One week Capacity building programmes for senior officers of Information Commission of Maldives (ICOM) of Maldives was unveiled at National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG), New Delhi. 26 senior officers from Maldives are taking part in the programmes.

The National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG) is dedicated to promoting collaboration and learning among civil servants in India and neighbouring countries, in line with the ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ philosophy espoused by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. NCGG's capacity-building initiatives for civil servants aim to promote good governance, enhance service delivery, and improve the quality of life of citizens by reaching the last person. The larger objective being to institutionalizing and attaining good governance in today’s world where technology is a big enabler.

The information Commission of Maldives (ICOM) during the meeting with Director General, NCGG in November 2022 expressed its desire to have in person training programme for their top level team. The programme will enable offices to learn and to enhance their capacity for effective information strategies and action. This will also provide an opportunity to ICOM team to learn about the modern tools of right to information from the work being done by Central Information Commission which will result in improving the efficiency of ICOM and  promotion of right to information in the Maldives as well.

It is in the above context that NCGG is organizing the first programme for senior officers of ICOM and is a first of its kind, the capacity building programme is in the line with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s good governance mantra that is ‘pro-people’ by putting ‘citizen first’ at the forefront of the development strategy. The programme aims to promote exchange of information, knowledge, share new ideas and best practices to enhance sensitivity, responsiveness and bring efficiency in officers of participating countries.

The inaugural session was chaired by Shri V. Srinivas, IAS,  Director General, National Centre for Good Governance and secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Government of India. Addressing the officers, he emphasized on providing effective public service delivery and elaborated on the role of civil servants to create an enabling environment, where every citizen is treated equally and have access to quality public services. He gave an insightful and in-depth presentation on the administrative reforms journey in the country. He also explained in detail the centralized public grievance redress and monitoring system (CPGRAMS), the DARPG -Chintan Shivir and the ten step reforms and how technology has been leveraged. He also discussed about the sevottam: Capacity building initiative.

Speaking in the inaugural ceremony Head of delegation Shri Ahmed Ahid Rasheed, Information Commissioner, ICOM, Maldives thanked the government of India and NCGG for the opportunity which will not only improve the capacities of the officers but also help in giving better services to the citizens of the country and ultimately contribute to good governance.

The capacity building programme comprises sessions on topics such as Right to Information Act of India, the role and functions of CIC, Obligation of Public Authority, State Information Commission – their role and challenges, Capacity building of Public Information Officers, Case handling and management, appellate process, compilation of appeals management and processing, Role in conducting RTI awareness raising exercises among the public, Transparency Audit, Monitoring and Reporting functions of CIC among other initiatives such as e-initiatives. Moreover, the programme also offers exposure visits to Pradhan Mantri Sanghralaya, Central Information Commission, Taj Mahal and other locations for participants.

Apart from this specialized programme, during the visit of Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi to Maldives in 2019, National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG), entered into an MoU with the Civil Service Commission, Maldives for capacity building of 1,000 Maldives civil servants by 2024. Similarly, an agreement was signed with the Govt of Bangladesh for the capacity building of 1,800 civil servants by 2024.

The National Centre for Good Governance was set up in 2014 by the Government of India as an apex institution in the country with a mandate to work on good governance, policy reforms, training and capacity building of civil servants of the country as well as of other developing countries. It also works as a think tank. It has taken up capacity building of civil servants of several developing countries in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs. So far, it has imparted training to civil servants of 15 countries viz. Bangladesh, Kenya, Tanzania, Tunisia, Seychelles, Gambia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Laos, Vietnam, Bhutan, Myanmar and Cambodia. These training were found to be highly useful by the participating officers of different countries. These programmes are much sought after and NCGG is expanding its capacity to accommodate higher number of civil servants of more countries as demand is on the rise.

The inaugural session was attended by Dr. B.S. Bisht, Course Coordinator of the programme, Deputy Secretary, DARPG shri Uday kumar Bharti, CAO, NCGG and Dr. Sanjeev Sharma Associate Course Coordinator, Shri Brijesh Bisht and shri Guman Bisht along with dedicated Course Team of the NCGG.

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