed for the ministries may be used as a guideline (in relevant cases).

3. Instead of adopting citizen's charters in a large number of institutions at the same time, it should be done gradually. Initially institutions with large public interface can like hospitals, passport office, railway etc. be chosen for piloting the initiative.

B. Procedural development

3. Participation of the service recipients and cutting-edge staff should be ensured in the development process of a citizen’s charter, i.e., adoption of a charter, implementation, and review. For this a taskforce may be created in every institution for the development of a charter. Participation of the clients and the cutting-edge staff should be ensured in this taskforce. Representation of people from all levels and profession, and women, ethnic groups, physically challenged and other people with special needs must be ensured.

4. Instead of adopting citizen’s charters at the same time, this can be done step-by-step. In this case the highest priority should be given to the institutions that have higher level of interaction

37Marie Stopes Clinic Society in six Upazilas with support of DFID, and Population Service and Training Centre (PSTC) with financial and technical support from Manusher Jonno Foundation have been continuing such activities in 10 Upazilas through a three-year project.

A citizen’s charter should be able to give answers to the following questions:

a. To whom the concerned institution provides what services?

b. What kind of service requires how much time?

c. What should be done to receive services? How much fee (in relevant cases) is required?

d. How should a complaint be lodge if services are not provided or the client is not satisfied or there are any complaints, and based on the complaint within how much time the solution will be made?

e. When and where to contact if more information is required on services?

f. What system is there to improve services in the concerned institution?

g. How an interested person can take part in the service improvement process?

h. When has the charter adopted or updated last?

2524


despite the fact that most of the charters are weak. For example, the citizen’s charter of the Postal Department can be a model despite some weaknesses (Annex 2). However, no interest is observed among the people on the citizen’s charter since there are no significant changes in the quality of services before and after the adoption of charters. How much impact these charters will have in improving services is under question since these are developed hastily and not engaging the people. Moreover, the aims of the citizen’s charter program will not be achieved if the civil servants cannot understand the main spirit and are not committed to it. The Establishment Secretary, however stated while discussing with the media, that a citizen’s charter is a document which will remind

39 government officials that they are servants of the country’s people. In this case how successful will a citizen’s charter become is a matter of concern. Even though some has termed citizen’s charters a total

40failure , the prospects are not over yet. It has been mentioned earlier that the process of a citizen’s charter does not complete through the development of the document, rather this is only the beginning. Thus the government should take effective steps to strengthen commitments to the spirit of the charter among all levels of the administration and discarding the weaknesses. The government may consider the above-mentioned recommendations and seek advice from specialists.

8. The citizen’s charters of local service delivery institutions should be developed at the local level. In this case the need of the local people should be given special consideration. For example, the issues pertaining to the special needs of the stakeholders of different agro-ecological zone of the Agricultural Department should be considered and included in the concerned citizen’s charter.

D. Charter implementation and monitoring

9. It is required to specify an official responsible in each institution, and necessary infrastructure should be established (such as complaint / opinion box, help desk etc.) in order to ensure successful implementation of the charter.

10. It is necessary to impart rigorous training to the concerned cutting-edge officials primarily responsible for the implementation of charter. In addition to training, other capacity building initiative like workshops, seminars, exposure visit etc. should also be undertakes.

11. Citizen’s charter should be included in the training curricula of different government training institutes such as BPATC, JATI, RDA, NILG, and Police Academy. For this a training manual may be developed.

12. The performance appraisal may be attached with the citizen’s charter of the concerned institution.

13. Activities may be undertaken to develop different campaign materials on every citizen’s charter for mass awareness campaign among the people.

14. There should be internal and external evaluation system for every citizen’s charter and based on it a review should be done at a regular interval (at least once a year). An initiative for a third party evaluation should also be undertaken for external evaluation.

