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WORKING PAPER
Integrating Civil Service Reform
with Decentralisation
A Case Study
www.undp.org/publicservice
CONTENTS
Introduction 4
Literature Review 4
a. Decentralisation 4
b. Civil Services Reform 5
c. Decentralisation as an Instrument of 6
Civil Services Reform
d. Purpose of the Paper 6
History of Civil Services Reform in Pakistan 7
Author: Dr Munawwar Alam Devolution of Power Plan (DOPP), 2001 8
An adviser at the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF), a. Context of DOPP 8
Munawwar Alam specialises in international governance and public b. Introduction of DOPP 10
sector management. From 2004 – 2013, he served as Adviser Sub-Na-
tional Administration and Government at the Commonwealth Sec- Aims of DOPP in relation to Civil Service Reforms 12
retariat advising Commonwealth governments on decentralisation Key Changes introduced to the Civil Service by DOPP 14
reforms. He is Honorary Senior Lecturer at the School of Government Integrating Decentralisation and Civil Service 15
and Society, University of Birmingham, and Honorary Fellow of the Reforms: Lessons from DOPP
UNDP Global Centre for Public Service Excellence.
a. Key Lessons from DOPP 15
© 2015 UNDP Global Centre for Public Service Excellence #08-01, b. Summary of Key Lessons from the DOPP 18
Block A, 29 Heng Mui Keng Terrace, 119620 Singapore Conclusion 19
UNDP partners with people at all levels of society to help build
nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of
growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. On the ground
in more than 170 countries and territories, we offer global perspective List of boxes, figures & tables
and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations.
The Global Centre for Public Service Excellence is UNDP’s catalyst Box 1. Constituents of the Pakistan Civil Service 7
for new thinking, strategy and action in the area of public service,
promoting innovation, evidence, and collaboration. Box 2. Elitism in Police Service 12
Box 3. Regional Experiences 15
Disclaimer Box 4. Key Components of Police Reforms under DOPP 15
The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and Box 5. Implications of the 18th Ammendment 16
do not necessarily represent those of the United Nations, including
UNDP, or the UN Member States.
Table 1. Summary of Civil Service Reforms 8
Cover image Under Different Regimes
BY-NC-ND Carol Mitchell / Detail of the artwork on a truck cabin, Table 2. Previous Decentralisation Reform Initiatives 9
photographed in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Table 3. Distinguishing Features of Devolution Plan, 2001 10
Table 4: Key Lessons from DOPP 18
Figure 1: Political-Administrative Organisation 11
under LGO, 1959
Figure 2: Political Organisational structure of Local 11
Government under LGO, 1979
Figure 3: New Administrative Structure at the District 14
Level following DOPP
Figure 4: Political-Administrative Organisation Structure 16
under DOPP, 2001
Figure 5: Number of Candidates that Appeared in 17
CSS Examination during 2001-14
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Foreword
This paper is the second in our series of Working Papers, in which I invite prominent development experts
and practitioners from around the world to put forward the ideas and approaches that should inform the
debate on achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
An effective public service is crucial to meeting the challenge of sustainable development in any country.
Almost everywhere, however, reform and renewal of the public service is needed to successfully achieve
st
the developmental goals of the 21 century.
This paper examines the integration of decentralisation and civil service reforms. Dr Munawwar Alam
outlines how the 2001 Devolution of Power Plan (DOPP) in Pakistan was a transformative reform that
successfully achieved simultaneous reorganization of both local government and the civil service.
While DOPP in its original form has largely been discontinued since the fall of Pakistan’s last military
regime in 2008, some of its core elements have helped consolidate significant, and long overdue, local
government reforms in Pakistan. One of the highlights of Dr Alam’s paper is the menu of key lessons in
reform that it offers for decentralizing initiatives elsewhere.
Max Everest-Phillips
Director, UNDP Global Centre for Public Service Excellence
Page 3
INTRODUCTION the paper then discusses how this promising programme
Pakistan is a country of 184.35 million people, with a GNI per lost its way in later years. The concluding section captures
capita of US $ 1368, and Human Development Index value of some of the lessons learnt from the DOPP experiment.
1
0.515. Since independence in 1947, Pakistan’s political history has LITERATURE REVIEW
been characterised by intermittent phases of military rule. There
2
have been four periods of rule by martial law under different The literature review undertaken for this paper has been broadly
dispensations and three constitutions have been enacted in 1956, divided into: a) Decentralisation, and b) Civil service reform - both
1962 and 1973. A review of the Pakistan’s development indicates subsets of writing on broader public service reform. The review
that service delivery arrangements on the ground, quality and initially scans the wider field of international analyses and later
coverage of social services and social indicators are generally looks at commentaries on Pakistan’s experience to enable a
unsatisfactory and significantly worse for the poor and women3. deeper understanding of the context of this paper.
