HRM

CITY DISTRICT GOVERNMENT FAISALABAD
CASE STUDY ON
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

DIMENSIONS OF DISTRICT GOVERNMENT
REFORM
FINAL DRAFT: 31ST JANUARY 2008
David Watson
Sub-Consultant
Muhammad Shahid Alvi

HRM Specialist, SPU
GHK Consultants
HRM Dimensions Case Study: Final Draft
31st January 2008
CONTENTS
Preface
Acronyms
Executive Summary
BACKGROUND
1. The Context for HRM in Local Government in Pakistan after the Punjab Local
Government Ordinance (PLGO) 2001
2. The Situation faced by Faisalabad District in 2004 in human resource
management aspects of the PLGO
THE CASE
3. Overview: Origins of the HRM strategy, and its inter-relationship with other
development strategies of Faisalabad District Government
4. Main elements, and rationale for the chronology of, the HRM strategic and
operational plan (SOP)
5. HRM Tools developed and the use to which they were put
6. What has changed since 2004? Achievements and benefits arising to date from
implementation of the HRM SOP
LESSONS AND REFLECTIONS

7. Challenges faced in pursuing HRM and how (or if) they were surmounted
8. Key aspects of ‘unfinished business’; principal threats to future HRM progress
and how momentum will be sustained
9. Lessons from the HRM Experience: Success factors and Pre-requisites of
pursuing HRM in Pakistan Local Government
10. The practical implications for local governments of pursuing HRM reform in
Pakistan
11. Replication in other Local Governments to date
12. The Role of Technical Co-operation and the Donor in supporting the HRM
function in local government
CONCLUSIONS
13. Conclusions
Appendices
1. Persons Consulted in Compiling Case Study
2. References and Sources for Documentation on HRM in CDGF (includes key
Provincial or Federal policy documents)
3. Core Issues, Strategic Aims, Examples of Actions, and Priorities in the HRM SOP
4. Model HRM-related policy statements/documents
• Workforce Planning Framework
• Job Description / Personnel Specification: EDO Education
5. Summary of Training-Related HR Programme Components and Activities
6. HRM Progress Against Principles and Attributes of District Reform
7. The Costs and Benefits of HRM Investment in CDGF
8. Drivers of Change Analysis of HRM in CDGF
Boxes:
1. District HRM Functions (Prescribed under Punjab Rules of Business 2001)
2. Key Aimed-for Characteristics of the District Government Workforce
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PREFACE
Faisalabad is a City District and the third-largest city in Pakistan, with a population of almost
7 million, and an area of nearly 6,000 sq km, located 130km north-west of Lahore in Punjab
Province. Its economy is based on textiles, with agriculture being important in its rural
hinterland. The City District Government Faisalabad (CDGF) is responsible for the provision
of the following services: education (up to higher secondary level); health (including District
HQ Hospitals); Community Development and Social Welfare, and Municipal Services such as
solid waste management, environment, transport, fire services, and spatial planning, It has
eight towns within its boundaries, and the largest number of Union Councils (289) of any
District in Pakistan.
CDGF has collaborated with a range of external funding partners over the past decade.
Foremost amongst these is the UK’s Department for International Development. The
Faisalabad Area Upgrading Project (199xx – 2002) supported major infrastructural and
education service delivery improvements and innovations in the District. £ Value?? Major
achievements
After the promulgation of the Local Government Ordinance in 2001, the newly-elected
Faisalabad District Nazim and newly-appointed DCO requested DFID help in assessing some
of the implications for resource-management (including management of people) under the
new devolved governance arrangements. The Nazim and DCO decided in 2002 that the
optimal structure for providing a ‘Think Tank’ facility would be a Strategic Policy Unit
(SPU), where external technical advisers could work alongside District officials in supporting
the various Departments with the management systems and basic capacities they would need
to guide improvements in newly-devolved sectoral services of local government.
DFID agreed a new project starting in April 2004 to equip Faisalabad District government
with the capacities and systems to plan and manage devolved services in an accountable and
pro-poor manner. The Purpose of the SDLGF Project is ‘Efficient, effective, accountable and
transparent district government in Faisalabad, which is responsive to the needs of people
including the poor’ (to be attained by March 2008). It has a £2.5 million technical assistance
component delivered and managed by GHK Consultants. It has major education,
organisational development and social development components, totalling £7 million.
Although CDGF requested an extension of the project beyond March 2008, technical and
financial support will end that month as initially planned. A second phase of reforms has been
planned and proposed by CDGF for funding to the Punjab Provincial government.
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ACRONYMS
ACR Annual Confidential Report

ADB Asian Development Bank
AEO Assistant Education Officer
AKU Aga Khan University
BHU Basic Health Unit
CDGF City District Government Faisalabad
CIDA Canadian International Development Agency
CIPD Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
CMIPHC Chief Minister’s Initiative on Primary Health Care
CSRU Civil Service Reform Unit
DFID Department for International Development
DO District Officer
DCO District Co-ordination Officer
DSP Devolution Support Programme
DTCE Devolution Trust for Community Empowerment
DDO Drawing and Disbursement Officer
EDO Executive District Officer
FMIS Financial Management Information System
GIS Geographical Information System
GoP Government of Pakistan
HRM Human Resources Management
HRMIS Human Resources Management Information System
IIA Institute of Internal Auditors
IOL Institute of Learning
IT Information Technology
NCHD National Commission on Human development
NGO Non Governmental Organisation
NRB National Reconstruction Bureau
P&D Planning and Development (Department)
PC1 Planning Commission Proforma for Project Proposals
PER Performance Evaluation Report
PFC Provincial Finance Commission
PIFRA Punjab Integrated Financial Reporting and Accounting system
PIM Pakistan Institute of Management
PLGO Punjab Local Government Ordinance
PMU Project Management Unit
PRMP Punjab Resource Management Programme
PRSP Punjab Rural Support Programme
RoB Rules of Business
SDLGF Support to Devolved Local Government Faisalabad
SDPI Sustainable Development Policy Institute
SLTDP Sustainable Long Term Development Plan
SNE Statement of New Expenditure
SOP Strategic Operational Plan
SPU Strategic Policy Unit
TA Technical Assistance
UC Union Council
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Human Resource Management (HRM) aspects of the evolution of the CDGF’s reform
programme underpinned its success. Development of the human resources of the Faisalabad
local government were seen from the outset as a crucial condition of the programme. The
Local Government Ordinance of 2001 which established the legal environment for the
devolution of powers and resources which have framed the City Government’s development
over the past five years, was however silent on the implications of the devolved role-changes
in terms of the needs for analytical or resource management skills and professional
competences at District and sub-District levels, nor did it propose how these and other human
resource management (HRM) implications of these changes should be tackled. These lacunae
were partly explained by the narrow conception of HRM at all levels of the civil service at the
time.
In common with other components of the CDGF reform programme embarked upon in 2004,
a situation assessment in HRM aspects was conducted. It revealed a context very typical of
local governments at the time, and one which is unfortunately reflected in many Districts
currently.
The Strategy and Policy Unit was established in 2002 as a ‘Think Tank’ to address the
shortcomings in both the PLGO, and the governance context of the District government of the
time. With consultant support facilitated by the UK’s Department of International
Development, it helped frame the Corporate Plan, and Departmental Strategic Operational
Plans, including the HRM aspects of the reforms (see Appendix 3 for its main provisions). A
small HRM team was formed; a Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)
was painstakingly developed over the next few years, and has become the centrepiece of the
HRM function. Other major undertakings included job analysis for all 1,500 key posts;
subsequent consultative preparation of job descriptions and related training needs analyses;
introduction of quarterly performance appraisal for EDOs (involving presentations to the
Nazim DCO and peers on progress against targets and identification of bottlenecks); a survey
of citizen’s perceptions of Council services was conducted in all Unions; another major
survey (which took several years to complete) recorded staff opinion on how they were
managed and motivated. Examples of the manpower planning framework, and a job
description proforma are at Appendix 4. An ambitious and diverse training programme was
undertaken. DDOs, top management development and IT orientation were the three most
urgent foci. Full details are at Appendix 5. While a modest Institute of Learning was
established (primarily for in-service support to school teachers and head-teachers), an
innovative approach was used to develop over 400 ‘Master Trainers’: Departments officers
who have undertaken one or more training programmes, who have not only applied
themselves well to the substantive training offered, but who also expressed interest in helping
train colleagues.
HRM functions now fully and efficiently feasible thanks to the systematic HRM capacity
building include on-line access to up to date HRMIS statistics; its application on human
resource planning (formerly very difficult especially for large, geographically-dispersed
cadres with numerous specialities such as teachers); identifying vacancy-rates and major
capacity gaps, retirement schedules and seniority rankings (and thereby prompting timely
recruitment, succession-planning and retirement benefit payment scheduling). The HRMIS
facilitates processing of transfers and promotions, and has also identified cases where there
are more incumbents than posts (in Revenue Department), thereby illustrating the
consequences of politically-pressured employment of Revenue Clerks for reasons of local
(constituency) patronage. When combined with Financial Management Information System
data, the HRMIS has revolutionised and much-simplified payroll and annual budget
preparation.
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Recently a pilot project has been introduced in two Unions and fifty Secondary schools
whereby attendance is monitored through biometric (finger-print) data entry. After initial
teething-troubles (technical and in terms of staff attitudes and scepticism), this is an
encouraging innovation, which in turn is raising important issues connected with the use (and
abuse) of the various types of official leaves from duty to which employees are entitled. It
also underlines the importance of accurate recording of leave taken and due, and has revealed
incidence of poorly kept leave records in the past.
The principal changes since 2004 include longer planning horizons: better-trained staff
backed up with Geographical and Municipal Service information systems have been able to
formulate a Sustainable Long-Term Development Plan for the City District. This offers the
prospect of attracting additional investment: a total of Rs 16 billion has been committed or
promised as a result. Policies, management practices, and behaviours are now evidence-
based; thousands of staff and elected representatives have been trained in practical skills for
the first time (see Appendix 5). Hundreds of staff are ‘IT-literate’ and are thus empowered to
access and use information systems. This in turn has promoted communication and co-
operation between departments that before the reforms tended to work independently.
Departmental functions are managed by EDOs who meet regularly. They are mutually and
upwardly accountable for their Departmental performance, and who, thanks to the publication
of findings of a recent Citizen’s Perceptions Survey, are informed of the opinions of service
users on perceived deficiencies and shortfalls in their Departments’ service delivery. There
has been a major change in the way the CDGF relates to the Provincial government, at the
Punjab Development Forum and in a one-day Reform Seminar in June (attended not just by
key Provincial Secretaries and Chair P&D, but by many Punjab Nazims and DCOs).
Appendix 6 summarises the progress, against the adopted characteristics of District reform.
Some things have not changed. Political pressures to employ, transfer, promote or dismiss
employees continue. But the impact of unnecessary recruitment becomes apparent through
HRMIS and FMIS data. The CDGF continues to be dependent on the provincial government
for overall personnel policy, control of its most senior staff, for the eventual resolution of the
long-awaited District Cadre issue, and approval of major proposed changes and new
developments. Further development of accountability institutions (of Monitoring Committees,
of elected representatives themselves, of the internal audit capacity of the Council, and of the
recently-established Call Centre) is an important priority for Phase II of the reforms.
The lessons include: first, that little could have been achieved without the sustained
commitment and leadership of the Nazims and DCOs, nor without the remarkable support
throughout from the Provincial government; the experience shows that for it to be effective,
technical assistance teams must be ‘on-site’ and ‘embedded’ with colleagues day to day.
Investment in information systems, IT systems, and HRM must come early in any reform
process and be sustained throughout…and if full confidence in systems’ sustainability, for
somewhat longer than CDGF have had so far! For its part, the donor in this case has been
constructively engaged, but without undue micro-management or interference, throughout.
Appendix 7 notes the benefits flowing from HRM investment. There is now a sense of
common purpose in the organisation; there is much good news to be disseminated;
Departments are managed, and are pulling together, not working independently. Despite these
advantages, the effects are slow to percolate to the service delivery ‘front line’.
Appendix 8 attempts to synthesize the links between ‘Drivers of Change’ in local government
reform processes in Pakistan, and takes account of the obstacles which have to be faced.
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BACKGROUND
1. The Context for HRM in Local Government in Pakistan after the Punjab Local
Government Ordinance (PLGO) 2001
1.1 The Punjab Local Government Ordinance 2001 provided for devolution of planning,
budgeting, and overall resource management functions for most major services to District
governments, together with non-lapsable, rules-based financial transfers to fund such
services. District managers of service delivery were to be accountable to locally-elected
politicians. These changes were accompanied by new administrative arrangements with
consequences and implications for the way in which human resources of local governments
were to be managed henceforth (including the staff of Tehsil Municipal Administrations and
Union Councils).
1.2 These changes included the creation of a new post: a District Co-ordination Officer
(DCO) accountable to an indirectly elected District Nazim (Mayor). The DCO position
replaced the Deputy Commissioner who (as well as possessing magisterial powers) was
formerly accountable to an un-elected Provincial Secretariat for the operations of District
offices – which were essentially ‘outposts’ of the Provincial government. The DCO has
administrative authority over Executive District Officers, who head principal Departments of
the District Council executive. Full administrative control over Departmental establishments
(appointments, transfer and promotion) was to be vested in the local governments up to
specified grades. It also introduced a range of bodies to enhance political- and user-scrutiny of
the services delivered by the newly-empowered District executive, together with new entities
– Citizen Community Boards – to galvanise popular participation in bottom-up planning and
development project implementation.
1.3 The PLGO was however silent on the implications of the devolved role-changes in
terms of the needs for analytical or resource management skills and professional competences
at District and sub-District levels, nor did it propose how these and other human resource
management (HRM) implications of these changes should be tackled, other than its brief
treatment of ‘managing transition’. This section (amongst other provisions) prescribed a bar
on recruitment, at least until the following year. Its treatment of ‘training’ referred only to
training of Nazims, Deputies and Council members in courses to be prescribed by the
Provincial government.
1.4 Although the new local governments were permitted by the LGO to establish HRM
offices, they had almost no experience or capacities in HRM issues, since Provincial
governments had hitherto played a dominant role in appointment, transfer, and promotion
issues, and the postings of staff (other than the most junior) at District and sub-District levels.
Even at Provincial level, the broader notion of ‘human resource management’ was ill-
understood, and not backed up with the information systems, managerial culture, nor
analytical and co-ordination routines needed to permit HRM to be practiced. A clue to how
‘HRM’ was conceived at the time at Provincial level is the amalgam of loosely-related
functions contained in the formal definition of the scope of HRM functions in the Punjab
Rules of Business (see Box 1).
‘The devolution decision was made abruptly and top-down. There were initially no Standard Operating
Procedures. Nazims and DCOs made suggestions through Provincial governments to the NRB. While
there are political linkages between the various assemblies of elected members from District
government down, clear administrative working relationships are still missing.’ The DCO Faisalabad.
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Box 1 District HRM Functions (Prescribed under Punjab RoB 2001)