15. There should be special budget allocation to develop and implement citizen’s charter.

Conclusion

It is always challenging to introduce a new thing in the administration. Especially in countries like Bangladesh, where the bureaucracy “is generally considered as a closed system, which tries

38to resist change” and discards a new initiative. Even then the recent initiative by the government to promote citizen’s charter definitely deserves praise. The standard of some citizen’s charters is good

38Jahan, Ferdous: op cit, p 5.

39New Age, The daily: op cit.40Professor Mohammad Mohabbat Khan in the keynote paper presented at the seminar on Governance in Administration and Judiciary in Bangladesh, organized by Women for Women on 20 August 2008 says, “Citizen charter initiative, intended to provide effective and timely service to the citizens, has failed to improve service delivery in public organizations and remains merely a pious statement”.

2524


despite the fact that most of the charters are weak. For example, the citizen’s charter of the Postal Department can be a model despite some weaknesses (Annex 2). However, no interest is observed among the people on the citizen’s charter since there are no significant changes in the quality of services before and after the adoption of charters. How much impact these charters will have in improving services is under question since these are developed hastily and not engaging the people. Moreover, the aims of the citizen’s charter program will not be achieved if the civil servants cannot understand the main spirit and are not committed to it. The Establishment Secretary, however stated while discussing with the media, that a citizen’s charter is a document which will remind

39 government officials that they are servants of the country’s people. In this case how successful will a citizen’s charter become is a matter of concern. Even though some has termed citizen’s charters a total

40failure , the prospects are not over yet. It has been mentioned earlier that the process of a citizen’s charter does not complete through the development of the document, rather this is only the beginning. Thus the government should take effective steps to strengthen commitments to the spirit of the charter among all levels of the administration and discarding the weaknesses. The government may consider the above-mentioned recommendations and seek advice from specialists.

8. The citizen’s charters of local service delivery institutions should be developed at the local level. In this case the need of the local people should be given special consideration. For example, the issues pertaining to the special needs of the stakeholders of different agro-ecological zone of the Agricultural Department should be considered and included in the concerned citizen’s charter.

D. Charter implementation and monitoring

9. It is required to specify an official responsible in each institution, and necessary infrastructure should be established (such as complaint / opinion box, help desk etc.) in order to ensure successful implementation of the charter.

10. It is necessary to impart rigorous training to the concerned cutting-edge officials primarily responsible for the implementation of charter. In addition to training, other capacity building initiative like workshops, seminars, exposure visit etc. should also be undertakes.

11. Citizen’s charter should be included in the training curricula of different government training institutes such as BPATC, JATI, RDA, NILG, and Police Academy. For this a training manual may be developed.

12. The performance appraisal may be attached with the citizen’s charter of the concerned institution.

13. Activities may be undertaken to develop different campaign materials on every citizen’s charter for mass awareness campaign among the people.

14. There should be internal and external evaluation system for every citizen’s charter and based on it a review should be done at a regular interval (at least once a year). An initiative for a third party evaluation should also be undertaken for external evaluation.

15. There should be special budget allocation to develop and implement citizen’s charter.

Conclusion

It is always challenging to introduce a new thing in the administration. Especially in countries like Bangladesh, where the bureaucracy “is generally considered as a closed system, which tries

38to resist change” and discards a new initiative. Even then the recent initiative by the government to promote citizen’s charter definitely deserves praise. The standard of some citizen’s charters is good

38Jahan, Ferdous: op cit, p 5.

39New Age, The daily: op cit.40Professor Mohammad Mohabbat Khan in the keynote paper presented at the seminar on Governance in Administration and Judiciary in Bangladesh, organized by Women for Women on 20 August 2008 says, “Citizen charter initiative, intended to provide effective and timely service to the citizens, has failed to improve service delivery in public organizations and remains merely a pious statement”.

