For the first time ever, Lyonchhen Tshering Tobgay, Ministers, Secretaries, Dzongdas and Planning Officers sit down together at a meeting to share and discuss the plans and programs of ministries (central government) with the dzongkhags (local government).
Thanking the cabinet ministers, secretaries, dzongdags and dzongkhag officials assembled for the event, Lyonchhen expressed his happiness to see the outpouring support of the participants and their commitment towards implementation of government performance and management system (GPMS).
Lyonchhen iterated that GPMS is not a new phenomenon but Bhutan’s progress in its first year of implementation has been favorable so far and thanked all civil servants for the hard work they have put in to achieve the activities laid out in the Annual Performance Agreements (APA).
For a coordinated budget preparation and by keeping the overall objectives in mind, budget discussions for both ministries and dzongkhags were held together this year.
“We have never linked our annual plans to national objectives and the 11FYP objectives. This year is the first time that we will be linking performance with budgeting and budgeting with performance. These performance agreements will be the basis of budgeting for the next fiscal year and a basis for personal evaluation of the Royal Civil Service Commission,” Lyonchhen said.
Today’s deliberations also include discussion on the APAs for 2015-16 FY with their specific objectives, set of targets, and success indicators.
“APAs will allow all civil servants to familiarize and be informed about each other’s objectives. We can focus on our successes and celebrate them. To succeed, we have to think and act as one. We have to work together; this is what GPMS is about,” Lyonchhen stated.
With the mid-year assessment of rest of the dzongkhags completed, the Prime Minister will chair the mid-year review of the five remaining dzongkhags (Paro, Haa, Wangdue Phodrang, Punakha and Gasa) tomorrow.