Improvement in general efficiency and economic execution of Government business of the District
government
Advice regarding proper utilisation of stationery and printing resources of the Government with the
District Government
Training in Organisation and Method
Suggestion Scheme
Preparation of Manuals
Career Pattern of District government employees
Simplification of forms and procedures within the District
Departmental examination in respect of District government employees
In-service/pre-service training of ministerial employees of District government
Source: Punjab Government Rules of Business 2001 SOV (LG) 59/2001
2. The situation faced by Faisalabad District Government in 2004 in human

resource management aspects of the PLGO
2.1 Each of the Strategic Operational Plans (SOPs) drawn up by Faisalabad District
Government assessed the situation encountered by its Departments in the second half of 2004.
These analyses formed one element of the SOPs. The HRM analysis revealed that the
overwhelming majority (virtually 90%) of its nearly 35,000 staff worked in education and
health departments. None of the service sector Departments had any HRM offices: the only
entity with HRM responsibilities was the newly-created post of District Officer HRM and an
embryonic HRM Department.
2.2 Personnel records were contained in individual files held in separate Departments,
making difficult any attempts at corporate HRM analysis or planning. Faisalabad District
government could not add or delete posts, nor appoint officers on its own authority: only the
provincial government held that power. The District could not re-direct non-development
budget resources saved from deleted posts, hence had no incentive to economise on staffing.
For posts outside the purview of the Punjab Public Service Commission (i.e. below grade 18)
it could however transfer existing staff, and fill existing posts. Both appointments and
transfers were politicised activities, with councillors regarding them as important
mechanisms for currying favour with constituents (despite injunctions against this type of
involvement in the PLGO).
2.3 After devolution in 2001, staff from three principal cadres (federal, provincial and
previous local rural District governments) working at District level had been assigned to local
government service. However, in practice, members of the first two cadres ‘still looked to the
province’ (not to the District) in terms of career development, promotion, postings and
transfers. A circular subsequent to the LGO from the Provincial government issued in mid-
2004 asked Districts for proposals for establishing a District Cadre for local government
departmental employees. This was welcomed by the District Government, because since
2001, authority over officers serving at District level had been fragmented: this confused their
loyalties, and undermined morale. Accordingly the CDGF put forward two options in
response to the circular: one involving transfer to Districts of existing employees and all
aspects of HR authority over them (which would then became their employer). The second
option (its preference) entailed different treatment for staff graded up to Grade 16 (who would
be transferred to District service), and a phased, transitional transfer arrangement for more
senior staff, based on an assessment of requirements. There have been no subsequent
substantive developments of the District cadre notion since then, despite several meetings
between the CDGF with representatives of NRB and CSRU. Operational ambiguities
therefore remain in terms of the future authority of Districts to set pay and benefit levels for
staff assigned to them; management of the Benevolent Fund for staff in grades 1-16;
management of gratuities and pension rights, and group insurance issues, and whether
Districts would be bound to apply any periodic recruitment bans imposed by Provincial
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government, or whether they would continue to be able to recruit contract employees in such
circumstances.
2.4 Any training received by District staff was on an ad-hoc bases at the behest of the
provincial government, with no needs analysis preceding it, nor any dialogue between
training providers and respective line departments. Only DMG staff (a federal cadre) attended
prescribed training courses. For most others, training was only loosely related to jobs
performed by trainees, and was therefore seen as largely irrelevant. Performance Evaluation
Reports (formerly Annual Confidential Reports) were to be completed by line managers on
their subordinates. In practice, this process was often initiated by subordinates only when
seeking transfer or promotion, and was thus an irregular event, with little bearing on the
nature of the job, incumbents’ actual performance or the future development or training needs
of the officers concerned. Indeed, job descriptions did not exist. Only the main
responsibilities and functions of certain posts were summarised in general terms in the PLGO
(those of the Nazim, the DCO, and EDOs).
2.5 Pay scales for various grades of staff are set nationally, and federal rules governed
movements between grades. No award or incentive schemes were in operation in Faisalabad,
although one for teachers was proposed in the 2004 budget. No formal mechanisms for
collective representation or bargaining between management and public sector Employee
Associations1 existed, despite their strength amongst teachers and clerical grades. No
consultation took place between management and Employee Associations on service delivery
issues and possible improvements. No suggestions schemes were in operation. Basic
complaints-handling mechanisms existed within departments which responded to complaints
forwarded through the Complaints Cell established in the Nazim’s office (as prescribed by a
Governor’s circular).
2.6 The notion of teamwork was alien to day-to-day operations in the District. Only two
meetings of the (monthly) Nazim / EDO meetings had actually taken place in the three years
since the LGO came into effect. Otherwise, meetings were arranged by issue, in an ad hoc
fashion, and run in a top-down manner, not conducive to dialogue or sharing of ideas.
THE CASE
3. Overview: Origins of the HRM strategy, and its inter-relationship with other
development strategies of Faisalabad District Government
3.1 Assessments - taking stock of the problems (and potential) emerging from the
District’s first experiences in making devolution work - were to form the basis of an over-
arching Corporate Plan, and related sectoral Departmental Strategic Operational Plans
(SOPs).
Design
3.2 The Corporate Plan was the framework which guided departmental Strategic
Operational Plans (SOPs). The Corporate Plan laid out the Mission,2 and Core Values of the
District Government. The first value ‘setting high standards’ gives a flavour of the challenge
Faisalabad faced: the breadth of the vision which guided future HRM development was in
stark contrast with previous notions of HRM in the Punjab public service. ‘We will achieve
1
No Trades Unions are permitted to operate in the public sector.
2
The Mission Statement of CDGF – forged through painstaking discussion between SPU and the
departments over a period of months - is ‘We will provide high quality services which compare with
the best in the country. We will work with everyone who wants a better future for our District. We will
establish an efficient, effective and accountable District Local Government, which is committed to
respecting and upholding women, men, and children’s basic human rights, responsive towards people’s
needs, committed to poverty reduction, and capable of meeting the challenges of the 21st century. Our
actions will be driven by the concerns of local people.’
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(the Mission) by comparing, competing, monitoring, evaluating and reporting on

achievement, valuing and developing our workers and involving stakeholders in planning and
decision-making.’ Guiding Principles were enunciated, backed up by Change Activities to be
undertaken. Virtually all the 12 principles were to be delivered via changes involving HRM
dimensions – from pro-poor and pro-women policies recruitment and budgeting, to clearer
criteria for transfers and postings; from arrangements for whistle-blowing to improved
internal communication and information systems; from citizens’ surveys in respect of service
delivery, to protocols, codes of conduct, and more objective performance appraisal machinery
for staff.
3.3 The HRM SOP was based on recommendations from the Situation Assessment of
2004. It was explicitly related to driving the corporate change-management agenda being
pursued, as well as establishing the HRM function itself in an environment where none yet
existed. Recommendations included the establishment of a small HRM team under the DCO
(to comprise an EDO, a DO, DDO and Administrative Assistant). Other main
recommendations included the establishment of a Human Resource Management Information
System (HRMIS) including training needs analysis mechanisms; staff development and
training (including job analyses and skill audits linked to the strategic objectives of the
District); performance management (including a reassessment of current practices and
identification of managerial skill-gaps, and definition of job descriptions and personnel
specifications); a pilot scheme for rewards and recognition; improved employee relations
through an assessment of current consultation arrangements, and improvements in
communication including links with the communication strategy for the SDLGF project.
3.4 The essence of the change-management agenda was change in ‘the very culture of the
way the District operates’.3 This vision was based on a realisation that there were far-reaching
(but hitherto unarticulated) implications of devolution of resource-management and service
delivery tasks to local governments, especially when combined with the needs for greater
responsiveness to public demands, enhanced public accountability, participation, and
corporate integrity.
4. Main elements, and rationale for the chronology of, the HRM strategic and
operational plan (SOP)
4.1 The HRM SOP was linked to the overarching Corporate Plan ‘in order to serve the
District’s business needs’. Its aim was to produce a workforce with key characteristics (see
Box 2) supportive of the District’s mission, and confirmed that implementation of the HRM
SOP would in practice much depend on the ‘philosophy, values and commitment of top
management’.
Box 2 Key Aimed-for Characteristics of the District Workforce