Chi

ttag

ong

Por

t

Dha

ka C

ity

Cor

pora

tion

Gen

eral

In

sura

nce

Cor

pora

tion

Rur

al

Ele

ctri

fica

tion

Ban

glad

esh

Roa

d an

d T

rans

port

A

utho

rity

(B

RT

A)

BT

TB

(no

w

BT

CL

)

Men

tion

ed

Abs

ent

Men

tion

ed

Abs

ent

Men

tion

ed

Men

tion

ed

Men

tion

ed

Men

tion

ed

Men

tion

ed

Me

nti

on

ed

b

ut

tim

e

lim

it

no

t m

enti

oned

Me

nti

on

ed

b

ut

tim

e

lim

it

no

t m

enti

oned

Men

tion

ed b

ut

fees

not

m

enti

oned

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Add

ress

of

com

plai

nt

rece

iver

s, b

ut n

o ti

me

lim

it f

or

grie

vanc

e re

dres

sing

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Men

tion

ed

Com

plai

nt l

odgi

ng,

addr

ess

of

com

plai

nt r

ecei

vers

to

be

men

tion

ed o

n bu

ses,

and

co

mpl

aine

rs w

ill

be

info

rmed

Abs

ent

Abs

ent,

onl

y op

inio

ns

soug

ht f

rom

cl

ient

s

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Onl

y th

e w

eb

addr

ess

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Men

tion

ed

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

An

nex

-1: E

lem

ents

of t

he C

itiz

en’s

Cha

rter

s of

som

e se

rvic

e-de

live

ry in

stit

utio

ns

Nam

e of

th

e in

stit

uti

on

Pol

ice

Pos

t O

ffic

e

Pri

mar

y E

duca

tion

Agr

icul

ture

M

inis

try

Ban

glad

esh

Agr

icul

ture

D

evel

opm

ent

Cor

pora

tion

(B

AD

C)

Vis

ion

an

d

Mis

sion

Abs

ent

Men

tion

ed

Abs

ent

Men

tion

ed

Men

tion

ed

Det

ail

info

rmat

ion

on

se

rvic

e an

d i

ts

qu

alit

y

Tim

e

lim

it

no

t m

en

tio

ne

d

for

deli

very

of

mos

t of

the

serv

ices

Men

tion

ed

Men

tion

ed

Men

tion

ed

Sta

ndar

d of

se

rvic

e no

t m

enti

oned

, tim

e li

mit

giv

en o

n fo

r ad

min

istr

ativ

e ac

tivi

ties

Des

crip

tion

of

serv

ice

reci

pie

nts

Abs

ent

Men

tion

ed

Men

tion

ed

Men

tion

ed

Abs

ent

Gri

evan

ce

red

ress

ing

syst

em

Onl

y co

mpl

aint

lo

dgin

g, n

o ad

dres

s of

com

plai

nt

rece

iver

s

Men

tion

ed, b

ut n

o ad

dres

s of

co

mpl

aint

rec

eive

rs

Abs

ent

Men

tion

ed, b

ut n

ot

suit

able

for

eve

ry

type

s of

cli

ents

Onl

y co

mpl

aint

lo

dgin

g, b

ut n

ot

suit

able

for

eve

ry

type

s of

cli

ents

Ste

ps

for

imp

rovi

ng

serv

ice

qu

alit

y (e

valu

atio

n)

Abs

ent,

but

fe

w f

utur

e in

itia

tive

s m

enti

oned

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent,

but

m

enti

oned

tha

t th

e A

ddit

iona

l S

ecre

tary

(P

PC

) w

ill

revi

ew o

nce

a ye

ar

Abs

ent

Ad

dre

ss f

or

seek

ing

info

rmat

ion

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Men

tion

ed

Onl

y th

e w

eb

addr

ess

Abs

ent

Dat

e of

ad

opti

on

of c

har

ter

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Chi

ttag

ong

Por

t

Dha

ka C

ity

Cor

pora

tion

Gen

eral

In

sura

nce

Cor

pora

tion

Rur

al

Ele

ctri

fica

tion

Ban

glad

esh

Roa

d an

d T

rans

port

A

utho

rity

(B

RT

A)

BT

TB

(no

w

BT

CL

)

