Questions/Answers

The primary objective of the initiative “Pakistan Citizen’s Portal (PCP)” is to empower a common man and improvise the service delivery regime with ICT-based interventions. While using the PCP platform, the registered citizens/members are able either to lodge complaints over the status of a service received or to seek guidance regarding processes involved in availing a service or submit suggestions to the policy makers etc. PCP aims to provide an opportunity to the citizens/members (inland Pakistanis, overseas Pakistanis and foreigners) to connect and communicate with all government entities (Federal & Provincial) through a dedicated medium (i.e. mobile App) and have their issues resolved with priority. In the service delivery paradigm while dealing with the organizations concerned, the initiative aims to ensure the following values; • Accessibility to all segments of the society • Maintaining self-respect of the citizens • Ensuring transparency in complaint handling processes at all stages • Citizen empowerment to raise voice on any issue pertaining to service delivery and reach-out directly to highest public office even the Prime Minister’s office. • Strengthening institutions by providing a direct way of communication to the citizens/members to interact with highest office bearers of the public sector organizations without using any political or bureaucratic reference. Keeping in view the overall response of the officers on the Portal who are working in the public sector organizations, it further aims to help the policy makers and establish a culture of quantified performance management and make the various government entities accountable for their mandated roles and responsibilities. The initiative ensures that the registered citizens/members on PCP get every possible relief under the law from the Government Organizations being interacted with without any other dependency. The initiative aims to maintain timeliness, courtesy, professionalism, transparency in all kinds of public interactions or complaint handling processes undertaken on the system.

PCP is first ever ICT initiative in the history of Pakistan that exclusively deals with service delivery regime and has successfully transformed the response mechanism of all public sector organizations. It has provided a cheap source (i.e. mobile App etc) for all segments of the society especially vulnerable to easily communicate their issues with officers of public sector organizations and get them timely disseminated to relevant quarter for disposal on merit. It is binding upon the service providers to respond within a stipulated period of time while their performance is being monitored at the level of the Prime Minister’s Office.

PCP has in its true sense provided and promoted the efforts that enable advance, effective, efficient, transparent, accountable, innovative and citizen-centric public governance system that is in line with SDG 16. The PCP User’s Guidelines Manual provides it at clause 1.2 page No. 4.Be accessible – In PCP all possible mediums have been explored to connect people to relevant public authorities. The mediums include the Web App, Mobile app (Android, IOS), and Call center. People having no literacy or smart phones are facilitated through PCP dashboards deployed in the organizations. Complaints reported by email, post or social media are lodged through manual window available on all PCP dashboards. Be approachable – Over 8000 PCP-dashboards of the Federal and Provincial Government organizations have been established for routing and processing public issues followed by response to public.Be fairly & factual –For the first time in history of Pakistan, general public can see the run time progress on his/her complaint’s interface through a mobile app (Android/ IOS both) and web-based access. This factor has added a sense of responsibility on the part of Govt. officers/officials and made them to be fairly and factual as per prevailing law while addressing complaints

The PCP has provided a platform whereby the general public is able to identify the issues either in individual capacity or as a social responsibility. At the social front an issue highlighted by a single citizen may also have a positive effect/ impact on a specific group of people or community as whole. The initiative is sustainable on economic front too as it provides an affordable opportunity i.e. mobile App to access government authorities within no time. Environmental sustainability of the initiative does not apply directly. However, in broader sense it helps to protect the environment by promoting paperless government

The initiative has truly empowered a common man by giving him/her voice to reach to any public office bearer at all tiers of the Government. In the context of Pakistan, people are now connected through ICT based system and are empowered to have accessibility in timely availing of services. By virtue of the initiative, all heads of public sector organizations are made accountable for timely provision of services in a transparent manner. It has considerably bridged the gap between the State and general public that improved public service delivery at districts, provincial and national level. The initiative has been helpful in improving governance and service delivery in the light of gaps identified through redressal of public complaints, guidance seeking queries and suggestions. On one side due to use of technology, extensive coverage to public has been made possible via single platform while on the other side service delivery processes have been made efficient. The quality of service delivery is improved by clustering complaints in the shape of categories, sub -categories, and topics which later on helped to review the public issues analytically. It helped the authorities to get abreast of the real public issues for initiating development projects and policy making

In the context of Pakistan, the initiative has given an equal voice to all segments of the society without any discrimination of gender, religion, faith, or political affiliation. As per clause 1.4 of PCP User’s Guidelines manual people registered or being registered on Pakistan Citizen Portal will be regarded as member and are categorized as Pakistani Citizens, Overseas Pakistanis and Foreigners without any discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, religion, color, gender, age, physical condition. The system is fully capable to cater for all registered members whether male or female, physically challenged, senior citizens, minority, transgender and overseas