Skilled flexible and well-trained
Customer-focused and responsive
Competitive with the best
Productive and efficient
Committed motivated and willing to learn
Valued for its contribution
Representative of the community it serves
Accepting of the need for continuous improvement and open to change
Committed to the District’s values and ethical standards
Source: HRM Department SOP December 2004
4.2 The elements of the SOP were expressed as Core Issues, each with a Strategic Aim,
and backed up with several actions or outputs, which would lead to the achievement of the
corresponding aim. These are paraphrased in Appendix 3, along with their planned
3
Foreword to the HRM SOP by District Nazim Chaudhry Zahid Nazir
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sequencing. Urgent attention was to be given to establishing a HRMIS which was seen as the
key to all subsequent attempts at planning and rationalising staff recruitment,
placement/distribution, transfer, payroll, training and development (based upon skill-sets
needed and prevailing shortfalls), welfare and retirement management. The highest priority
training was in re-orienting top management, IT skills, and in the field of planning and
budgeting. Motivated human resources were seen as a vital prerequisite for the new corporate
culture. Rationalisation of financial resource allocation depended on major re-orientation of
key staff - in all sectors - to the principles of strategic planning and budgeting. These concepts
had been as alien as ‘human resource management’ was to the Punjab civil service hitherto.
Implementation
5. HRM systems developed, and the use to which they were put.
5.1 The principal HRM systems and tools which have been developed, supportive of
better human resources management, are as follows, together with a commentary on how they
have been utilised. The benefits to CDGF arising from the introduction of the various HRM
systems are summarised in the tabulation in Appendix 7.
Human Resource Management Information System

5.2 The ‘centrepiece’ of the array of tools developed over the past three years is
undoubtedly the HRMIS. It was built up during the first year into a system of 20,000
individual records in an accessible database of the workforce of CDGF. It now covers over
32,000 staff, and provides EDOs and DOs with on-line access to it. It records personal details,
current grade and post details; employment record with government and the District
government; academic and professional qualifications; work experience; training history;
attendance, leave and discipline record and dates of performance reviews.
5.3 The primary use of the HRMIS has been in human resource planning (the CDGF HR
planning framework is presented as Appendix 3) by linking current and future needs for
human resources with probable future demand patterns. It has permitted specific
investigations over the past three years into numbers employed, by organisational unit, and
their skills ‘inventory’. This is proving extremely valuable in the Education Department,
given the complexities of managing a diverse teaching force, where geographical distribution,
gender, grade, seniority and subject specialism factors are all important variables. The
implications of predicted patterns and timing of retirements can be assessed with the HRMIS.
This has enabled better administration of retirement benefits: avoiding many of the payment
delays, which used to be common. More recently the implications of (Provincial) government
policies, (for example the decision to move all Graduate Teachers of English from primary
schools to elementary and secondary schools) and the supply of candidates for employment
have been investigated. It has identified gaps between approved establishment and the actual
functional strength in certain categories of post or departments. It has also been helpful in
identifying where (by location) DDOs are unavailable. Their absence has created major
administrative and payment delays, with corresponding negative impact on service delivery.
For example, in the first half of 2007, 118 high and higher secondary schools (mainly outside
Faisalabad city) were without DDOs according to analysis of the HRMIS. Within the teaching
force, the HRMIS graphically illustrated the growing shortfall of teachers in post given the
Provincial government recruitment freeze: this was lifted only in late 2006 by which time
there were over 5,000 vacancies in the teaching force. On the other hand, it has also identified
cases where there are more incumbents than posts (in Revenue Department), thereby
illustrating the consequences of politically-pressured employment of Revenue Clerks for
reasons of local (constituency) patronage.
Transfers, Vacancies, Postings, Promotion, Attendance and Absenteeism

5.4 Previously, processing of requests for transfers and postings took a large amount of
time. Now the HRMIS facilitates decision-making on such matters because it enables
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managers to see the implications of such decisions on ‘origin’ and ‘destination’ Departments
or facilities. This application has had the greatest impact in the education department, which
accounts for the bulk of the Faisalabad workforce. For example, it is estimated that it used to
take over 400 DDOs several days to process vacancy listings for their departments. It now
takes one officer some minutes. Seniority listings are essential for assessing suitability of staff
for promotion: these too are readily generated by the HRMIS. Similarly, the annual routine of
budget preparation, previously extremely time-consuming, has been simplified by the
existence and application of the HRMIS. The 2007/8 non-development budget preparation
process was the first to have HRMIS and the Financial Management Information System
(FMIS) inter-connected via employee personnel numbers. This has also saved much effort in
compiling the budget. This exercise encompassed 80% of employees. It also illustrated that
there were staff who existed in the HRMIS but not in the FMIS, (or had a grade above their
sanctioned grade) and set in train an exercise to reconcile personnel data in the two
databases, this is revealing ‘ghost’ employees, enabling CDGF to regularise its personnel
records, and payroll systems. Recently a pilot project has been introduced in two Unions and
fifty Secondary schools whereby attendance is monitored through biometric (finger-print)
data entry. After initial teething-troubles (technical and in terms of staff attitudes and
scepticism), this is an encouraging innovation, which in turn is raising important issues
connected with the use (and abuse) of the various types of official leaves from duty to which
employees are entitled. It also underlines the importance of accurate recording of leave taken
and due, and has revealed incidence of poorly kept leave records in the past.
5.5 The HRMIS has also cast light on the extent to which the District is following
policies and legislation on equal opportunities through clarification of numbers, grades, and
distribution of disabled and other minority groups in the workforce. It also brings to light
through analysis of their office location, the physical obstacles certain groups face in entering
or moving through buildings, or accessing key facilities (including toilets).
Resource Centres
5.6 A major challenge to system efficiency and accuracy is that of regular data updating,
which in the past caused major problems for the largest departments (education in particular).
After dialogue on the nature of these problems and possible solutions, a network of Resource
Centres have been established serving the three main employing Departments (Education,
Health and Municipal Services) where direct web-based access has been arranged for AEOs
and DDOs to input data updating regularly. The advantage of this system is that
responsibilities for reporting changes, and entering them into the HRMIS, are clearly and
unambiguously defined.
Job Descriptions and Personnel Specifications

5.7 Job Descriptions and related Personnel Specifications have been developed as
complementary HR tools. These were developed after a process of Job Analysis for EDOs
over a period of six months within the first year of HRM strategy implementation. They
incorporate (up to 20) generic responsibilities (common for all similar posts) and key specific
responsibilities which were further defined in terms of Key Service Activity, corresponding
Responsibility, and priority Tasks. Person Specifications described minimum-required and
preferable educational attainments (qualifications); personal characteristics, special aptitudes,
interests, disposition, circumstances and physical make-up of the incumbent. (See example in
Appendix 3). By the second half of 2006, Job Descriptions and related Specifications for all
1,500 key staff in Education, Finance and Planning, Literacy, and IT Departments had been
drawn up, agreed and translated into Urdu.
5.8 Job Description workshops for main job types – a form of collective Job Analysis -
proved very useful in revealing major (but unavoidable) distractions from core duties
affecting some staff (for example attendance at ceremonies, electoral duties), and in boosting
morale and team-work. The uses to which these key documents have been put include
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recruitment and selection of new staff; objective performance appraisal (see below) and as a
basis for employment contracts. They have been vital in the process of identifying training
needs and making training plans for key categories of staff. They are also a means of
communicating the District’s expectations, priorities and values to all members of staff. More
broadly, as more posts have Job Descriptions, it will enable Corporate and HR planners to
understand how each job ‘fits’ into the overall structure and purpose of the District
government (and in particular, whether there is un-necessary duplication of tasks taking
place), and the traits that are required for these jobs to be performed by incumbents.
Performance Appraisal
5.9 Performance appraisal has been another major HRM tool applied in CDGF. Its
application started in 2005 with the most senior managers – EDOs. This coincided with
training of the EDOs and DOs in leadership, which helped EDOs respond to the new
challenge of having their performance appraised every three months. The use of performance
appraisal has been a crucial element of the overall strategy of developing a culture of
performance-orientation throughout the CDGF administration, but in the absence of
significant flexibility over the material rewards that can be offered to staff to encourage them
to perform. As part of the approach, every three months, EDOs are expected to give a
presentation to the DCO and Nazim on the performance of their Departments to the DCO and
other EDOs against their Job Descriptions. This includes a review of progress and
achievements against target for the quarter, reforms introduced, additional work performed,
and targets for the next quarter. One of the benefits of this process is that it encourages EDOs
to communicate with and consult their respective DOs regularly.
Training Activities
5.10 Training has been a fundamental plank in HR strategy throughout the period of SOP
implementation. Please refer to Appendix 5 for a summary of the training activities which
have taken place, within CDGF, and using international study tours. Priority has been given to
top management training (including time management and communication skills) for EDOs
and DOs. IT skills have been introduced across the organisation, in order to facilitate and
expedite the extent to which information systems – including the HRMIS and the Financial
Information System – can be utilised, updated, and inter-related to become a routine modality
of carrying out managerial administrative and accounting functions. A major early training
priority was Planning, Finance and Budgeting skills for financial (and non-financial) officers
(DDOs) in order that they could participate in the strategic planning and related budgeting
exercises in which the CDGF was embroiled from late 2004 onwards, and which formed the
‘philosophical’ core of its approach to development of a performance-oriented, efficient and
effective District government, responsive and accountable to those it serves. Over 1,000
DDOs were trained within the first full year of SOP implementation. Recently, emphasis has
been given to preparation of materials for induction training of new recruits. One major
innovation has been the use of participative trainee-centred approaches to training, which has
evoked favourable comments from ex-trainees. Efforts are being made to move beyond
participants’ ‘reaction-sheets’ as a means of monitoring and evaluating training, towards use
of surprise visits (to monitor actual attendance at courses: penalties are imposed to late-
comers by trainers), and post-training presentations by trainees. Recently, efforts have been
made to reach out through training programmes to approximately 3,500 directly-elected
Union Councillors and to the Nazims who are indirectly-elected members of the District
Council. Brief courses in gender-based budgeting have been provided to over 3,000
councillors so far to help guide their selection of development schemes.
Strategy for Developing Capacity for Training

5.11 It was agreed that, as well as establishing an ‘Institute of Learning’ (initially for in-
service teacher development, thereafter a facility for the development of all staff) – a cadre of
400 ‘Master Trainers’ would be developed. This feature of Faisalabad’s strategy for
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developing its capacities to train its staff is imaginative, and appears to have effectively
complemented other efforts at building the relationship of the SPU to Departments, and
indeed to the mutual understanding of roles and inter-relationship of Departments themselves
within the reform programme.
5.12 ‘Master Trainers’ are Departmental officers who have undertaken one or more
training programmes, who have not only applied themselves well to the substantive training
offered, but who also expressed interest in helping train colleagues. They were subsequently
selected by the SPU (in consultation with their ‘home’ Department) and given supplementary
coaching in training techniques. They have been used as trainers on courses organised by SPU
for their own departmental colleagues. They act as ‘champions’ of the reform programme
within their home Departments, and are the principal contacts of the SPU within the
Departments of the CDGF, and help with Job or Training Needs Analysis, and facilitate the
introduction and application of new management systems (e.g. the HRMIS) within them.
Given the numbers of employees in CDGF, the role of Master Trainers is crucial. They do not
receive any additional honorarium for their duties, but have been awarded certificates of
recognition by the DCO, together with a nominal cash award and group photograph.
5.13 The Institute of Learning (IoL) has been a major initiative (described more fully
elsewhere in the Education Case Study). It has been hitherto education sector – oriented (i.e.
it has been focused on in-service training of teachers) and has permitted the implementation
of the Whole School Development approach – another innovation which Faisalabad has
successfully pioneered. However, a PC1 / SNE has been prepared to establish the IoL in a
new building, on a permanent footing, with both education and management & technical
wings. This has been approved by the Provincial government; plans have been drawn up and
approved for the new building, and the CDGF has committed funds for construction, and the
next year’s operational budget. Once fully operational, the IoL will be responsible for
planning, designing and mounting training programmes for CDGF staff in both these major
professional fields.
Employee Motivation Survey

5.14 The Employee Motivation Survey: mounted in three phases in mid-2005, and reported
on in Performance Reports as results became known over the period since, is one element in
the dialogue between management and employees in the quest for enhancing motivation, in
the absence of financial incentives. A series of meetings have taken place between
management and staff on the results, which - management frankly admitted – revealed
significant feelings of alienation on the part of significant numbers of staff, and dissatisfaction
with conditions of service. These meetings have gone some way to addressing some of the
issues raised, and will provide material for discussion in future management training
programmes.
6. What has changed since 2004? Achievements to date from implementation of the
HRM SOP
‘We are gradually moving towards a strategy-focused public administration…there is a
concerted effort to move away from routine ad hoc implementation of activities to
understanding how best to use our limited resources targeting key development priorities’
(p22 Performance Report 4)
More strategic, focused planning: longer planning horizons