Men

tion

ed

Abs

ent

Men

tion

ed

Abs

ent

Men

tion

ed

Men

tion

ed

Men

tion

ed

Men

tion

ed

Men

tion

ed

Me

nti

on

ed

b

ut

tim

e

lim

it

no

t m

enti

oned

Me

nti

on

ed

b

ut

tim

e

lim

it

no

t m

enti

oned

Men

tion

ed b

ut

fees

not

m

enti

oned

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Add

ress

of

com

plai

nt

rece

iver

s, b

ut n

o ti

me

lim

it f

or

grie

vanc

e re

dres

sing

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Men

tion

ed

Com

plai

nt l

odgi

ng,

addr

ess

of

com

plai

nt r

ecei

vers

to

be

men

tion

ed o

n bu

ses,

and

co

mpl

aine

rs w

ill

be

info

rmed

Abs

ent

Abs

ent,

onl

y op

inio

ns

soug

ht f

rom

cl

ient

s

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Onl

y th

e w

eb

addr

ess

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Men

tion

ed

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

An

nex

-1: E

lem

ents

of t

he C

itiz

en’s

Cha

rter

s of

som

e se

rvic

e-de

live

ry in

stit

utio

ns

Nam

e of

th

e in

stit

uti

on

Pol

ice

Pos

t O

ffic

e

Pri

mar

y E

duca

tion

Agr

icul

ture

M

inis

try

Ban

glad

esh

Agr

icul

ture

D

evel

opm

ent

Cor

pora

tion

(B

AD

C)

Vis

ion

an

d

Mis

sion

Abs

ent

Men

tion

ed

Abs

ent

Men

tion

ed

Men

tion

ed

Det

ail

info

rmat

ion

on

se

rvic

e an

d i

ts

qu

alit

y

Tim

e

lim

it

no

t m

en

tio

ne

d

for

deli

very

of

mos

t of

the

serv

ices

Men

tion

ed

Men

tion

ed

Men

tion

ed

Sta

ndar

d of

se

rvic

e no

t m

enti

oned

, tim

e li

mit

giv

en o

n fo

r ad

min

istr

ativ

e ac

tivi

ties

Des

crip

tion

of

serv

ice

reci

pie

nts

Abs

ent

Men

tion

ed

Men

tion

ed

Men

tion

ed

Abs

ent

Gri

evan

ce

red

ress

ing

syst

em

Onl

y co

mpl

aint

lo

dgin

g, n

o ad

dres

s of

com

plai

nt

rece

iver

s

Men

tion

ed, b

ut n

o ad

dres

s of

co

mpl

aint

rec

eive

rs

Abs

ent

Men

tion

ed, b

ut n

ot

suit

able

for

eve

ry

type

s of

cli

ents

Onl

y co

mpl

aint

lo

dgin

g, b

ut n

ot

suit

able

for

eve

ry

type

s of

cli

ents

Ste

ps

for

imp

rovi

ng

serv

ice

qu

alit

y (e

valu

atio

n)

Abs

ent,

but

fe

w f

utur

e in

itia

tive

s m

enti

oned

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent,

but

m

enti

oned

tha

t th

e A

ddit

iona

l S

ecre

tary

(P

PC

) w

ill

revi

ew o

nce

a ye

ar

Abs

ent

Ad

dre

ss f

or

seek

ing

info

rmat

ion

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Men

tion

ed

Onl

y th

e w

eb

addr

ess

Abs

ent

Dat

e of

ad

opti

on

of c

har

ter

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

Abs

ent

2928


Annex - 2

Bangladesh Post Office

Citizen’s Charter

Our Vision

To provide a cheap but dependable and quality service at the doorstep of the general mass with utmost sincerity, honesty and with the satisfaction of the customers keeping pace with the prevailing era of information technology. To provide all standard physical, financial and electronic services with a view to serve the people.

Our Mission

To provide high quality postal service both within and outside Bangladesh. To achieve these we are to be§ Dedicated to the expectation of our customer. § To take necessary steps to provide efficient and sincere

service. § To create atmosphere among the employees to provide

service courteously with the customer. § Run the organization in accordance with the social and

economic position of the country. § To provide standard service in all areas of the country.

