Secretary of Education
Ministry of Education and Sport, Nepal
Focus Area(s)
Civil Service
Interviewers
Andrew Schalkwyk
Country of Reform
Nepal
Town/City
Kathmandu
Place (Building/Street)
Ministry of Education and Sport
Country
Nepal
Date of Interview
Friday, March 13, 2009
Abstract
Deependra Thapa describes the successes and failures of civil service reform efforts in Nepal before, during and after civil conflict. He reports successes in downsizing the bureaucracy and combating corruption. A Web-based personnel information system was installed. However, its use was inhibited by the resistance to change within the bureaucracy, which persisted in doing most transactions on paper. Because of a lack of support from top leadership, installation of a performance management system, with pay and promotion dependent upon outputs, was stymied for similar reasons. When Parliament was suspended during the civil conflict, training for parliamentarians and senior civil servants and officials also came to a halt. Thapa expresses concern that tensions under the coalition government at the time of the interview meant that little attention and few resources would be paid to achieve the ambitious civil service reform goals the government originally set for itself in 1999.
Full Interview
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Deepndra Thapa Interview
Profile
At the time of this interview, Deependra Thapa was Nepal's secretary of education, a position he had held for less than a year. Earlier, he was secretary of the Ministry of General Administration, where he had served for two years as national program officer in charge of the civil service reform program. Since entering the civil service in 1997, he also served in the ministries of tourism, environment, operations, transportation and labor and in the office of the prime minister.
Keywords
training
technical assistance
Reform sequencing
promotion
performance management
merit pay
managing diversity
Job descriptions
downsizing
Donor Relations
decentralization
computerization
capacity building
Not specified