6.1 The reform agenda – now informed with more accessible data - is getting ever more
focused and ambitious, and the corporate planning horizons longer. Scenario planning has
entered the parlance of financial management. The combination of data from HRMIS and the
GIS (and its depiction on maps) reveals under-staffed education and health facilities and gaps
in service provision. These can be correlated with other indicators (e.g. literacy rates). Future
infrastructure and other investment patterns are being adjusted to target these areas for
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immediate attention. Organisational re-structuring is being proposed in some key

Departments to improve efficiency (already improved through the application of time-saving
and accuracy-enhancing information systems). Better-trained officers – backed up with
Geographical and Municipal Service information systems – have been able to formulate a
Sustainable Long-Term Development Plan for the City District. For the first time this offers
the prospect of attracting additional investment resources for strategic economic infrastructure
in a coherent, inter-related, logical, time-phased fashion. The (then) Chief Minister of Punjab,
and the President of Pakistan were impressed by the SLTDP on their visits to Faisalabad that
they committed provincial and federal government funding to finance its early stages. As a
direct result, Rs 11 billion of infrastructure investment has been approved by Provincial
authorities, and another Rs 5 billion is ‘in the pipeline’ from Federal sources.
‘For the first time, we are seeing where the gaps in services really are.’
A CDGF Departmental official.
Changes in ‘Ways of Doing Business’: Leadership

6.2 There is considerable evidence that the CDGF has indeed ‘changed the way it does
business’ (compared to the Corporate and Departmental situations revealed in 2004) and has
moved rapidly towards not just adopting, but embodying and illustrating compliance with, the
principles enunciated in its Corporate Plan. See Appendix 6 for a summary of progress
against principles and attributes of District reform. The concept of ‘leadership’ – having
overarching significance in the Plan – has been amply demonstrated, not just from the top, but
within and throughout Departmental management structures. For example:
a) Policies, management practices, and behaviours are now evidence-based: FMIS and
HRMIS and recently a Geographical Information System (GIS) are not only ‘up and
running’ but are themselves inter-related in operation. Hundreds of staff are ‘IT-literate’
and are thus empowered to access and use these information systems.
‘We can see where the under-spends are happening, and why. We could not see that before’
A Departmental official.
b) This in turn has promoted communication and co-operation between departments that
before the reforms tended to work independently. This inter-communication has been
supported recently with the opening up of emailing possibilities between key officers, and
the reinforcement of the network of Master Trainers.
c) Departmental functions are managed by EDOs - officers who meet regularly; who are
trained in leadership and other modern management practices, several of whom have had
some international comparative exposure to municipal management and service delivery;
who are mutually and upwardly accountable for their Departmental performance, and
who, thanks to the publication of findings of a recent Citizens’ Perception Survey, are
informed of the opinions of service users on perceived deficiencies and shortfalls in their
Departments’ service delivery.
d) ‘a culture of group meetings with citizens on service delivery aspects of the has been part
of the reforms programme’.4 In the same vein, more partnerships are emerging between
CDGF and NGOs in service delivery and consultations about standards and access. The
latter have been instrumental in ensuring that women participate equally in such
consultations.
e) Staff are being trained in subjects and materials directly related to job functions and or
new systems, and using methods which are practical and skills-oriented; steps are taken to
4
Performance Report No 4 page 3
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assess the contribution of such training not just on individuals but the organisation itself.
There are indications they are empowered by the experience: e.g. now DOs - including a
female DO from F+B - make presentations to colleagues on aspects of systems
development and operation.
‘For the first time, training was not a holiday: it was actually related to my job.’ A Departmental
official.
f) In the case of DDO training, attempts have been made at coordinating with, and
integrating different capacity building interventions that are being rolled out by the
Devolution Trust for Community Empowerment (DTCE), National Commission on
Human Development (NCHD), the Devolution Support Programme (DSP) and Punjab
Integrated Financial Reporting and Accounting system (PIFRA) in order to prevent
duplication and confusion.
g) There is active consideration of equality of opportunity aspects of HRM, fed by better

data on the location, grading, and discussion of career development options facing
minority groups.
HRM Department is up ….and running ….(fast…)

6.3 There is a functioning HRM Department, under Grade 18 DO level leadership. It is
now responsible for co-ordinating all Departments’ training programmes. Staff resources need
to be bolstered in view of its workload: a SNE has been submitted to the Change Management
Unit of the Provincial Government for restructuring and reinforcement of the Department.
CDGF / Provincial Relationships

6.4 There has been a major change in the way the CDGF relates to the Provincial
government. It has at its disposal – for the first time – evidence to illustrate the impact on
service delivery of Provincial HR policies (for example the recruitment freeze), or the precise
magnitude of its needs for supplementary finance. CDGF has built up management and
information systems, and accumulated experience in their usage, which are unique in
Pakistan’s public sector, let alone local government. It has taken steps to communicate these
coherently to the Provincial government (and other local governments, at the President’s
behest). For example, Faisalabad made presentations at the Punjab Development Forum in
April 2007, and to the then Chief Secretary, and high level teams from the Provincial P&D,
Finance, Education, IT departments in a series of visits. A one-day Reform Seminar was held
in June 2007, which senior Provincial officers, and Nazims, DCOs and heads of Planning
Departments from all Punjab Districts attended. There are indications that these products and
insights into their utility from Faisalabad have fuelled the efforts of other reform initiatives at
Provincial level, and have aided the ongoing externally-supported public sector management
reform-facilitation efforts such as Punjab Resource Management Programme (PRMP).
‘We are talking about “Confidence Building Measures” here. All Districts need a SPU. We are trying
to empower our staff with better information, to give them more confidence in their own judgements.’
The DCO Faisalabad.
Typical Enmities Avoided

6.5 A welcome improvement from all-too-typical tensions and rancour in local
government administration since 2001 is that the discourse between incumbent Nazims and
DCOs during the period of the HR reforms appears to have been remarkably collegial,
mutually respectful and supportive. This relationship appears to have been aided by it being
based on a mutual understanding of roles; a clear, written Council-endorsed Corporate Plan
and respective SOPs; regular reporting based on firm information of what has been rapid
progress; proven demonstrable benefits to CDGF and its constituents of the reforms, and
growing confidence in each others’ ability to steer and support the reforms. This unusually
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harmonious relationship between key players in the new structure of post-PLGO local
government has survived the change of incumbents twice (of each position) since the reforms
were started in 2004.
Resistance to Pressures for Transfers

6.6 There has been a remarkably low turnover of senior officials in CDGF. The strong
reputation of the authority in terms of reforms, has meant the Nazim and DCO could argue for
retention of key officials in post, despite pressures from the provincial government for their
transfer out of Faisalabad. There is also some anecdotal evidence that the reputation and
credibility of the CDGF’s key officials have been enhanced and recognised in provincial
government circles as a result of reform achievements.
LESSONS AND REFLECTIONS
7. Challenges faced in pursuing HRM and how (or if) they were surmounted
Political Interference and Pressures
7.1 It appears that political pressures on the management of the CDGF have led at times
to recruitment of (essentially unnecessary) junior staff, and the posting of others. This is the
‘norm’ in local government in Pakistan. The managers of the authority are as vulnerable to
these pressures as they are elsewhere. CDGF differs from other authorities in that the
existence and consequences of these pressures become more apparent, because there is
quantitative evidence available from the various information systems, which have been put in
place. Thus there is the prospect that, over time, the evidence of the true costs of ill-
considered political expediency will eventually convince politicians of the short-sightedness
of their actions, and such pressures will subside.
‘This is the beginning of the end of political games and distortions. For the first time we – and they -
have no place to hide. The costs of un-necessary appointments are clear for all to see.’ ‘The facts
cannot be denied. At last there is some proof.’
Senior Human Resources specialist, and another Senior CDGF Manager.
Continued dependence of the CDGF on Provincial Government

7.2 Many of the most serious and intractable challenges confronting CDGF over the past
three years have related to policies, actions (or inaction) and procedures or regulations
mandated in or by higher levels of government. In particular
District Cadre
a. There was no offer of Provincial support to the preparation of the District operational
chart and schedules for moving to a District cadre (as requested by CDGF when the
original announcement was made). The slow pace of progress with the establishment of a
District Cadre (primarily being driven by NRB but Punjab Provincial government is the
key player in the short term) has already been noted above. The Staff Motivation Survey
concluded ‘After 4 years of implementation of the PLGO, over 40% of employees think
that the Province is their employer’.
Financial Provisions and Instalments

b. Financial subsidy/grant provision (through the PFC) has been inadequate, and paid in
small equal instalments (and therefore inefficient to administer and disburse). This
problem has been addressed by the PFC, which has agreed to provide funds in three
instalments in future. It has also been mitigated by the impressive increase in revenue
accruing to the CDGF in part due to financial management reforms.
Provincial Approvals
c. Despite CDGF proposing an EDO post for HRM department in 2005, no endorsement
was ever received. Although protracted dialogue has taken place between CDGF and the
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Provincial government, CDGF still needs to gain Provincial government approval of key
elements of its reforms programme: the strengthened HR Department, and the Institute of
Learning.
Over-stretched HRM Department: Ditto for the IT Department

7.3 There has been persistent shortage of staff and other resources in the HRM
department, which has been faced with the task not only of spearheading HR-related reforms
and systems development (particularly the HRMIS) and its reconciliation with other major
systems (FMIS and GIS), but also with the launching, development and operation of the
training function (since January 2007, it has been responsible for all training programmes and
their monitoring in CDGF). Attracting and retaining adequate IT staff to develop and service
what is a burgeoning IT system network is proving a major challenge.
Perpetuation of Attitudinal Obstacles towards Women’s Advancement

7.4 There is persistence of an attitudinal / cultural ‘glass ceiling’ confronting the
professional advancement of women employees. CDGF has attempted to arrange in-service
training nearer the homes of female staff who have family responsibilities.
‘Women councillors – almost all of them are in reserved seats and appointed, not elected – are still
therefore largely dependent on the Nazim in practice: they are not independent. They rarely speak up.
That explains why so little ever gets approved for schemes benefiting women.’
8. Key aspects of ‘unfinished business’; principal threats to future HRM progress

and how momentum will be sustained
Human Resource Development for Accountability Institutions
8.1 The Citizens’ Perceptions survey pointed to a major piece of unfinished business: the
urgent need for more human resource development and mobilisation of all accountability
institutions, and of service users, in how to complain and follow-up complaints. Most
Monitoring Committees have still not been set up; elected members appear to need more
guidance in the role of Councillors, and in how to interpret and analyse CDGF official
information (including proposed budgets). Observations have been made in Performance
Reports about the dearth of human resource capacities in internal audit. Consultations with
officials and councillors during the preparation of this case study indicated a general
ambiguity in terms of responsibility for initiating training of elected representatives, and
apparent doubts about its priority at the level of the Province. Despite the efforts made by the
SPU (Appendices 5 and 6), including the opening of a Call Centre (to handle public enquiries
and complaints about service delivery), much more needs to be done to improve working
relationships between officers and elected members, and them and their constituents.
‘We only saw the budget for the first time on day 2 of the three-day budget meeting; how are we
expected to master and comment meaningfully on all that detail?’ ‘The system – with its Call Letters
and so on, is all pretty unfamiliar to us’. CDGF District Councillors.
‘There is a bureaucratic stranglehold on Council business. Elected members are nowhere.’ A CDGF
Manager.
‘The way they act now, auditors are part of the problem: not the solution. Their performance is
measured by the number of objections / queries they raise. They should be aware of the training we are
doing to make compliance with financial regulations better. But they are not.’
Several senior members of one Department, during an informal discussion with the authors.
Gender-Based Approaches
8.2 Another major element of unfinished business is the need for more work on
promotion and adoption of gender-based approaches in CDGF operations including
employment, planning, budgeting, career development and flexible working practices.
Support has recently been obtained from the ADB’s District Support Programme to support
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development of a Gender Strategy encompassing all departments. Over 3,000 Union

