20 lessons from public service delivery failures by a2i in Bangladesh - presentation made in Global Centre for Public Service Excellence UNDP Singapore in 2016.

1. Learning from Failures:
Lessons from a2i Public Service
Innovation Lab+
a2i, Prime Minister’s Office, Bangladesh
November 18, 2016
GCPSE, Singapore

2. Dhaka Traffic Jam

3. Lesson 1
Be uncompromising about the
goal,
but very compromising
about the path you take
to reach that goal

4. Personal Journey …

5. a2i:
e-Gov to Public Service Innovation Lab+
2007 Failure: Vision documents
and large project plans
2008 Fix: Quick Wins
Long ‘think’, theoretical ‘plan’, zero ‘do’
Short ‘think and plan’,
almost simultaneous ‘do’,
continuous ‘fine tuning’ based on feedback

6. Disclaimer
Each lesson came out of a
failure, either our own or
somebody else’s

7. Lessons …
2. Visioning is more useful than vision docs
 Builds ownership, alignment and trust
 Creates guiding coalition towards one goal
 Many people try to reach the same goal in their
own way
3. Paralysis by analysis is worse than
death
 Illusion of intelligence and ‘progress’
 Consultants with no governance experience are
the only winners

8. AGRICULTURE 200,000 Sugarcane Farmers Saved
from Rampant Corruption/Bribery
10
Days
BDT
772
6 Visit
0 Days
BDT
85 1 Visit
Time Cost Visit
before After

9. Small Prototype to Massive Upscaling:
Service Decentralization through PPP
 Birth and death
registration
 Land records
 Exam results
 Government forms
 Financial inclusion
(inclusive banking,
insurance,
payments for
services, etc.)
5,300 One-Stop Digital
Centres in LGIs
8,500 more in Post Offices
25,000+ entrepreneurs
100+ services
6 million+ citizens/month
201
4

10. Lessons …
4. Think big, start small, scale fast
5. PPP is vital when possible
6. Don’t fight conventional wisdom
head-on, find creative ways to
‘manage’ change
 Stick: PMO and Cabinet
monitoring through dashboards
 Carrot: reward through healthy
competition
শরিয়
তপুি
পট
ু য়া
খালী
নড়াই
ল
মাগুিা নওগাাঁ
মুন্সীগ
ঞ্জ
বিগু
না
মারনক
গঞ্জ
বগুড়া
কক্সবা
জাি
ডাক গ্রহণ 35 44 53 65 160 199 98 99 118 171
মমাট নরি কার্যক্রম 34 37 40 45 49 52 57 84 88 93
0
50
100
150
200
250

11. T = 7+ days
C = Tk.
5,000
V = 40 km x
2-3 times
Yesterday’s Process for Getting
Land Record from Record Room

12. Process AFTER Access from Digital
Centre
ইউরডরিি মাধ্যমম
মামলাি নকমলি জনয
আমবদন দারখল
মিকড
য রুমম নকমলি
আমবদন প্রারি ও
মিরজস্টামি এরি
ইউরডরি কততয ক মামলাি
নকমলি িিবিাহ
মিকড
য রুমমি ভািপ্রাি
কমযকতয া কততয ক মামলাি
নকলটি রপ্রন্ট র্াচাই ও
স্বাক্ষি
আমবদনকািী আমবদনকািীমক
নকল িিবিাহ
T = 1 hour
C = Tk.
300
V =
Walking
distance
T = 7+ days
C = Tk.
5,000
V = 40 km x
2-3 times
T = 10 hours
C = Tk.
1,500
V = 40 km x
1 time
Digitize
Simplify &
Decentraliz
e
To Digital
Centre

13. 138 min
BDT 596
3 visits
51min BDT 212
1 visit
Average time Avrage cost Average Visit
P2G: Fee Payment for
Electronic Land
Records
63%
75%
75%
180 min
BDT 136
2 Visits
40 min
BDT 65
1 Visit
Average TimeAverage Cost Average Visit
G2P: Salary Payment
78%
50
%
52%
13
1
2
4
3
3.3
1.3
1
0.6 0.5
1
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
Average time
(day)
Average
Cost (USD)
Number of
Visit
Mobile Banking
Before
After
82%
65%
0%
Digital Financial Inclusion Demonstrating
Massive Time, Cost, Visit (TCV) Reduction
4.31
0.92 1.2
0.34 0.22
1
0
1
2
3
4
5
Average time
(day)
Average Cost
(USD)
Number of
Visit
P2G: Electricity Bill
Payment
Before
After
92%
76%
17%