Despite a federal form of government and a substantial rural a. Decentralisation
population, decentralisation of power beyond the provincial
government has been largely absent in Pakistan. Local Decentralisation, as a theme, is widely researched and continues
governments have traditionally been the strongest during the to be prolifically published. Francis states that for more than
intermittent phases of military rule in the country when the centre past three decades, a ‘silent revolution’ has taken place across
experienced a vacuum of democratic power. It was also during the world as countries have been introducing decentralisation
5 According to the UNDP, “Decentralisation is the logical
these periods that the civil service machinery underwent major reforms.
changes, as decentralisation very often demanded far-reaching application of the core characteristics of good governance
6 Blair (2000) argues that
changes in the structure of civil administration. Decentralisation, at the sub-national or local levels”.
it appears, has acted as an instrument of civil service reform in democratic decentralisation, by building popular participation
the administrative history of Pakistan, including in the case of the and accountability into local governance, can make the local
2001 reforms. governments more responsive to citizens’ choices and more
effective in service delivery. According to Anwar Shah, the
The most far-reaching changes in relation to decentralisation institutional environment in developing countries necessitates
and within the civil service machinery of Pakistan happened a greater degree of decentralisation than that needed for
as a result of the introduction of the Devolution of Power Plan 7
an industrialized country. However, Brian Smith argues that
(DOPP) in 2001 under the Musharraf regime. These changes led decentralisation need not be desirable in itself but depends on
to an unprecedented strengthening of the local government the political, economic and social realities of particular systems
institutions and a drastic reorganisation of the civil service 8
and localities. Similarly, there are several studies on the negative
machinery especially in tiers of local government. Despite being outcomes of decentralisation.
introduced by a military regime, researchers have observed that
DOPP had a positive impact on citizen participation, gender We will not expand upon various forms of decentralisation
equality, education and grassroots democracy.4 (delegation, devolution and de-concentration) here as these
variants have been discussed at length in the literature. Some
With the change of regime in 2008 and shift to a democratic of the recent research on decentralisation looks at aspects such
government at the Centre, most changes introduced by DOPP as motivations for decentralisation, its linkage with poverty
were undone or replaced by new provisions. Fourteen years since 9 10
reduction and accountability , service delivery orientation ,
it was launched, very few of the original changes introduced 11
political economy contexts, gender participation , and
by DOPP remains. However, certain elements of the DOPP and decentralisation and changing role of the state.12
lessons from its implementations offers crucial learning regarding
the potential of decentralisation as an instrument of civil service International context
reform.
In order to fully assess the outcomes of local government reforms
While much has already been written about DOPP, its success it is important to analyse the reasons for decentralisation in
in integrating decentralisation and genuine civil service reform the first place. It is evident that the reasons for decentralisation
remains largely underexplored. This discussion paper aims to and the pace of decentralisation vary significantly from country
bridge that gap and draw out lessons from the implementation to country. In the UK for instance, the devolution of power to
of DOPP for future initiatives in decentralisation and civil service Scotland was undertaken to accommodate regional aspirations.
reform.
The paper is organised as follows: First it presents a literature 5 Francis Hutchinson (2013). Hidden counter-revolution: A history of the centralisation
of power in Malaysia. No 6, ISEAS, Singapore. www.iseas.edu.sg
review of decentralisation and civil service reforms. It then 6 Blair, Harry. (2000). Participation and Accountability at the Periphery: Democratic
discusses the key features of the Devolution Plan of 2001 and Local Governance in Six Countries. World Development. (28): 1, pp.21-39.
then converges to two main hallmarks of DOPP, the civil service 7 Anwar Shah (1997). Balance, Accountability and Responsiveness: Lessons about
decentralisation. Washington: World Bank available at http://www.worldbank.org/
and police reforms. Drawing upon political economy analysis, html/dec/Publications/Workpapers/wps2000series/wps2021/wps2021-abstract.html
8 Brian C. Smith (1985). Decentralisation: the Territorial Dimension of the State.
London: George Allen & Unwin.
1 UNDP Pakistan (2014). Home page. http://www.pk.undp.org/content/pakistan/en/ 9 Jutting, J., Corsi, E. and Stockmayer, A. (2005). Decentralisation and Poverty
home.html, accessed on 3.9.14. Reduction. OECD Policy Insights no. 5, OECD.
2 Includes one enactment of ‘civilian’ Martial Law by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in the 1970s. 10 Ahmad, J., Devarajan, S., Khemani, S., Shah, S (2005). Decentralisation and Service
3 UNDP (2014). Human Development Report 2014 - Sustaining human progress: Delivery, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3603. www.http://econ.
Reducing vulnerabilities and building resilience. Available at http://hdr.undp.org/ worldbank.org
sites/default/files/hdr14-summary-en.pdf , accessed on 8.7.15 11 Evans, H., Chanrith, C., Lang, H., and Muny, M. (2010) ‘Final Evaluation of “Project to
4 See Alam, M., & Wajidi, M. A. (2013). Pakistan’s Devolution of Power Plan 2001: A Support Democratic Development Through Decentralisation and De-concentration”’,
brief dawn for local democracy. Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance, Issue Submitted to UNDP Cambodia, Osana International Incorporated.
12, May 2013; and Jabeen, N., & Iqbal, M. Z. (2010). Gender and Local Governance in 12 Zoe Scott and Munawwar Alam (2011). Topic guide on decentralisation and local
Pakistan: Promoting Participation through Capacity Building. South Asian Studies , government. London, UK: Commonwealth Secretariat / GSDRC. http://www.gsdrc.
25 (2), 255-281. org/docs/open/DecLocGov2011.pdf
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