The World Bank has approved a USD 47 million projects to support the Government of India’s Mission Karmayogi, a national program to build civil service capacity, the bank said in a statement.

There are nearly 18 million civil servants employed across India, with approximately two-thirds at the state government and local authority levels.

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“While India has steadily improved its performance over the past decade, through the implementation of Mission Karmayogi the Government aims to make the country’s civil service force more future-ready and capable of meeting twenty-first-century challenges,” the statement said.

The Bank’s financing aims to support the Government’s objectives of enhancing the functional and behavioural competencies of approximately four million civil servants.

It will focus on three components: the development and implementation of competency frameworks; the development of an integrated learning platform; and program monitoring, evaluation, and management.

“India’s public sector performance is critical to building back better from the impacts of COVID-19 and to achieving its growth and inclusion targets,” said Hideki Mori, Operations Manager & Acting Country Director, India, World Bank. “There is a well-established connection between institutional quality and economic growth – strong public institutions underpin successful economic growth and development.”

The Project is aligned with the India Country Partnership Framework (CPF) FY18-22 which includes strengthening public sector institutions as one of the four areas of engagement for the World Bank in India.

The project is also aligned with the World Bank’s twin goals of ending extreme poverty and building shared prosperity, as building the capabilities of government officials to implement policy priorities and deliver effective services is critical to the achievement of these aims.

“The project will support Mission Karmyogi by developing competency frameworks for Central Ministries, Departments and Agencies, developing an online training platform that is able to deliver targeted training content and evaluate and measure the effectiveness of training delivered,” said Vikram Menon, the World Bank’s Task Team Leader for the project. “This will contribute towards building new capabilities within the public sector in India.”

The USD 47 million loans from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) have a final maturity of 11 years, including a grace period of 4.5 years.

The National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (‘NPCSCB’) – “Mission Karmayogi” was launched in September 2020.

(With inputs from ANI)