Our Services

Bangladesh Post Office provides mainly two types of services :

§ Postal Services. § Agency services

Postal Services § Ordinary letters§ Registry letters § GEP § EMS § Money order § Parcel service § VPP § VPL § Sale of postage stamps § Booking of postal articles, transmission and delivery

Agency service

§ Post office Savings Bank (Ordinary & Fixed Deposit)§ Postal Life Insurance. § Sanchaypatra (Sell & Discharge)

§ Prize Bond (Sell & Discharge) § Collection of Motor Vehicles Tax & Renewal of Driving

License § Sell of Revenue Stamp and Non Judicial Stamp § Collection of presumptive income tax. § Printing and distribution of all kinds of postal and non postal

stamps § Passport service (New service)

Sl. No

1

2

3

4

5

6

Nature of service

Ordinary

Registry letters

GEP

EMS

Air parcel

Money order

Time required for providing service

Within the city next day, other city or town 2 days, Remote area 5 days.


Within the city next day, other District head quarter 2 days.

Within 72 hours of booking it reaches the administration of delivery.


Within the city next day other city or town 2 days, Remote area 5 days.

General Service:

Sl. No

1

2

3

4

Nature of Monetary Service

Ordinary & Fixed Deposit

Transfer of savings accounts

Deceased case

Maturity service (Fixed Deposit Sanchaypatra)


The service is provided spontaneously in the same Head Post office, within 20 minutes manually and within 3 minutes by computer technology.

One district to other district, one post office to other post office 10 days.

One month from the date of application.

The service is provided Spontaneously in the GPO & Head Post offices, within 10 days in Upazila, Sub-post office & Branch post offices of getting the application.

Financial Service:

2928


Annex - 2

Bangladesh Post Office

Citizen’s Charter

Our Vision

To provide a cheap but dependable and quality service at the doorstep of the general mass with utmost sincerity, honesty and with the satisfaction of the customers keeping pace with the prevailing era of information technology. To provide all standard physical, financial and electronic services with a view to serve the people.

Our Mission

To provide high quality postal service both within and outside Bangladesh. To achieve these we are to be§ Dedicated to the expectation of our customer. § To take necessary steps to provide efficient and sincere

service. § To create atmosphere among the employees to provide

service courteously with the customer. § Run the organization in accordance with the social and

economic position of the country. § To provide standard service in all areas of the country.

Our Services

Bangladesh Post Office provides mainly two types of services :

§ Postal Services. § Agency services

Postal Services § Ordinary letters§ Registry letters § GEP § EMS § Money order § Parcel service § VPP § VPL § Sale of postage stamps § Booking of postal articles, transmission and delivery

Agency service

§ Post office Savings Bank (Ordinary & Fixed Deposit)§ Postal Life Insurance. § Sanchaypatra (Sell & Discharge)

§ Prize Bond (Sell & Discharge) § Collection of Motor Vehicles Tax & Renewal of Driving

License § Sell of Revenue Stamp and Non Judicial Stamp § Collection of presumptive income tax. § Printing and distribution of all kinds of postal and non postal

stamps § Passport service (New service)

Sl. No

1

2

3

4

5

6

Nature of service

Ordinary

Registry letters

GEP

EMS

Air parcel

Money order




Within the city next day, other District head quarter 2 days.



Within the city next day other city or town 2 days, Remote area 5 days.

General Service:

Sl. No

1

2

3

4

Nature of Monetary Service

Ordinary & Fixed Deposit

Transfer of savings accounts

Deceased case

Maturity service (Fixed Deposit Sanchaypatra)


The service is provided spontaneously in the same Head Post office, within 20 minutes manually and within 3 minutes by computer technology.

One district to other district, one post office to other post office 10 days.

One month from the date of application.

The service is provided Spontaneously in the GPO & Head Post offices, within 10 days in Upazila, Sub-post office & Branch post offices of getting the application.