Councillors have had orientation in planning and budgeting: over 800 in gender-based
approaches. (See Appendix 5).
Strengthening SPU Functions

8.3 It is crucial that the innovative strategic roles played by SPU continue: to serve
Departments in future. A PC1 / SNE for Phase II of the reforms programme, and the future
strengthening of the SPU has been submitted to the Provincial government for approval. It
would permit contract staff hired for data input and processing for HRMIS, FMIS, and the
GIS to be retained, and for selective national consultant services to be used as required.
‘Information is only a tool. Its usefulness depends on councillors and managers being able and willing
to use it.’ A Senior CDGF Manager.
9. Lessons from the HRM Experience: Pre-requisites and Success Factors in

pursuing HRM in Pakistan Local Government
9.1 On reflection, the following lessons regarding factors and conditions which
influenced the outcome of the last four years experience in Faisalabad can be distilled. The
extent to which they can be replicated or adapted in other local government reform
environments will be a key consideration in the ultimate feasibility of further take-up of the
challenges of reform in Pakistan local government.
Top Level Commitment and Leadership

9.2 It is a commonplace observation, but nonetheless true, that unless there is high-level
commitment to a devolution capacity development venture such as the reform programme of
Faisalabad, it is unlikely to proceed very far. Two successive pairs of Nazims and DCOs have
unfailingly supported the reforms and the technical assistance team’s collaboration with
counterparts in CDGF. Periodically, the political climate proved difficult as (for example)
budget constraints, as well as the identified incomplete projects, necessitated a temporary
freeze on new projects. Since these are the Councillors’ primary means of currying favour
with constituents, firm leadership of the Nazim is crucial at such times. This was forthcoming,
providing ‘space’ and time for corrective measures (and better revenue performance) to
permit a return to stability and the sound promotion of more strategic developments. The
Nazim(s) and DCO(s) have collaborated closely throughout the reform experience, and
indeed they led personally the presentations to the Punjab Development Forum and the
Reforms Seminar in mid June.
‘The Information Systems, and indeed so many of the other major reform components (job descriptions
for example), exist, are known-about by everyone here, in the Provincial government, and in many of
the other Districts. They cannot be ignored or destroyed by future Nazims or DCOs who would prefer
to over-turn what we have done, and return to the way things were.’ The DCO Faisalabad.
Provincial Government Support / Interest

9.3 By the same token, unless the Provincial government in question favours local
government capacity development and reform, it is unlikely that reform activities in one local
government will thrive, nor will experience be valued, permissive adjustments made in
Provincial regulatory environment, nor shared easily with other local authorities. In this case,
the Chief Minister and key officials at Provincial level (such as Secretaries Local
Government, P&D, and Finance) have been supportive: they have observed how the
Faisalabad experience has become an invaluable ‘laboratory’ for reform and experimentation,
providing invaluable experience for possible replication not only in other Districts and
municipalities but selectively at Provincial level too.
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‘Embedded’ TA
9.4 Another pre-requisite would appear to be a dedicated on-site technical assistance
team, ‘embedded’ with counterparts, facilitating the introduction of reforms and innovative
practices. A flexible scheduling of volume and type of TA inputs is important (rather than
being driven by precise time-bound targets or outputs). A combination of international
consultants (bringing credibility and comparative experience to bear, helping shape the
overall direction of reforms initially) and national consultants is required. The TA model
where consultants were part of the SPU team (as opposed to being in a separate PMU) proved
highly successful in this case. The SPU is positioned within the DCO’s office: sending
appropriate ‘signals’ as to its strategic role and importance.
Information Systems
The experience in this case indicates that a key priority – indeed a prerequisite to successful
capacity development - is the use of information technology to permit the establishment of
simple, easily compiled, accessed, up-datable information systems: human resources and
financial management information systems being the most critical for supporting further
developments.
‘This is the first time we can substantiate a claim that “we cannot afford it” to Councillors proposing
ambitious new schemes. Access to objective information helps mutual open-ness.’ A Senior CDGF
Manager
HRM Investment – sooner rather than later

9.6 Another, related, lesson is that investment in human resource development should be
‘front-loaded’: i.e. disproportionate effort is required early in the reform process to tackle
human resource re-orientation, core skill-development, and ‘inventorisation’ (simply finding
out where the human resources are, or are not, available). The importance of rigorous surveys
(for example of staff motivation and citizens’ perceptions of the Council’s services) should
also be noted. In this case they provided solid evidence, which helped ‘change mindsets’, and
fuelled productive debate between officials and councillors (and between CDGF and the
Provincial government), and underlined the needs for and indicated priorities of, management
and other skills development.
‘It became clear to us that the HRM function is very dispersed in practice: DDOs have important HRM
responsibilities. Therefore it was important to get them to understand their full responsibilities, and the
importance of looking after the people that depend on them.’ A CDGF Consultant.
Time
9.7 Finally, although it has already been repeatedly stressed in dialogue on the Faisalabad
experience, it is probably worthwhile noting the importance of allowing enough time for new
systems and ‘ways of doing business’ to ‘bed-down’ and become routine. Part of the rationale
for the Phase II reforms programme (subject to Provincial government approval of PC1s and
SNEs) is to permit this process to continue.
Benefits
9.8 The specific benefits (and financial costs) of HRM investment are summarised in
Appendix 7. This section mentions some generic benefits (and then costs) of the reforms in
general, and HRM developments within it.
A Sense of Common Purpose

a) For the first time since the PLGO came into force, there is a shared sense of clarity of
purpose and direction amongst staff and elected councillors, as to what they are trying to
achieve (the Mission Statement is a common point of reference in documents, courses and
key gatherings). According to the staff motivation survey, over 80% of senior (Grade 1)
level staff agreed they knew how their job impacts the mission.
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A Clear Positive Message to Disseminate

b) The Mission Statement in turn provides a clear ‘story’ which can be communicated with
citizens and service users via the press and other means (Faisalabad’s communication
strategy is the subject of a separate case study). If the message can be disseminated
successfully, the public image of local government may improve accordingly.
Departments Learn to ‘Pull Together’

c) The ‘disaggregation’ of the Corporate Plan into sectoral strategic objectives and
operational plans, provided a focus for future managerial effort and encouraged
collaboration with other related departments and systems. The quarterly collective
appraisals of EDO (and Departmental) performance ‘concentrated minds’, encouraged
two-way communication between EDOs and DOs, and provided regular briefings on all
major developments between departments.
From Administrators to Managers

d) Fully ‘owned’ strategic corporate and sectoral objectives, derived after assessments of
reality, and dialogue on the way forward, access to information, clear definitions of
managerial jobs, provision of management training, and regular but constructive and
interactive performance appraisal routines, enabled and empowered senior staff to behave
like managers, not just indifferent, detached, administrators. The latter is, unfortunately,
the usual image of the officials in the Pakistan public service.
Work Environment Improved

e) In an environment in which performance cannot be linked to remuneration, i.e. there is no
means of rewarding extraordinary effort or achievements, the only recourse available to
the Council, if it wishes to retain newly-trained more capable staff, is to provide a human
resource management environment conducive to sustained effort. Evidence from the
recent survey of staff motivation factors confirmed that, 60% of Grade 1 staff felt
adequately (verbally) recognized for their efforts, and nearly 70% of staff overall felt that
working conditions were conducive to high productivity.
Costs and Limitations

9.9 On the other hand, the Faisalabad experience pointed to some of the ‘downside’ costs,
limitations and risks emerging from such a far-reaching intensive reform process.
Lags between Reform and Service Delivery Results

9.10 One major limitation of the reform experience so far – and potentially a threat to the
whole reform agenda being pursued by CDGF – is that the effects of essentially internal,
resource management-process-related changes in the way the CDGF operates, percolate only
slowly through to impact on service delivery ‘on the ground’. On the other hand, it is too soon
to expect meaningful results in terms of grass-roots service delivery. However, in the short-
term, improvements in the administrative and resource management machinery of CDGF are
beginning to provide evidence (and the financial reforms the budgetary ‘space’) on which
better service management decisions can be taken, and more investment made, in future.
Two primary schools and one large secondary school were visited during the preparation of this case
study. In the case of the primary schools (one with over 100 pupils, the other with over 200 pupils)
there were no useable buildings in the smaller one (which however is a ‘Lighthouse’ school as part of
the Whole School Development programme), and only two small classrooms in the other (both not
being used because of the cold – windows were broken). There was no furniture in the first, and only a
small amount in the second school. In the first case, two classrooms were being constructed with
support of the 90% grant provided under the WSD programme. Teachers’ materials (including kits)
were however available in both cases. Authors’ note.
15
31st January 2008
9.11 By the time of the citizens’ perception survey in 2006 - i.e. after nearly two years of
intensive, far-reaching, courageous reforms, fully owned by its political leadership and staff -
citizens’ views of Council services published in June 2007 were almost uniformly negative.
Paradoxically, the only area attracting some satisfaction (rural health) was the very sub-sector
of service delivery, which had been ‘privatised’ since 2004. BHU management has been
outsourced to Punjab Rural Support Programme (PRSP), and is therefore out of the hands of
local government here in common with 11 other Districts in the Punjab under the Chief
Minister’s Initiative on Primary Health Care (CMIPHC) scheme. There are indications that
the CDGF is taking these results seriously, and they will serve to galvanise future activity, and
improve the prospects for further partnerships in service delivery.
Reaching the Field: those who interface with the public and users
9.12 Any HRM reform efforts have to ‘start at the top’. In a hierarchical bureaucratic
cultural environment such as that in Pakistan’s public service, any efforts at making services
better ‘on the ground’ at facility level necessitate systematic reform higher up the delivery
system in order to be sustainable. That implies that the ‘lags’ observed above will be
inevitable. However, there are clear implications (already taken on board by Faisalabad’s
management) in terms of renewed efforts to improve service quality at the point of delivery,
to rid the education and health services of their unfavourable image (at least compared to
private sector or NGO providers). This is a key agenda in phase II of the reforms.
10. The practical implications for local governments of pursuing HRM reform in
Pakistan
Study, reflect on, and discuss Faisalabad documented experience…
10.1 A core team from any local authority contemplating HRM and other reform along the
lines pursued in Faisalabad should study the materials which will be available by the end of
the SDLGF project. They – together with several senior elected representatives - should
thereafter visit Faisalabad for face-to-face briefings on lessons learned and the possible
implications of moving ahead in a similar vein. (See below for examples of where this has
already happened).
…while including politicians in the discussions of what may lie ahead ….

10.2 Any ‘exposes’ of reform proposals and/or to the experience of Faisalabad, should
include representatives of the elected membership of Council bodies. This is because they
could act as barriers or at least brakes on reforms, if unconvinced of their likely benefits
(compared to the costs in terms of lost or diminished opportunities for patronage). The role of
the Nazim is critical in regard to communication between the executive of the Council and the
council members. Efforts have been made throughout to provide materials in Urdu to
councillors (summaries of all performance reports, copies of Union Profiles, and dialogues on
the SLTDP were provided to, and discussed with councillors).
….and reflecting on who, or what, is driving (or is obstructing) change at District level.
The tabular summary at Appendix 8, of the ‘drivers’ of, and obstacles to, change in local
government, presents a sobering picture of the challenges to local government reform,
particularly in HRM, posed by the current governance environment in Pakistan. Strategies
employed, or which could be employed, to surmount the formidable problems, are also noted.
11. Replication in other local governments to date.

