The Task Set to Create a Compact and Efficient Management System

On August 4, under the chairmanship of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the videoconferencing was held on the issues of reforming the civil service and improving management efficiency.

This is a logical extension of the administrative reforms undertaken in recent years. Thanks to the President, civil servants have become much closer to citizens. Systems of dialogue with the people, distribution of part of the budget funds based on the initiatives of the population, work in the context of makhallas (local residential community areas) have been established. The necessary conditions have been created for the effective work of civil servants.

In his speech at the joint meeting of the chambers of the Oliy Majlis (The National Parliament), the President has noted that «the next important task is to create a compact and efficient management system focused on the needs of citizens by transforming the central agencies».

At present, the state civil service employs 118 thousand people. However, the civil service has not yet become a system that meets the expectations of people.

For instance, last year the People’s Receptions received 25,000 complaints about the incompetence and irresponsibility of staff members of ministries and agencies, 7,000 complaints about their lack of communication culture.

Some officials are not performing their duties due to the lack of an integrated competency identification system, training methods and improvement. In general, the lack of a system for selection, training and motivation of the managers remains one of the main reasons for the poor management.

The Law «On the State Civil Service» has been prepared on the basis of a comprehensive discussion, after two years of development with the involvement of domestic and foreign experts.

The priority tasks facing the state bodies based on the requirements of this law were outlined at the meeting.

First of all, an open and transparent system of recruitment to state bodies will be introduced. To this end, all vacant positions will be posted on a single open electronic platform by the end of the year. The requirement of providing 16 documents to apply for a vacant position shall be canceled, and all processes will be transferred to electronic form. The knowledge, experience and potential of the candidate will be evaluated in an open competition.

This system was tested on an experimental basis in Samarkand region and the State Tax Committee. The responsible officials spoke about the outcomes of the experiment at the meeting. It was noted that each ministry and khokimiyat (governor’s office) should start the personnel selection from higher education institutions.

A program for the selection of young specialists shall be announced in order to establish systematic work in this area. As a part of the program, the talented graduate students, who undergo an internship in the system of ministries and khokimiyats (governor’s offices), will be selected and further recruited upon the completion of the training. The program will include young people studying abroad.

According to the analysis, 40% of the heads of the central offices of the ministries did not work at the district level, and 60% of the heads of the district level had no experience of working in the regional or republican agencies.

Therefore, the President emphasized the need for paying a special attention to the promotion of personnel in the service on the principle of «from makhalla (local residential community area) to the republican level».

From November 1, the old-style CV will be canceled and a system for assessing the qualifications and achievements of an employee based on advanced technologies will be used. In short, no one can take a leadership position by chance.

A pool of potential leaders at the district and city levels will also be created, which will be replenished from among the assistants to khokims (governors) and youth leaders in makhallas (local residential community areas). Depending on their competence, the professional development and training courses will be organized for them.

The Public Service Development Agency, the Youth Affairs Agency are charged with the task of implementing the «100 Advanced Leaders» program together with the Vatandoshlar (‘Compatriots’) Foundation. As a part of this program, every two years 100 promising young specialists will be selected from among the civil servants, active entrepreneurs and compatriots abroad.

As it is well - known, in Uzbekistan the priority is given to the principle of «person – society – state». The measures are being taken to ensure people feel comfortable in all areas. In particular, it has become much easier to obtain licenses, order services, submit documents to various authorities, and use payment systems.

However, many areas remain bureaucratized. For instance, the documents necessary to receive a subsidy include the confirmations from an average of 10 ministries and agencies. The connection to electric networks is associated with extra costs and paperwork. In the sphere of medicine, it is not clear to citizens which service is free or paid, there is no clear system for calculating and delivering medications from the state. Many processes are inconvenient for the population and entrepreneurs in the field of construction, transport, communal services, standardization and quarantine.

In this regard, the Prime Minister is instructed to make service processes in each ministry and khokimiyat (governor’s office) clear and convenient, to reduce unnecessary costs and documents.

«The primary requirement is the satisfaction of people», Shavkat Mirziyoyev has said.

There is a growing desire among our people for active participation in the development of the country, the improvement of the makhalla (local community area). For instance, due to the Open Budget portal, civil initiatives are brought to life. In the first half of this year, more than 2,000 such projects were launched. Most importantly, people realize their involvement in them and make careful use of the built infrastructure.

It is envisaged to allocate another one trillion Uzbek soums for such projects in the next six months. Therefore, the responsible officials have been tasked with expanding the scope of initiative budgeting.

As the private sector grows in the economy, there is an increasing need for skilled human resources. In this competitive market, the civil service must also be attractive.

In this regard, the President emphasized that guarantees for the performance of government officials would also be strengthened.

In particular, a system of incentives depending on the experience, qualifications and outcomes of an employee will be introduced next year. Their life and health will be insured by the state. The government officials who perform their duties with honesty and loyalty, will be ensured a decent old age.

The issue of training and in-service training of government officials was also considered.

So far only 20% of government officials have passed professional development courses. Nor does the quality of training meet the requirements.

In this regard, the importance of creating joint educational programs with foreign training centers was noted. The instructions were given to review the activities of 110 training centers in the system of ministries, update curricula and methods, and involve qualified specialists in training.

The reports of the Prime Minister and his deputies, heads of industries and regions, foreign partners were heard at the meeting.