Financial Service:

3130


§ Different business organizations that sends documents and parcel through postal service.

§ Above all, all employees of the government, non government, semi government and autonomous bodies and the general people who keep up our service is our valued customer.

Commitment to Customers

§ To deliver services with regards, etiquette and utmost cooperation to our valued customer.

§ Eagerness to provide best possible service.

§ To provide secured and best postal services even to the remotest part of the country.

§ To assure the depositors of their savings.

§ Bangladesh Post Office is committed to provide standard universal postal service to all without any discrimination

Expectation from Our Customers

§ To write the full address of the sender and the addressee very distinctly.

§ Write the postal code below the address label.

§ To fill in the relevant forms with caution at the time of booking Registered, Insured, GEP, EMS and Parcel articles.

§ To affix required and accurate postage on the article. • Not to post any contraband or illegal article.

§ Not to book any article beyond the prescribed size and shape determined by the post office.

§ To maintain queue & discipline at the time of booking articles in the post office.

§ To establish letter boxes at the basement or the ground floor of the high raised building.

§ To use post boxes for business organizations or for bulk mail.

§ To collect any postal information from the web of Bangladesh Post Office.

Postal Life Insurance:

Sl. No

1

2

3

4

5

Nature of service

Acceptance of policy

Transfer of policy

Deceased case

Loan sanction

Settlement of Maturity claim


Supply the policy document within one month of start.

Within 15 days.

Within 3 months from the date of application.




Nature of Complain

Letter, Parcel, Money order

Grave financial irregularity/ irregularity in postal service

Irregularity relating policy matter.

Where to lodge

Controlling Postmaster or D.P.M.G

Controlling D.P.M.G or Postmaster General

Postmaster General/ Directorate general.

Time for settlement

Acknowledge spontaneously convey the result within 3 weeks to the complainant.

Acknowledge spontaneously convey the result within 1 month to the complainant.

Acknowledge within 7 days conveying the result within 1 month to the complainant.

Quality Service

In the domestic arena Bangladesh Post Office books the Guaranteed Express post (GEP) and transmits it very fast to deliver within 24 hours to the addressee. Express Mail Service (E.M.S) is for international mails which are delivered within 72 hours to international destination.

Our Customers

§ Those who buy postal service within and outside the country.

§ All the government and non government organizations who take postal service within and outside the country.

3130


§ Different business organizations that sends documents and parcel through postal service.

§ Above all, all employees of the government, non government, semi government and autonomous bodies and the general people who keep up our service is our valued customer.

Commitment to Customers

§ To deliver services with regards, etiquette and utmost cooperation to our valued customer.

§ Eagerness to provide best possible service.

§ To provide secured and best postal services even to the remotest part of the country.

§ To assure the depositors of their savings.

§ Bangladesh Post Office is committed to provide standard universal postal service to all without any discrimination

Expectation from Our Customers

§ To write the full address of the sender and the addressee very distinctly.

§ Write the postal code below the address label.

§ To fill in the relevant forms with caution at the time of booking Registered, Insured, GEP, EMS and Parcel articles.

§ To affix required and accurate postage on the article. • Not to post any contraband or illegal article.

§ Not to book any article beyond the prescribed size and shape determined by the post office.

§ To maintain queue & discipline at the time of booking articles in the post office.

§ To establish letter boxes at the basement or the ground floor of the high raised building.

§ To use post boxes for business organizations or for bulk mail.

§ To collect any postal information from the web of Bangladesh Post Office.


Sl. No

1

2

3

4

5

Nature of service

Acceptance of policy

Transfer of policy

Deceased case

Loan sanction

Settlement of Maturity claim


Supply the policy document within one month of start.

Within 15 days.





Nature of Complain

Letter, Parcel, Money order

Grave financial irregularity/ irregularity in postal service

Irregularity relating policy matter.

Where to lodge

Controlling Postmaster or D.P.M.G

Controlling D.P.M.G or Postmaster General

Postmaster General/ Directorate general.