11.1 There is growing evidence of replication of aspects of the Faisalabad experience
elsewhere:
• DTCE collaborated with CDGF (HR Department) in training programmes for elected
representatives, and has adopted some of the Planning and Budgeting training manuals.
• Senior officials of the Provincial government (Secretary Local Government, Secretary
P&D) have already advocated replication of the CDGF reform approach in other
16
31st January 2008
Districts. The Change Management Unit will mount a workshop in February in

Faisalabad bringing 11 Districts – where reforms are scheduled - together to discuss
taking forward HRM issues as part of their planned local government reform efforts.
• The Urban Unit, and the second phase of the CIDA devolution support programme in two
Punjab Districts are actively applying aspects of the CDGF experience.
• The Karachi megacities programme is interested in replication of aspects of the HRM
systems applied in CDGF for the municipality’s 100,000 employees.
11.2 All senior personnel interviewed as part of this case preparation were optimistic that
Provincial approval would be forthcoming for the proposed additional resources to permit IoL
and HR Department restructuring, and SPU reforms to be carried forward into phase II.
12. The role of technical co-operation (external consulting services) and donors in
supporting the establishment of a HRM function in local government
Technical Assistance
12.1 The SPU houses the interface between TA personnel and all engaged Departments. It
also processes dialogue between the Council and any external support agency, and makes
arrangements for in-bound visits by such agencies, as well as out-bound visits by CDGF
officials overseas. The case provides some important insights into technical assistance
provision – especially where the HRM dimensions of reform are a key priority.
• The core team is made up of international consultants and locally-hired nationals, all
based in Faisalabad. The latter are provided with technical back-up and professional
development training by the headquarters office of the parent consulting firm. All IT
devices and software tools – for the HRMIS and other major systems – were developed
by local firms, and therefore have readily-accessed back-up available.
• Departments of the Council have counterpart specialists working alongside TA personnel
in the SPU. The SPU team has regular team meetings to exchange information and jointly
plan initiatives.
• The DCO (in whose office building the SPU is housed) is Project Director; EDO Finance
and Planning is the deputy Director. All key documents and correspondence of the Unit
go out from SPU under the signature of the DCO or respective EDOs. All the outputs of
the Unit are issued in the name of EDOs.
The Role of the Donor in local government HRM Support in the Faisalabad case
12.2 The donor to SDLGF, DFID, has made the following contributions during its
engagement with Faisalabad District government:
• The donor sought, and obtained, the approval of the Faisalabad District government to the
appointment of the consultant team for the devolution reform project before appointing
them.
• It demonstrated flexibility in the interpretation of the MoU with Faisalabad, when
requests for additional objectives or elements of the programme were made by CDGF.
• The donor’s regular monitoring and review processes were led by the Islamabad office of
DFID, and by the same national officials: hence there was a degree of familiarity on their
part with the antecedents and nature of the Faisalabad intervention.
• Donor review mission reports were compiled in a transparent, consultative, evidence-
based manner, and concluded on the basis of consensus between Faisalabad (CDGF and
consultants) and DFID stakeholders.
‘Donors should realise that support to local government cannot be just financial assistance; technical assistance
is needed too. The key to the effective management of our relationship with the donor in this case was our knowing
what we wanted to do, and presenting a coherent case. We were proposing to go beyond the Memorandum of
Understanding. The GIS and Call centre were not planned within the project. The donor people knew this.
However, they backed us.’ A Senior CDGF Manager
13. CONCLUSIONS
17
31st January 2008
13.1 The HRM dimensions of the Faisalabad local government reform process, have been
remarkable for the speed of progress, and the extent to which basic HRM systems and tools
have become functional and ‘embedded’ in the institutional fabric of city government in a
major population centre in Pakistan. Achievements have been all the more impressive, in view
of the limited familiarity of anyone (at any level of government) with HRM principles and
practice, before HRM became an integral dimension of the CDGF reform agenda in 2004.
These achievements have gone a considerable way towards meeting CDGF’s adopted key
characteristics: i.e. making CDGF more strategic, efficient, effective, responsive, accountable
and transparent. It has also allowed at least some of the objectives of devolution outlined in
the major GoP/donor study5 on the subject to be met: holding its staff more accountable;
increasing its ability to allocate staff where they are most needed and managing its financial
resources better. Ultimately – once liberated from Provincial regulatory straightjackets, it
should be able to attract and retain skilled staff.
13.2 In parallel to establishing and operationalising the HRMIS (and linking it largely
successfully to the budgeting process); conducting job analysis, formulating job descriptions;
operationalizing performance appraisal routines; initiating systematic training for key groups
and promoting equal opportunities, the CDGF has conducted a diagnostic survey of employee
motivation, and surveyed citizens in all its Unions to solicit their views on its services. These
surveys have produced important ‘baseline’ evidence, which has already been fed into human
resource management aspects of management training and performance appraisal criteria and
routines, and into decision-taking on future departmental development budgets.
13.3 The donor-supported TA advice and inputs have been available on-site, and well-
aligned with Faisalabad preferences and priorities. They have been delivered, and reviewed
by the donor consultatively, in a manner conducive to HRM capacity development.
13.4 The HRM policy environment (external to Faisalabad District) has not changed as
rapidly, nor as favourably. Lines of authority, particularly for senior staff, are still confused.
Their appointment, promotion and transfer remain at the whim of the Provincial government.
Little progress has been made in establishing a District Cadre (a career service for officers
exclusively in local government service), despite a federal government target of late 2005 for
its creation. Conditions of service are set nationally, at levels which are highly restrictive and
de-motivating, especially to staff who have made – as in this case - worthy additional efforts
in making difficult reforms work, and who have been newly provided with skills which may
well soon find a ready market outside government.
13.5 The working environment created by the SPU and the reforms it spearheaded, is –
witness the comments above cited from those involved - more motivating and conducive to
individual effort than anything which existed before devolution. There is now evidence-based
and -directed effort in pursuit of objectives which have been mutually-agreed between elected
members (led by the Nazim) and officers; resource allocation is more closely aligned with
these objectives; inter-Departmental communication is encouraged by regular performance
reviews of departmental EDOs supported by their DOs; work is demonstrably more
professionally satisfying. In short, there are now incentives to effort, where once there were
none.
13.6 There appears to be enormous scope for more GoP and donor resources, and related
TA, to be devoted to District-level institutional capacity development in the current devolved
environment: which poses not only operational challenges, but huge opportunities for better
service delivery, based upon local needs and priorities.
5
Devolution in Pakistan ADB, DFID, World Bank 2004
18
31st January 2008
APPENDIX 1
PERSONS CONSULTED DURING PREPARATION OF THE CASE STUDY
Azam Suleman Khan District Co-ordination Officer, Faisalabad

Dr Tariq Sardar Executive District Officer (Finance & Planning)
Hassan Raza Saeed District Officer (Human Resources Management)
Amir Sultan Tareen District Officer (Revenue)
Saeed Ahmed Zafar Head Teacher, Government Crescent High School
Shamim Khattak Member, Faisalabad District Council
Ch. Mohammed Anwar Member, (Nazim Union Council 232)
Iqbal Hussein Qurashi Member, (Nazim Union Council 185)
Touqeer Anjum Master Trainer, Science Team (IoL), Education

Department
Ashiq Ali D.O. Male Elementary Education
Noor Mohammed Khan Deputy TL (Education), + Consultants and Staff from the
Institute of Learning
Two Head teachers of rural Primary Schools in Jaranwala Town
Khatib Alam Project Manager, SDLGF Project, SPU

Mahmood Akhter Rana Deputy Team Leader, SDLGF
Syed Shiraz Akhter Whole School Development Co-ordinator IoL
Farhan Yousaf HRD Consultant, SPU
Imran GIS Programmer, Consultant, SPU
Mohammed Tariq Community Development Consultant, SPU
1
31st January 2008
APPENDIX 2
REFERENCES
Strategic Policy Unit Publications
Corporate Plan 2004 – 2009

Employee Motivation Survey (July 2007)
Employee Reward Management Policy Framework
Human Resources Management Strategic Operational Plan 2004 – 2009 (December 2004)
All SPU Performance Reports (1 – 6)
Organisational Structure June 2007
Selected Services in Faisalabad: Perceptions and Realities (June 2007)
Staff Training and Development Policy 2008 - 2011
Sustainability Strategy (May 2007)
Other
Devolution in Pakistan (Vols 1 –3) Asian Development Bank, DFID, World Bank 2004
Annual Review: SDLGF Project December 2006 (DFID Pakistan) + Aide Memoire
Drivers of Change Briefing Note (DFID)
Mid Year Review Report June 2007 (DFID Pakistan)
2
31st January 2008
Appendix 3
Core Issues, Strategic Aims, Examples of Actions, and Priorities in the HRM
Department SOP
Core Issues Strategic Aim Example Actions Priority / Phasing

Organisational A ‘one organisation’ Communication, Continuous
Development culture embracing training and example-
changes needed to setting to reinforce the
deliver continuous new culture and style
performance & services of working
improvement Performance appraisal/ 2nd/3rd year
management systems
Workforce Mechanisms to collect Establish a HRMIS Top priority: 1st year
Information and and analyse workforce Analysis to produce
Planning information to monitor key indicators:
performance in relation workforce & skills
to objectives, and to the audits; turnover &
corporate plan. retention rates; gender
balance; training.
Pay and benefits Facilitate a flexible Job evaluation 4th year
Management and approach to delivery of Review of pay and
Conditions of Service services, through grading
motivating the Develop incentive &
workforce. reward schemes
Recruitment / Ensuring District can Revise and monitor 3rd year