14. 14
• Services
23
•Beneficiarie
s
107 million
• Cost
Savings
USD 552
million
Cost Savings Study for
23 e-Services since 2010

15. Lessons …
7. KISS (Keep it Simple Smart) Toolkits are
not only extremely powerful but also
unifying
 SPS – reduces opportunities for corruption
 TCV
1) shared understanding of innovation in civil service
2) political-bureaucracy alignment to making public services
more citizen-centric and inclusive
3) razor-sharp focus for the civil service
8. Introduce measurements and data-
driven culture to increase objectivity and

16. Lesson 9: Create Sandbox for Risk-
taking for Govt. Innovators
 Quick wins in 2008 to
Service Innovation Fund in 2013
 “Administrative Protection during
execution and also after failure”
 “The faster you fail, the sooner you
are likely to succeed!”

17. Lesson 10: At the Same Time, Encourage
non-govt. Actors for Breakthrough Thinking –
Service Innovation Fund
Locally Created low-cost 3D Printer
printing prosthetic limbs. Eva
picking up something first time.
Farmer’s Window helping agri
extension workers more quickly
& accurately diagnose crop
diseases through pictures.

18. Lesson 11: Embrace Citizens as Teachers
Web  SD Card

19. Lesson 12: Use ‘Empathy Training’
to Create Small Disruptions
More unlearning than learning:
deep, moving realizations very quickly
If it’s not moving, it doesn’t work  20% nudged into action.
3500 trained so far, 800 prototypes

20. Empathy Training Creating ‘Nudges’ Leading to
Large Change, Often Transformational
 Problem: Poor always at end of queue, not getting
service
 Solution: Health-card and priority queue for ultra-poor
 Upscaling: Adopted by Ministry. May form foundation for
Universal Healthcare
Free Healthcare & Health Record Management for Ultra Poor
Leading to Universal Healthcare and Health Insurance

21. 2016
Communication-Collaboration-Co-creation hub
136,000+ teachers, 120,000+ content
Lesson 13: Without Ownership, Nothing
Lasting is Possible – Teachers’ Portal

22. Lesson 14: Use Non-threatening Language.
CRITICAL!!!
e-Governance
Service at
Doorsteps
Business Process
Re-engineering
(BPR)
Service Process
Simplification
(SPS)
Corruption,
Transparency
TCV

23. Lesson 15: For Citizens Grievance Redressal,
Leverage Platforms where the Young People Roam
Every district administrator features a FB page
Unprecedented public accountability and
interaction with citizens

24. Lesson 16: Carefully and Gently
Break Silos and Nudge towards ‘Whole-of-
Government’ Approach to Problem Solving
43,000 offices
70,000
officers
178 services
Civil
Registry
Police
servic
es
Educa
tion
Birth
registr
ation:
Health
Voter
ID
Licens
es
Social
safety
nets
Loans
Taxes
& VAT
Legal
servic
es
Immig
ration
Labor
Combining birth registration,
National ID, student ID, and 6 other
IDs into one service delivery
platform

25. Lesson 17: Create Multiplier Effect through
Extensive Partnerships
South-South
and
Triangular
Cooperation
Public
Private
Partnership
Political
Vision +
Bureaucratic
Machinery
Learning from other people’s mistakes is ‘cheaper’. No need to
reinvent the wheel. Better resource mobilization. Wider ownership.
Language
e.g. Digital
Bangladesh
Results
e.g. profit
???

26. Lesson 18
Innovation is a bottom-up
process.
Scaling up is a top-down
process.
You need to combine the two.

27. Lesson 19
Don’t ignore the power of
serendipity.
In fact, develop an eye to spot it!

28. Future: Civil Service Needs to be
Better at Redefining the Problem

29. Towards a 21st Century-Ready
Civil Service in Bangladesh
 Explores alternative futures rather than singular futures
as an extension of the present
 Encourages a new role for civil servants as agents of
change
 Co-designs with citizens and non traditional partners
 Creates enabling ecosystem for innovation investments
and new forms of partnerships
 Applies cutting edge technology advancements
 Examines the role of behaviour insights and data science
in informing policy
 Scans the horizon continually to be ahead of the curve

30. Lesson 20:
GOV

31. Need Your Help …
Define ‘profit’ for govpreneurs