Time for settlement

Acknowledge spontaneously convey the result within 3 weeks to the complainant.

Acknowledge spontaneously convey the result within 1 month to the complainant.

Acknowledge within 7 days conveying the result within 1 month to the complainant.

Quality Service

In the domestic arena Bangladesh Post Office books the Guaranteed Express post (GEP) and transmits it very fast to deliver within 24 hours to the addressee. Express Mail Service (E.M.S) is for international mails which are delivered within 72 hours to international destination.

Our Customers

§ Those who buy postal service within and outside the country.

§ All the government and non government organizations who take postal service within and outside the country.

References:The Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh

Adam Smith Institute: ’Public Administration 53, Citizen's charter: Consumer rights for public-services users’, Around the world in 80 Ideas, London 26 Aug. 2008 <http://www.adamsmith.org/80ideas/idea/53.htm> Cabinet Office of UK: ‘How to draw up a local charter’, 18 Aug. 2008 <http://archive.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/servicefirst>

Centre for Good Governance (CGG): Citizen’s Charter, Hyderabad, India, 26 Aug 2008 <http://www.sasanet.org/jsp/Tools.jsp>

DARPG: Citizen’s Charter – A Handbook, New Delhi, India, 26 Aug. 2008 <http://goicharters.nic.in/cchandbook.htm>

Jahan, Ferdous: ‘Public Administration in Bangladesh’, Centre for Governance Studies, BRAC University, Dhaka 2006

Khan, Arif H.: ‘Towards an accountable Public Service’, The Daily Star, 20 July 2007

Khan, Professor Mohammad Mohabbat: ‘Governance in Administration and Judiciary in Bangladesh’, paper presented at the seminar on Governance in Administration and Judiciary in Bangladesh, organized by Women for Women on 20 August 2008

Loffler, Elke et. al.: ‘Improving Customer Orientation through Service Charters’, OECD/Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic/Governance International, 2007

Public Affairs Centre, India’s Citizen’s Charters – A decade of Experience, Bangalore, 2007

Quddusi, Kazi S.M. Khasrul Alam: ‘Quest for better public services’, The New Nation, 3 Jul. 2007

32


References:The Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh

Adam Smith Institute: ’Public Administration 53, Citizen's charter: Consumer rights for public-services users’, Around the world in 80 Ideas, London 26 Aug. 2008 <http://www.adamsmith.org/80ideas/idea/53.htm> Cabinet Office of UK: ‘How to draw up a local charter’, 18 Aug. 2008 <http://archive.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/servicefirst>

Centre for Good Governance (CGG): Citizen’s Charter, Hyderabad, India, 26 Aug 2008 <http://www.sasanet.org/jsp/Tools.jsp>

DARPG: Citizen’s Charter – A Handbook, New Delhi, India, 26 Aug. 2008 <http://goicharters.nic.in/cchandbook.htm>

Jahan, Ferdous: ‘Public Administration in Bangladesh’, Centre for Governance Studies, BRAC University, Dhaka 2006

Khan, Arif H.: ‘Towards an accountable Public Service’, The Daily Star, 20 July 2007

Khan, Professor Mohammad Mohabbat: ‘Governance in Administration and Judiciary in Bangladesh’, paper presented at the seminar on Governance in Administration and Judiciary in Bangladesh, organized by Women for Women on 20 August 2008

Loffler, Elke et. al.: ‘Improving Customer Orientation through Service Charters’, OECD/Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic/Governance International, 2007

Public Affairs Centre, India’s Citizen’s Charters – A decade of Experience, Bangalore, 2007

Quddusi, Kazi S.M. Khasrul Alam: ‘Quest for better public services’, The New Nation, 3 Jul. 2007

32


Manusher Jonno FaundationHouse # 10, Road # 1, Block # F, Banani Model Town, Dhaka-1213, Phone: 8824309, 8811161

Date post:	13-Mar-2016
Category:	Documents
Upload:	arif-h-khan
View:	227 times
Download:	2 times

Citizen's Charter: What, Why and How

Documents