Resourcing recruit retain and recruitment and
motivate workforce selection policy and
reflecting local practice
community Creating employment
opportunities
Training and Develop workforce IT skills development Urgent and continuous
Development skills knowledge and Annual training needs 1st year = Top
motivation to provide assessment management + DDOs
best value services Induction programme planning and
Monitor contribution of budgeting; IT skills
training to business 2nd year = Councillors
Employee Relations Stable and constructive Communications 3rd year
and Communication climate for employee strategy
relations Regular team meetings
Partnership with Trade
Unions
Employee Health and Working environment Ban smoking Final year
Welfare conducive to effective Recording accidents
and healthy job Monitoring sickness
performance absence
3
31st January 2008
APPENDIX 5
Summary of Training-Related HR Programme Components and
Activities
Sr. Training Title Participant Details Duratio Target Group Training
No. Male Femal Total n Provider
e (Days)
A Management Training
Category 1: General
Management
1 Time Management 11 1 11 2 EDOs, DOs HR Department
CDGF
2 Leadership 11 1 11 1 EDOs, Dos HR Department
CDGF
3 Corporate Plan 9 - 9 1 EDOs, DOs HR Department
CDGF
4 Principles of Good Management 2 1 3 6 EDOs, DOs PIM Lahore
5 Management by Objectives 1 - 1 4 EDOs, DOs PIM Lahore
6 Development Course for 1 - 1 6 EDOs, DOs PIM Lahore
Managers
7 Development Course for PIM Lahore
Supervisors
8 Introduction to Project 1 1 2 6 EDOs, DOs PIM Lahore
Management
9 Practical Leadership Skills 1 - 1 2 EDOs, DOs CIPD UK
Training
10 Improving Workplace 1 - 1 4 EDOs, DOs PIM Lahore
Effectiveness through Creativity
& Innovation
11 Problem Solving and Decision 4 - 4 6 EDOs, DOs PIM Lahore
Making Skills
12 Team Work: Getting People to 1 - 1 6 EDOs, DOs PIM Lahore
Work Together
13 How Do Effective Managers 2 1 3 4 EDOs, DOs PIM Lahore
Organize Themselves
14 Effective Delegating Skills 1 - 1 2 EDOs, DOs PIM Lahore
15 Improving Governance and 16 10 26 6 EDOs, DOs, AKU Karachi
Educational Leadership Practices Deputy DOs,
DDOs, AEOs
16 Office Management 12 8 20 1 College HR Department
Principals CDGF
17 Good Governance 12 8 20 1 College HR Department
Principals CDGF
18 Negotiation Crisis 12 8 20 1 College HR Department
Principals CDGF
Category 2: Financial
Management
19 Budget and Planning 809 151 960 5 DDOs, F&P
Account Department
Clerks CDGF
20 Mid Term Budgetary Framework 40 1 41 2 EDOs, DOs F&P
(MTBF) Department
CDGF
21 Financial Management Course 2 - 2 4 EDOs, DOs PIM Islamabad
22 Forecasting Techniques for 1 2 3 6 EDOs, DOs PIM Lahore
Managers
Developing Project Proposals 1 - 1 3 EDOs, DOs SDPI
Islamabad
23 Finance & Accounting for Non- - 1 1 6 EDOs, DOs PIM Lahore
Financial Executives
24 Value Addition through internal 5 1 6 2 EDOs, DOs IIA Lahore
Audit
25 Negotiation Crisis/ 12 8 20 1 College HRDepartment
Communication Skills Principals CDGF
Category 3: Human Resource
Management
26 Workshop on Preparing Human 2 - 2 5 EDOs, DOs PIM Lahore
Resource Policy Manual
27 Performance Review Skills 5 - 5 2 EDOs, DOs CIPD UK
Category 4: Information
4
31st January 2008
Technology
28 Basic Computing Course 483 109 592 4 Week DDOs, Clerks IT Department
CDGF
29 HRMIS Application Training 110 57 167 1 Week DDOs, Clerks IT Department
CDGF
30 FMIS Application Training 70 30 100 1 Week DDOs, Clerks IT Department
CDGF
31 CCBMIS Application Trainings 3 1 4 1 Week DDOs, Clerks IT Department
CDGF
B Teachers Training
32 Head Teacher Training (WSD 211 259 470 13 Primary & Education
Model) Elementary Department
Schools Head CDGF
Teachers
33 Teachers Training (WSD Model) 400 590 890 6 Primary & Education
Elementary Department
Schools CDGF
Teachers
34 School Council Training (WSD 74 226 300 7 School Education
Model) Council Department
Members CDGF
C Elected Representatives
Training
35 Participatory Planning, CCBs and 2,178 885 3,063 2 Councillors Social Welfare
Local Government Monitoring Department
System CDGF
36 Poverty, Governance & Gender 317 96 413 1 District Social Welfare
Council Department
Members CDGF
37 Budget & Planning – Gender 317 96 413 2 District F&P
Responsive Budgeting Council Department
Members CDGF
38 Participatory Planning & Poverty 39 2 41 1 EDOs, DOs Social Welfare
Department
CDGF
D Exposure Visits
39 International Conference: 8 4 12 10 City District City District
Systemic Interventions In School Nazim, EDO, Government
Transformation & School Visits DOs, Deputy Faisalabad
DEOs, AEOs,
Primary
Teacher
40 Study Visit to UK Local Councils 3 3 10 DCO, EDOs, City District
DOs Government
Faisalabad
41 Study Visit to Hong Kong & 2 - 2 2 City District City District
Malaysia Nazim, DCO Government
Faisalabad
Total 5,190 2,558 7,748
Note: As of December 2007
CDGF: City District Government Faisalabad

F&P: Finance & Planning
IIA: Institute of Internal Auditors, Pakistan Chapter
PIM: Pakistan Institute of Management
SDPI: Sustainable Development Policy Institute
CIPD: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
AKU: Agha Khan University
5
31st January 2008
APPENDIX 6
HR progress against Principles of Good Governance (2004 – 2008)
Principles Attributes Progress
Strategic Ensuring consistency • Restructuring of HR department so that it can meet future
between vision, challenges of human resource in an efficient and effective way.
goals and objectives • Linkage between district’s HR department and provincial
and planned use of change management unit to carry forward the HR reforms both
resources at District and Provincial level.
• Establishment of Institute of Learning (IOL) and IT Training
centre to cater for continuous professional development of all
district employees.
• Development of HR change management plan for next three
years to strengthen the on going HR reforms in the district
• District’s training and development policy is being prepared.
• District’s reward management strategy is being prepared.
• Link between HRMIS and other Information systems like GIS,
FMIS to facilitate planning and decision making process.
• Introduction of biometric attendance system in two pilot UCs
(208 & 165) to control absenteeism and improve service
delivery.
• Strategic partnership developed with training providers like
Agha Khan University Institute of Educational Development,
Pakistan Institute of Management and Directorate of Staff
Development Punjab etc has been established for provision of
quality training to CDGF employees
Efficient Promoting best use • Development of district’s HRMIS in a cost effective manner in
of resources just Rs. 5.5 million
(financial, human, • Efficient utilization of district government employee for data
physical, temporal) collection, verification and computerization which saved at
least Rs 5 million
• Annually saving about 1,500 man hours by providing all the
relevant information (generated from HRMIS) for annual
budget
• Various reports could be generated within couple of minutes
like District establishment details which used to take at least a
week and most importantly by involving all Drawing and
Disbursing Officer (DDOs). For only this report it is estimated
that we are able to save at least 500 man-days on quarterly
basis. Postage, telecommunication and travelling costs have
also been significantly reduced.
• HRMIS access through secure login has been provided to all
EDOs, DOs, Deputy DEOs and 22 AEOs (71 person) and now
employee information could be accessed from any where
through internet.
• Readily available gender disaggregated, training and
development data available for departments and elected
representatives which has resulted in saving time and effort.
Previously on average it took about one week per department
and lots of correspondence.
• Capacity development of over 400 staff members for data
collection, data entry of different information systems as well
as usage on training programmes
Effective Maximizing • Performance management system (ACR/PER) strengthen by

performance to meet giving job description to all 34,467 employees. This will pave
expressed and way for ACR/PER process to be completed against their job
6
31st January 2008
justifiable needs of descriptions in future.

citizens and • Development of performance management tool kit and its
organizational translation into Urdu is in process.
objectives • Translation of job descriptions into Urdu for clarity and better
employee understanding.
• Strong ownership of employee association on job description
and each job description of teaching staff is signed by their 5
representatives.
• Identification of Training Needs of all 497 Drawing and
Disbursing Officers to cater their professional development
needs
• Change of perception about training so that it is not taken as
reward but the professional need of an employee.
• 150 Management development programmes for district’s
management
• 8 National and international study & exposure visits for all tiers
of government employees (irrespective of their cadre) including
Primary School Teacher, Assistant Education Officers etc.
• 470 Primary School Head teachers, 890 teachers and 300
school council members have been intensively trained.
• Embedded the strong IT culture within the departments by
providing continuous IT training to 592 government officials.
• 25 training manuals prepared and published in Urdu and all
trainings have been imparted using tri-lingual approach i.e.
Urdu, Punjabi and English for better understanding
• The capacity building of 960 drawing and disbursing officers
and their account clerks on budget and planning has resulted in
timely and accurate budget preparation. The budget errors
reduced from 30% to 3 %.
• Capacity building of EDOs and DOs on Mid Term Budgetary
Framework (MTBF) to help them to prepare their departmental
budget based on multi year financial planning.
Consensual Strengthening • Capacity building of the 413 elected representatives (all 289
representative Union Council members and special seat members) on Budget
decision-making & Planning including gender responsive budgeting.
• 3,080 elected representatives trained on participatory planning,
CCBs and Local government monitoring systems
Responsive Introducing demand • Employee voice brought to corporate management through
orientation of service employee motivation survey which has captured the views of
delivery 28,976 employees.
Accountable Developing • Quarterly performance review of all EDOs against agreed
institutional culture targets based on their job descriptions has been initiated since
of responsibility for 2004-05.
delivery of results • The presence of government employee at service delivery point
like schools, BHU etc. has been ensured through the
introduction of biometric attendance system at two pilot places
(UC # 208 & 165)
Transparent Enhancing clarity of • Sharing of all technical documents both in Urdu and English
procedures, systems • District establishment details including sanctioned, filled and
and decisions vacant post details available on our website.
Note: As of December 2007
7
31st January 2008
APPENDIX 7
The Costs and Benefits of Human Resources Management Investment in CDGF
Resources
Activities Beneficiaries Impact
(Rs.)
1. Training and
Development
i. Managemen 3.4 Million Executive District • Change of perception about training so that it is not
t Training Officers taken as reward but the professional need of an
District Officers employee.
Deputy District • 150 Management development programmes for
Officers district’s management
Drawing and • Trainings helped management to learn new
Disbursing Officers management skills that results enhance operational
Assistant Education efficiency and better utilization of resource.
Officers
• The capacity building of 960 drawing and disbursing
Account Clerks
officers and their account clerks on budget and
planning has resulted in timely and accurate budget
preparation. The budget errors reduced from 30% to 3
%.
• Capacity building of EDOs and DOs on Mid Term
Budgetary Framework (MTBF) to help them to prepare
their departmental budget based on multi year financial
planning.
• District’s training and development policy is being
prepared.
ii. Elected 7.3 Million Nazims • Capacity building of 3,063 elected representatives
Representativ Naib Nazims (Nazims, Naib Nazims and male & female councillors)
e Training Councillors on “Participatory Planning” enabling them to prepare
union council plan in consultation with all the
stakeholders particularly women and poor
• 413 district council members trained on gender
responsive budgeting , budget & planning and
governance & poverty
iii. Teachers 10.0 Primary School Head • Creation of Child Friendly Environment in schools.
Training Million Teachers • Development of 16 training modules and teachers’
Primary Teachers handbooks
Assistant Education • 470 Primary School Head teachers, 890 teachers and
Officers 300 school council members have been intensively
School Council trained.
Members
• Introduction of a culture to involve local community,
UC members and UC Nazims in local school decision
making.
iv. Exposure 4.3 Million Executive District • It helped management to learn good practices which
Visits Officers they are applying in CDGF through the;
District Officers  Restructuring of district’s HR department
Deputy District  Establishment of Institute of Learning (IOL) and
Officers IT Training centre to cater for continuous
Principal/Headmaster professional development of all district
Assistant Education employees.
Officers  Establishment of Call Centre to ensure quality of
School Teachers services
 Establishment of GIS Cell.
 Development of district’s reward management
strategy
 Development of district’s training policy etc.
v. Establishme 0.8 Million Drawing and • Created favourable environment for IT acceptance and
nt of IT Disbursing Officers enhanced employee skills to work on data bases like
Training Account clerks HRMIS, FMIS.
Centre • Use of email for official correspondence is increasing.
vi. Training 1.5 Million Executive District • CDGF is in better position to identify its employee’s
Needs Officers deficiencies that can be address through training.
Analysis District Officers • It is in a position to use it training budget more
Deputy District effectively by arranging right training for right person.
Officers It will bring significant improve management
Drawing and performance and service delivery.
Disbursing Officers
8
31st January 2008
Resources
Activities Beneficiaries Impact
(Rs.)
2. Human 5.5 Million Executive District • Availability of all employees’ record in one centralised
Resource Officers database.
Management District officers • Efficient utilization of district government employee
Information Deputy District for data collection, verification and computerization
System Officers which saved at least Rs 5 million
Assistant Education • Annually saving about 1,500 man hours by providing
Officers all the relevant information (generated from HRMIS)
for annual budget
• Various reports could be generated within couple of
minutes like District establishment details which used
to take at least a week and most importantly by
involving all Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDOs).
For only this report it is estimated that we are able to
save at least 500 man-days on quarterly basis. Postage,
telecommunication and travelling costs have also been
significantly reduced.
• HRMIS access through secure login has been provided
to all EDOs, DOs, Deputy DEOs and 22 AEOs (71
person) and now employee information could be
accessed from any where through internet.
• Readily available gender disaggregated, training and
development data available for departments and elected
representatives which has resulted in saving time and
effort. Previously on average it took about one week
per department and lots of correspondence.
• Significant reduction in time for producing timely and
reliable information like establishment report,
retirement report, seniority report etc.
• Link of HRMIS with other MIS results in better
planning and resource allocation ???.
i. Retirement module provides accurate information for
succession planning, new hiring, gender balancing and
available human resource planning.
3. Attendance 4 Million District Government • The presence of government employee at service
System People of Faisalabad delivery point like schools, BHU etc. has been ensured
through the introduction of biometric attendance system
at two pilot places (UC # 208 & 165)
• CDGF is now able to identify ghost employee, track
employee leave record, absenteeism etc.
4. Job description 0.5 Million District Government • Now employees are in better position to understand
and person District’s employees their roles and responsibilities and what are the
specification expectations from them.
• Performance management system (ACR/PER)
strengthened by giving job description to all 34,467
employees. This will pave way for ACR/PER process
to be completed against their job descriptions in future.
• Development of performance management tool kit and
its translation into Urdu is in process.
• Translation of job descriptions into Urdu for clarity and
better employee understanding.
• Strong ownership of employee association on job
description and each job description of teaching staff is
signed by their 5 representatives.
• It has strengthened the recruitment process.
5. Employee 0.4 Million District Government • CDGF is now in better position to understand how
motivation District’s employees motivated is its work force? What motivates its
survey employees and their needs within different employees
groups?
• It is being used as a base line for motivation, reward
management strategy etc.
• District’s reward management strategy is being
prepared
9
31st January 2008
APPENDIX 8
DRIVERS OF CHANGE: AN IMPRESSION OF THE FACTORS AFFECTING HRM DEVELOPMENT IN PAKISTANI LOCAL
GOVERNMENT, AND SOME OF THE IMPLICATIONS FOR ACTION TO ADDRESS THE CHALLENGES
This framework is based on the DFID model for DoC Analysis; it notes CDGF Strategies employed to respond to Drivers and Obstacles
[in parentheses] where appropriate
10
31st January 2008
TYPE OF DRIVER DRIVER OF CHANGE OBSTACLE TO CHANGE POSSIBLE STRATEGIES TO ADDRESS