By virtue of this initiative people living in Pakistan, overseas Pakistanis and foreign nationals are facilitated in getting their issues resolved at the level of the concerned government entity. The initiative has successfully minimized the culture of bribery, using political influences and bureaucratic references in availing public services from different organizations. Within the span of two years over 3 million people have registered on the system and have lodged 2.7 million complaints. Out of the total 2.6 million have been responded/resolved as per relevant laws while 0.617 million have posted satisfactory feedback. Apart from this, 11 policy items have been approved at the level of the Prime Minister of Pakistan and implemented at the level of organizations in the light of significant and trending public complaints/suggestions. • Enforcement of SOPs for facilitation of persons with missing finger prints. • Exemption of Overseas Pakistanis from withholding Tax. • 282 complaints led to payment of outstanding stipends @ 941million made to 29000 internees. • Facilitation of females and PWDs in change of examination centers by FPSC in case of emergency. • Constitution of High-powered Committee for resolution of issues faced by overseas Pakistanis. • Simplification of procedures of Islamabad Excise • Revival of treatment of fatal diseases program

The initiative was implemented in the following manner; • First, the model of KP-Citizen Portal was analyzed for possible scalability to the national as well as international level keeping in mind international standards of system security, technical availability, and ease of access & usability. A System Requirement Specification (SRS) document was also framed. • Necessary technical modification was carried out by incorporating different service delivery categories for the federal & provincial subjects. • The system architecture and capacity was upgraded, deployed to the national servers and made available to general public. Dedicated dashboards were created for all identified Organizations of the Federal and Provincial Governments. • For better understanding of complaint/queries/suggestions handling processes and resolution, an elaborate “User’s Guidelines Manual for Complaint and Suggestions Handling” was notified and circulated to all government entities. • For the general public, a booklet is framed and circulated through social media regarding use of the system, Dos and Dnts and overall code of conduct. • All Organizations/entities of the Federal and Provincial Governments nominated two focal persons (One each administrative & technical) for their respective organizations for better implementation and coordination with PMDU. • For training and capacity building of the nominated focal persons, a total of 72 briefing sessions were conducted by PMDU. • The system was formally launched on 28th October, 2018. • For institutional enforcement, an executive directive of the Prime Minister was circulated to Administrative Heads/Secretaries of the Federal & Provincial Organizations. • Public awareness campaigns were launched through print, electronic and social media. • On the system’s front, a dedicated team of experts (i.e. Consultants, Developers, System Architects, Server & database Administrators, Quality Assurance & designers) is deployed for monitoring on technical side. On the operational side, performance of the organizations is evaluated in the light of the public feedback as well as regular professional evaluation as a well-defined criteria

Two major obstacles appeared and were handled accordingly; •On institutional front, the officers/official dealing with the dashboards were initially lacking interest and public issues received through the system were taken for granted. To counter it once for all, the initiative was legally covered under the prevailing Rules of Business, 1973. Apart from this, strict administrative/disciplinary actions were taken against officers/officials of a number of Federal/Provincial entities. •On the public front, frivolous, non-serious and unnecessary complaints remained a challenge. For the purpose awareness campaigns enhanced and a number of technical checks imposed to enable the citizens to lodge only genuine complaints

PCP is the first ICT-based grievance redressal initiative in the service delivery regime of the country. People can avail services on the system through a smartphone application (Android & iOS) and on web format. It integrates all federal, provincial and district level public organizations and bodies into a single digital platform. PCP serves as a gateway that automatically route citizens’ complaints, guidance seeking queries and suggestions to concerned officers’ dashboards. It is innovative in a way that it is one-window that opens the whole government machinery to every citizen whereby they can connect to and communicate their grievances or suggestions

Effective grievance Redressal is the hallmark of efficient service delivery. Using technology to reach out to farthest or marginalized communities is imminent these days. There are a number of apps and digital services in public sector that serve communities in different ways. PCP drew inspiration from KP-Citizens’ Portal of the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that delivered successful results. The idea was redesigned and scaled-up with broadened scope. The coverage was expanded to the people of all provinces and overseas. All public sector organizations under the federal and provincial government were made accountable to respond to public issues through PCP

PCP does not make use of the frontier technologies such as AI, IoT or Robotics, but, it is a policy intervention coupled with a digital platform to provide an alternative mechanism – that is more robust, efficient, accountable and free – to a traditional (paper-based) grievance redressal.

The initiative is flexible to be extended to new organizations and bodies. At the time of launching of Pakistan Citizen’s Portal (PCP), people had been given access to 3996 dashboards of the public sector organizations while now this access is extended to over 8000 PCP-dashboards within Pakistan and abroad. It is a flexible platform that can be easily scaled up and extended to new organization and bodies after a minimal configuration. PCP is now serving as a central carrier of complaints, guidance seeking queries about processes involved in availing services and suggestions to the concerned decision makers across the country including foreign missions

It has the potential to be developed as a product that can be customized to cater for new context. Currently, it is designed and configured by keeping in view the administrative structure and government hierarchies in Pakistan. However, it has the potential to be customized for the need of other countries or regions with their own setup

The system was initially designed and implemented with zero cost. For the purpose, the existing technical teams of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-Performance Management & Reforms Unit (KP-PMRU) and that of the Prime Minister’s Performance Delivery Unit (PMDU) were engaged. The whole system was developed in 45 days without relying on any financial resources at any level of the Government or that of any donor. Neither any budget was allocated nor did any new hiring make at any level. For operationalization of the PCP-control cell, all existing physical resources i.e. space, working desks, computers, printers, scanners and other gadgets etc were utilized

