SRI LANKA INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION

School of Postgraduate Studies

Master of Public Management

Assignment

Name with Initials: G.K.M.T.S. Kaviraj

Registration No: 049 (2019/2021)

Subject Code:
Subject : Public Management and Governence

Assignment:
Group  Individual 

Name of the Lecturer: Dr. S.R.S.N. Sudasinghe

Student’s Statement:
I certify that I have not plagiarized the work of others or participated in
unauthorized collusion when preparing this assignment.

31/03/2021
Signature: ……………………... Date: ………………………

Office use only:

Deadline Met  Extension Given  Late Submission 

Signature: ……………………………

Marks Given:
What are the basic principles of New Public Service ? Explain with
examples one of the principles that can be practically applied in the
public service of Sri Lanka.
The new public service is a new theory for public administration in the 21st century,
targeting citizens. This theory was introduced by Janet V. Denhardt and Robert B.
Denhardt. They introduced this theory in the sense that it should focus more on the
community and civil society. The New Public Service perspective, rooted in democratic
theory, emphasizes the accountability of officials to citizens, whereby officials serve and
respond to citizens rather than steering society
They have introduced seven key principles that should be present in the new public
service.
01. Serve citizens not customer.
02. Seek the public interest.
03. Value citizenship over entrepreneurship
04. Think strategically ‘act democratically
05. Recognize that accountability is not simple
06. Serve rather than steer
07. Value people , not just productivity

01. Serve citizens not customer.

The public interest is the result of a dialogue about shared values rather than the aggregation
of individual self-interests. Therefore, public servants do not merely respond to the
demands of “customers,” but rather focus on building relationships of trust
and collaboration with and among citizens.

02. Seek the public interest

Public administrators must contribute to building a collective, shared notion of the public
interest. The goal is not to find quick solutions driven by individual choices. Rather, it is the
creation of shared interests and shared responsibility.

03. Value citizenship over entrepreneurship

The public interest is better advanced by public servants and citizens committed to making
meaningful contributions to society than by entrepreneurial managers acting as if public
money were their own.

04. Think strategically „act democratically

Policies and programs meeting public needs can be most effectively and responsibly achieved
through collective efforts and collaborative processes.

05. Recognize that accountability is not simple

Public servants should be attentive to more than the market; they should also attend to
statutory and constitutional law, community values, political norms, professional standards,
and citizen interests.
06. Serve rather than steer
It is increasingly important for public servants to use shared, value-based leadership in helping
citizens articulate and meet their shared interests rather than attempting to control or steer
society in new directions.

07. Value people , not just productivity

Public organizations and the networks in which they participate are more likely to be
successful in the long run if they are operated through processes of collaboration and shared
leadership based on respect for all people.

In this new approach to public management founded a sharp critique of bureaucracy as

the organization principle within public administration and promised a small but better
government. According to the new public service principles, citizen is the most valuable
character and public servants are very concern about how satisfy him greatly.
Emphasized on decentralization and empowerment, focused on citizen satisfaction
promoted better mechanism of public accountability. Citizens are employer of public
servants and they always serve to citizens to fulfill their requirementග
Among the new principles of public service mentioned above, I will describe below how
the principle of is seek the public interest applied to the public service in Sri Lanka.

Dialogue with the Village

Gama Samaga Pilisandara focused on enhancing income of poor:

The policies of the Government have been focused on enhancing the income of the
people in the most rural villages with the ultimate intention of ending poverty, President
Gotabaya Rajapaksa said.
“I visit the most remote areas with the Gama Samaga Pilisandara programme because the
main focus of our policies is to get rid of poverty, to increase the income of poor villages.
“Increasing revenue is vital to end poverty. That’s how our policies have been devised
and that’s why we pay special attention to the agriculture and plantation sector,” the
President said
“Gama Samaga Pilisandara”- “Dialogue with the Village” programme that encompasses
ideas from the inhabitants of 25,000 villages. As a result, the government was able to
identify the shortcomings and necessities required by these villagers. This approach
helped us to clearly understand critical issues such as; how many houses require
electricity?
How many roads need repair and maintenance? How many homes lack access to clean
drinking water? etc. Since these issues are already identified, the government will be able
to allocate the necessary funds from the national budget with ease. Through these
activities, the government launches an appropriate system to ensure that all villages
encompass of all essential facilities.

“Gami Liyata Rate Saviya”

The main aim of our people-centric economic policy is to uplift the farmers and make
them into farming entrepreneurs. Their current predicament sees the middle man taking
the lion share of the profits and forcing these farmers to remain below the poverty line.
Efforts of the farmers to feed the nation are not reflected in their success, and the
government needs to stop considering their value limiting only for their votes. Within this
concept, the invaluable effort and contribution of the village women must be recognized.
The government devised a state-sponsored mechanism, where women entrepreneurs can
get involved in small and medium enterprises related to handlooms, garments, crochet,
lace, cane, clay pottery, coir, dried fish and fisheries for identified target markets.
The government believes that having an additional income is one of the best ways to
cover the expenses of a family. The government encouraged the unemployed members of
households, specially the housewives to utilize naturally available excess fruits and
vegetables in their own gardens to produce value- added products or to provide them as
raw materials for such value-adding production centers to earn an extra income.
The government created a separate system to collect these products from their households
and introduce a mobile application to connect and exchange information.
The government has observed many village women falling victim to unregulated micro
finance schemes charging exorbitant interest rates. The government will identify such
predatory schemes and ensure relief to such victims.

References :

The New Public Service: Serving, Not Steering

Book by Janet Vinzant Denhardt and Robert Denhardt

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Public_Management