OBSTACLE
Punjab Local Government Ordinance (PLGO) of Long history, but no consistent support for [Explore possibilities of support to level of
2001 marked the first determined attempt to devolved authority and resource flows to local government where services delivered
devolve authority and resources towards local government directly: to see how resources can be
(District-level and below) government. injected and systems strengthened].
2009 will be the first year that Provincial LGO (and Provincial LGOs) were introduced Support balanced (multi-stakeholder)
Governments will be able to change their ‘top-down’: with minimal consultation with reflection of aspects of the LGO which need
Provincial Local Government Ordinances without Provincial or District levels. change on the basis of experience since
Presidential approval. 2001.
Role and authority of Provincial governments
left ambiguous in LGO. Acknowledge dangers of factions at
provincial level making hasty and
opportunistic changes in PLGO for their
own ends during and after 2008.
Hostile attitudes amongst Provincial [Inform those Provincial players who are
executives – at least initially – to devolution to more favourably disposed towards
Districts. devolution of any positive advances at
District level.]
STRUCTURES PLGO Anticipated that local governments would District-level operational roles ill-defined [Inform debate on how to establish the
take over staff working at local level. and/or resources and authorities (especially proposed ‘District Cadre’]
over key staff) not fully devolved in LGO.
Overt, bold attempt through national policy to Local level societal structures are still [Inform local Councillors of roles under
build local democracy, engage more women as essentially feudal in nature: political power LGO, and optimal approaches to performing
Councillors, and make civil service accountable to and influence are linked directly to wealth them.]
people. (land ownership; dynasties). [Suggest constructive types of local schemes
addressing gender and poverty issues.]
Bureaucracy is itself a generalist elite split Encourage inter-Cadre communication.

into competitive and antagonistic ‘cadres’.
‘Elite capture’ frequent at local level : patterns [Provide suggestions for schemes benefiting
of investment do not necessarily reflect needs local economic or social development]
STRUCTURES of poorest. [Provide timely information about, and
guidance in interpretation of, Council
budgets]
Relatively rich local politicians and LG [Inject resources for infrastructure on
11
31st January 2008

OBSTACLE
As part of the PLGO 2001, Citizen Community Major difficulties experienced in establishing [Make efforts to create and strengthen key
INSTITUTIONS Boards, Monitoring Committees for main services, MCs: many still unformed. accountability institutions; reflect on results;
School Councils, and elected Union Councils were re-plan if necessary; concentrate efforts at
established to facilitate popular ‘voice’ and put CCB establishment slow and cumbersome facility – e.g. school – or community level
pressure on bureaucracy / executives. where there may be better prospects of take-
CCBs vulnerable to elite capture. up of support for more immediate advocacy
or scrutiny of service performance]
[Introduce streamlined procedures for
CCBs’ registration and scheme scrutiny]
Some examples emerging of people asserting Civil service ambivalent about accountability [Generate objective, representative
rights and ‘voice’ if provided with support from institutions. Generally no ‘culture’ of public information about community opinions of
NGOs service: only of serving cadre interests. service delivery and preferences, and
disseminate for discussion.]
Major programmes of systems-development Bureaucracy is itself a generalist elite split [Concentrate attention at local level where
support provided to civil service. into competitive and antagonistic ‘cadres’. there are examples of mutual inter-service
inter-cadre dependency…thus demonstrating
need for collaboration]
Major challenge posed to staff at local level to LGO formulated rapidly: without [Study nature and operation of mandated
INSTITUTIONS understand and master new roles. operationally-tested preparation of basic systems e.g. budgeting and accounting]
devolution-management systems: finance or [Suggest amendments based on local
HRM. experience.]
[Introduce changes permitted within existing
routines, and reinforce compliance with
application of IT].
[Ensure staffs’ full familiarity and
compliance with financial and other
systems]
Local governments meant to reflect local priorities No integrated strategic multi-sectoral planning [Conduct initial assessment of problems,
and realities in planning development programmes based on assessments of problems, gaps, and gaps, needs, opportunities and realities.]
opportunities has ever taken place at local [Introduce notion of strategic long-term
level. economic development planning.]
Since approx 2004, more attention at Provincial Few incentives for performance for [Build upon and reinforce New Public
level in Punjab has been given to public sector departments or staff in current bureaucratic Management by defining jobs, roles and
management: performance is being emphasised. structures and cultures. performance standards locally, and
12
31st January 2008

OBSTACLE
Nazims (indirectly elected by members of District Relationships between Nazim and DCO have [Capitalise on and support favourable Nazim
AGENTS Council = Union Council Chairs) are now political proved contentious and dysfunctional in many / DCO ‘chemistry’]. [Utility of SPU as
head of District government. places. This has negatively impacted upon the ‘Think Tank’ and its Meeting Room as
quality of devolved service delivery. ‘sanctuary’ for high-level meetings and
Previous (all-powerful) Administrative Head decision-taking.]
(representing Provincial authorities) = Deputy Anecdotal evidence of gradual decline in
Commissioner – post abolished in 2001: now quality and experience of candidate DCOs, [Build basic administrative and managerial
District Co-ordination Officer (DCO) is from DMG, due partly to past instances of systems (founded on good information) as
primarily accountable to District Nazim (and also negative relations with Nazims, (relatively) an ‘insurance’ against bad ‘chemistry’ in
to Provincial Secretary). narrowly-defined role compared to past, and future as personalities change or are
attractions of posts at Provincial level or replaced.] [HRMIS, FMIS, GIS, Document
These DCOs are drawn from the elite District outside civil service (in donors offices, NGOs, Management System]
Management Group. private sector).
Donors have provided capacity building support Donors have concentrated resources – and/or [Consultant team based at District level]
for over a decade to Provincial and District level consultancy teams – at federal and provincial
structures levels
Donors and Government are currently seeking Few examples hitherto of donors and [Gather objective quantitative evidence of
harmonised approaches to capacity development – counterpart agencies conducting evaluations the effects of training programmes: measure
including local government capacity – in the of capacity development support and sharing time-taken, error rates or behaviours
context of the Paris Declaration. (and learning from) results. beforehand; compare to post-training
There is an ongoing Asian Development Bank / experience] [DDOs] [Teachers]
Economic Affairs Division initiative on positive [Record and report upon performance
capacity development case studies (SPU is one of improvements to demonstrate benefits of
them). practical training]. See Appendix 7.
‘Sitting allowances’ paid for attendance at [Pay government rates for travel/per diem
donor-financed courses have distorted allowances for attendance involving out-of-
motivation of participants - from content duty-station travel. Do not pay sitting
towards level of allowances. allowances.]
Key players at local and Provincial levels are Capacity building equated with ‘training’. [Encourage variety of approaches to people-
targeted for (especially sectorally-oriented) Training programmes tend to be Supply- development. Encourage bosses to
capacity building. oriented. communicate with subordinates and take
Day-to-day coaching of subordinates is rare. suggestions from below; pursue coaching.]
Training seen as a ‘holiday’: often ill-suited [Undertake Job Analysis: formulate Job
for, and unrelated to, tasks undertaken in jobs. Descriptions; design training around job
13
31st January 2008
14

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CITY DISTRICT GOVERNMENT FAISALABAD

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

FINAL DRAFT: 31ST JANUARY 2008

Muhammad Shahid Alvi

LESSONS AND REFLECTIONS

ACR Annual Confidential Report

Box 1 District HRM Functions (Prescribed under Punjab RoB 2001)

2. The situation faced by Faisalabad District Government in 2004 in human

(the Mission) by comparing, competing, monitoring, evaluating and reporting on

Box 2 Key Aimed-for Characteristics of the District Workforce

Human Resource Management Information System

Transfers, Vacancies, Postings, Promotion, Attendance and Absenteeism

Job Descriptions and Personnel Specifications

Strategy for Developing Capacity for Training

Employee Motivation Survey

More strategic, focused planning: longer planning horizons

immediate attention. Organisational re-structuring is being proposed in some key

Changes in ‘Ways of Doing Business’: Leadership

g) There is active consideration of equality of opportunity aspects of HRM, fed by better

HRM Department is up ….and running ….(fast…)

CDGF / Provincial Relationships

Typical Enmities Avoided

Resistance to Pressures for Transfers

LESSONS AND REFLECTIONS

Continued dependence of the CDGF on Provincial Government

Financial Provisions and Instalments

Over-stretched HRM Department: Ditto for the IT Department

Perpetuation of Attitudinal Obstacles towards Women’s Advancement

8. Key aspects of ‘unfinished business’; principal threats to future HRM progress

development of a Gender Strategy encompassing all departments. Over 3,000 Union

Strengthening SPU Functions

9. Lessons from the HRM Experience: Pre-requisites and Success Factors in

Top Level Commitment and Leadership

Provincial Government Support / Interest

HRM Investment – sooner rather than later

A Sense of Common Purpose

A Clear Positive Message to Disseminate

Departments Learn to ‘Pull Together’

From Administrators to Managers

Work Environment Improved

Costs and Limitations

Lags between Reform and Service Delivery Results

…while including politicians in the discussions of what may lie ahead ….

11. Replication in other local governments to date.

Districts. The Change Management Unit will mount a workshop in February in

PERSONS CONSULTED DURING PREPARATION OF THE CASE STUDY

Azam Suleman Khan District Co-ordination Officer, Faisalabad

Touqeer Anjum Master Trainer, Science Team (IoL), Education

Two Head teachers of rural Primary Schools in Jaranwala Town

Khatib Alam Project Manager, SDLGF Project, SPU

Strategic Policy Unit Publications

Corporate Plan 2004 – 2009

Core Issues Strategic Aim Example Actions Priority / Phasing

Recruitment / Ensuring District can Revise and monitor 3rd year

CDGF: City District Government Faisalabad

Effective Maximizing • Performance management system (ACR/PER) strengthen by

justifiable needs of descriptions in future.

Note: As of December 2007

TYPE OF DRIVER DRIVER OF CHANGE OBSTACLE TO CHANGE POSSIBLE STRATEGIES TO ADDRESS

Bureaucracy is itself a generalist elite split Encourage inter-Cadre communication.

TYPE OF DRIVER DRIVER OF CHANGE OBSTACLE TO CHANGE POSSIBLE STRATEGIES TO ADDRESS

TYPE OF DRIVER DRIVER OF CHANGE OBSTACLE TO CHANGE POSSIBLE STRATEGIES TO ADDRESS

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