Pakistan Citizen’s Portal is an initiative of significant public interest and developed with zero cost. However, it does need some funds on regular basis for Operation and Maintenance (O&M) that involve hosting charges and other expenses required for security of the system as well as public communication. Since, the initiative does not aim at generation of revenue therefore to make it sustainable overtime it will be financed through regular annual budgetary allocations. As far as sustainability is concerned in institutional terms, amendments in the Rules of Business, 1973 have been made for the purpose and the initiative is legally backed

Yes

The initiative has not been formally evaluated internally or externally. However, informally the team of PMDU comprising desk officers and technical experts carry-out evaluation of the system from different operational and technical aspects. Apart from this, an Individual Research Paper has been submitted by the Deputy Secretary PMDU to the National Institute of Management, Islamabad under the National School of Public Policy that was mandatory requirement for participants of the Senior Management Course. The same may be treated as an internal evaluation report

Description about the indicators and tools used for internal or external evaluation is not applicable in the present scenario

findings with regard to initiative • Since no additional resources were mobilized for the initiatives at any level therefore it is safely said that in the case of the PCP initiative, the existing machinery has been utilized at an optimum level • During year (i.e.2018-19) of the initiative, it was lacking in quality implementation due to capacity issues and trainings of the staff deputed for the purpose. Furthermore, there was poor supervision at the level of top management of the organizations and absence of institutionalization of the initiative and its legal backing. However, due to frequent interventions of the PM’s office, regular trainings and accountability of officers/officials all processes have improved tremendously during the second year (i.e.2020) • According to the internal team lack of proper supervision, trainings and public understanding about proper use of system were the key challenges faced during the last two years • As far as main outcomes are concerned, it has truly empowered the people to raise their issues at any level even to the Prime Minister without any hindrance and has made all government/entities accountable against their mandated role. The growing number of public participation i.e. @ 0.125 million per month is the manifestation of the public trust and empowerment

The initiative is designed in such manner that it suits the institutional landscape of Pakistan at all levels. It safeguards the public interest and facilitates them while navigating within the existing institutional set-ups and adhering to rules in vogue. Neither it has replaced the existing rules nor it aims to rather it reinforced them for better and timely service delivery. The initiative is implemented in all organizations of Federal, Provincial and District governments at different hierarchical levels. It has made disposal of official business ICT-oriented and has neither disturbed the chain of command nor acquired any authority. It is a source of institutional integration coupled public connectivity. The system facilitates public in assigning their complaints pertaining to service delivery, guidance seeking queries regarding processes involved and suggestions to concerned authorities of different organizations as per their mandated role. Apart from public, the system provides inter and intra-organizational connectivity within and outside organizational hierarchies whereby relevant matters are forwarded. Under the system, a number of dedicated dashboards have been created for officers whereby they can process the cases assigned and interact with public as and when required. The initiative has established fast track connectivity among organization for relevant cases

During designing phase, the technical team of Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa PMRU was formally engaged with PMDU (PM’s office) to work out for possible scalability of the already implemented system. With this collaboration, the system was analyzed and technical modifications were made in the initiative. At the implementation and evaluation stage, besides collaboration of the Federal Ministries/Divisions through respective focal persons, a Core Advisory Group was constituted as per the given composition and ToRs. Joint Secretary (EA), PM’s Office Chairman DG, National IT Board Member IT-Consultant, Higher Education Commission Member Manager MIS, PMDU Member Divisional Engineer ISP, National Telecom Corporation Member Application Developer, National Telecom Corporation Member Assistant Director, National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) Member Deputy Coordinator, (E-Governance), PMRU-KP Member ToRs • To provide the technical assistance & identify issues & suggest rectification • To review progress on implementation of rectifications. • To suggest time to time up-gradation of the system, as per contemporary IT related features. • To ensure quality and availability of the system both at the level of users and citizens. • To suggest measures for advance level of system’s security. For engagement purposes, top management of the organizations concerned is sensitized formally and meetings are being arranged on regular basis

Firstly, it changed the perception that substantial resources are needed for extending public access to service delivery. PCP made it possible to attain significant progress in addressing public complaints without any additional resources. Secondly, people can be empowered through innovation without bringing major changes in the relevant legal and structural framework. People, through PCP got voice and access to the Prime Minister’s Office. Thirdly, complaints handling processes proved performance accountability indicators for the officers and officials of the public sector organizations. Lastly, identification of real gaps/grey areas in policy framework proved easier than before because of having a popular and reliable social accountability tool i.e. PCP. Apart from improvement on technical side to cater for different languages and the needs of visually impaired, a number of new features are being introduced to improve and diversify the PCP system as follows; • Public polls/seeking opinions on the decisions/initiatives undertaken or to be undertaken by the government. • Government Notifications & Announcements • Introducing “How do I” to facilitate people in knowing about formalities required in availing services of public sector organizations. • Phone Directory of Government Officers & Rules & Regulations Bank • Special Events • Prices lists • E-Citizen i.e. applying and issuance of certificates, licenses through the system