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Role of HRD in Improving Governance in the SAARC Regionindicators into development project are required to close this gap.Mr. Shahid Rana, Anchor Person, Pakistan Television, Islamabad, speaking on “Role of Mediain Governance” focused on the potential role of healthy media and its positive impact on governance.Effective and independent media is considered as a key indicator of progress in creating honest,transparent and accountable government. Modern communications technologies are reframingrelationships between media, citizens and the state. Discussing about the current situation, he quotedseveral examples form the field in which the interdependence and interconnectivity of media andgovernance is evident. He argued that media can play a key role in promoting good governance,which in turn leads to socio-economic development. He urged that policy makers in the SAARCMember Countries should increase support for media for balanced discourse and inclusion of thevoices of marginalized communities.Syed Hasan Javed, Additional Secretary (Asia Pacific), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in hispresentation on “Role of Soft Power in Development” termed 'Soft Power' as an ability to influenceothers; charm offensive; and public diplomacy. According to him, sources of soft power are culturalheritage, religious belief systems, genetic inheritance, social value system, family values, tribal andclan ethics, and education and training. It is often contrasted with the 'Hard Power'. According to him,soft power critically contributes to development just as other hard factors of production. A country hasmore soft power if its culture, values and institutions incite admiration and respect in other parts of theworld. Nations without hard resources such as China, Japan, Singapore and Korea have been able todevelop with the help of soft power. He suggested Pakistan to use soft power in order to share itsculture, values and heritage with the world through food, music, sports, tourism, textile products, andtechnology. He pointed out the challenges in harnessing soft power as: absence of conceptualization,lack of mindset and awareness, resistance to change, expediency, lack of data, research, capacity,restrictive standards and stereotypes, and absence of institutions with requisite expertise.Taking session on “Fundamental Pillars of Good Governance”, Prof. Dr. Prem Narayan Aryal,Chairperson and Faculty Member, Institute of Open Learning, Kathmandu, described good governanceas utilizing power and resources in a way that maximizes the welfare of the people. The fundamentalpillars of good governance such as transparency, accountability and participation can make thedifference provided (a) they are headed by widely respected, strong and competent managers of knownintegrity, (b) the terms of reference, responsibilities, functions and powers of these institutions areclearly defined, (c) there is no political interference in their working but at the same time they are heldpublicly accountable for their actions and the results, (d) they are provided adequate financialresources and professional staff of certain caliber and, (e) they follow open and transparent proceduresand processes. He argued that good governance requires: promotion of the rule of law; political andsocial rights; efficient public administration; sound economic policies; supporting the civil societies;strengthening participatory institutions, allowing people to work for the welfare of the society with theirinvolvement in planning and decision-making process, and political commitment to political, social,economic, cultural and traditional values.Dr. Riffat Aysha Anis, Director, SHRDC, presented her paper on “Nutrition, Health and11
SAARC Human Resource Development CentreHuman Resource Development”.She viewed nutrition and health as asine qua non for the formation ofhuman capital. She noted that HRD isa combination of training andeducation, in a broader context ofadequate health and employmentpolicies which ensures the continualimprovement and growth of theindividual, the organization, and thenational human resourcefulness.Healthy human resources contributet o t h e n a t i o n a l e c o n o m i cdevelopment. Problem of malnutrition in all the developing countries of the world is because of lowpublic expenditure on health and poor health care system. SAARC Member States have madeconcerted efforts to improve health system; however, health related indicators are still very weak. Shewas of the opinion that a key governance issue in South Asia is to establish an effective health systemwith a wider coverage of quality health facilities to the poor people. She stressed that the SAARCgovernments should invest more in health as well as the education of the public to prevent a populationfrom being a liability of a country.Speaking on “Role of HRD in Improving Productivity”, Mr. Hasan Haider, AsianCompetitiveness Institute (ACI), highlighted various organizational quality problems. He said thatquality is a measure of value from customer/stakeholder perspective while productivity is a measure ofvalue from a provider/stakeholder perspective. In recent years, quality and productivity have becomeas two important indexes of a company's performance. Touching on productivity and HRDrelationship, he noted that organizations are human-made entities that rely on human expertise toestablish and achieve their goals. The role of the people in today's production process is critical. Theknowledgeable workforce with the help of advanced technology improves the productivity beyond thenormal levels. Organizational capabilities can be leveraged through knowledgeable employees toincrease profitability and productivity.Dr. Idress Khawaja, Associte Professor, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, in hisdeliberation on “Identifying indicators and Benchmarks for Governance in South Asia” noted that overthe time the South Asian countries have learnt a lot about what "works"; however, the governanceindicators are not encouraging. Indicators relating to government effectiveness, political stability,regulatory quality, voice and accountability, control of corruption do not compare favorably withcountries at the similar stage of development. The main reasons for poor governance in the region areweak political, social and economic institutions, dependence on donors, and financial institutions, thestructure of governance and rising poverty and inequality. These weaknesses block the scaling up oflocal success. These bottlenecks contribute to what we see as growing cynicism, civic disengagement,and distrust in our society. The South Asian countries can achieve progress through empoweringpeople, creating political will, sharing and disseminating timely information, sharing tax burdenaccording to the ability to pay, and transparent system in which public resources are used.12
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