Govt. focused on capacity building for growth: PM

• PM says first four years were focused on restoring democracy and Governance
• Govt. to work towards achieving aspirations of the young people
• Says administration system needs restructure to improve capacity and development work
  
   

By Chathuri Dissanayake 

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday said the Government is focused on building capacity to foster the economic growth needed to facilitate the aspirations of today’s young generation.

“We have to build what those who are going to live for the next 40 to 50 years would like, just as we did in the 1950s,” Wickremesinghe said, speaking at the launch of the Citra Social Innovation Lab, co-developed by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Research and the United Nations Development Program. Citra labs, country’s first Public Sector Innovation Lab, works to strengthen institutions, build capacities of the public sector, and re-engineer public service delivery through specialised foresight and innovation tools, such as design-thinking, user-journey mapping exercises and human-centred design approaches, among others. The Prime Minister, stressing on the importance of listening to the younger generation of the country, said the Government is focused on facilitating their growth.  “At the end of the day, those are views that we have to listen to. What we are doing in this period as a Government is to create a framework to ensure that many of the aspirations can be met,” he said. 

Noting that the Government has successfully restored the country’s democratic norms and governance structures during the last five years, Wickremesinghe said that the next step is to focus on building the capacity and infrastructure needed to ensure the country has the capability to repay all the loans borrowed over the years.

“What we had to do in the last five years is restoring what was there earlier, to restore and re-establish the democratic framework to re-establish the governance structures of our country and more than any other, to ensure that we didn’t go down in debt that we are able, that we have the capacity to repay our debts. And then put in the main infrastructure or the money that is needed for social improvement.”

However he noted there was much more to be done to build capacity to ensure that the country is able to repay the money that we have borrowed.

“How do we build the capacity to digitalise the whole process? Where do we begin? For instance, we need about 300,000 basic computer-skilled people if we are to earn a few more million dollars, but we haven’t got them. What is the shortcut? To train them in the schools. So there are many innovations needed,” he said.

Wickremesinghe also called for reforms of the country’s Administration Service structure, noting that the current system has become outdated with a need for digitalisation and strategising public engagement.

“The lowest level of the Central Government’s administration is the Division. Sometimes I feel that we have overloaded it. We have already over-reached our capacity, just by looking at the money that is sent to be spent on Gamperaliya, Gramashakthi and other basic ground-level programs - there is a big issue of capacity. Can we handle it, can we do it on time - this is one issue. Secondly, when citizens interact with us, are we becoming too bureaucratic? There isn’t enough citizens’ participation in Government at the grassroots level,” he said.

Speaking of the need to overhaul the current administration system, the Prime Minister said that the divisional structure may be outdated for tomorrow’s problems, noting that the challenge today is to ensure that that the Government is structured to cater to the needs.

“There is a lot of money that has been Divisional level. We are now looking at one unit to function to operate all similar type of programs,” Wickremesinghe said, adding that the Government is also focused on involving young people as well.

“Let us look at how we redefine these structures to ensure community participation,” he said, inviting the Citra Lab to lead the change.

Speaking on the added value of an Innovation Lab to the public sector, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe stated: “Great to see the results of the Citra Social Innovation Lab within a year of existence - how programs have been carried out, the number of Ministries the Lab has partnered with, all those engaged and involved in social innovation who want to make a change in society.”

PM launches Citra, Sri Lanka’s first Social Innovation Lab