There is ample evidence that improvement in public sector governance and resource management yields considerable development gains. Over the years, there has been a shift in focus on results for improved public service delivery, greater accountability, simplified business procedures, enabling business environment, harnessing the potential of various sectors to the best possible use. For this purpose, P&D Board has taken significant initiatives to pursue a collaborative and consultative approach to work with the development partners and other key stakeholders of the government machinery and people/experts from the private sector to steer the reform agenda of multi sectoral and cross cutting interventions. These projects/programs/interventions however need to be steered and executed by a dedicated unit which constantly monitors the progress of these initiatives and manages the project/reform activities on behalf of the departments and acts as one stop shop for the development partners. In order to ensure that Government of Punjab keeps abreast with the positive developments of the rest of the world, the initiatives mentioned above need to be given continuous support.
PRMPU has performed the said function and implemented some important multi sectoral and cross cutting donor funded programs related to Governance, Industrial and Tourism Sector. The areas of reforms may be different but the underlined objective remained the same which aims to improve the public service delivery through simplification of procedures, private sector led models, business process reengineering, abolishing redundancies and repetition of regulations, availability and access to information etc. Punjab Reform Management Program was an Asian Development Funded program which was envisaged to strengthen provincial finances, reforming process and institutions and encouraging private sector development etc. First phase of reforms was completed under Sub Program-I & II of PRMP-I. Asian Development Bank agreed to provide US$ 750 million for implementing the wide ranging reforms under PRMP-II. PRMP-II provided the overall reform umbrella covering foundational reforms in all of the core areas of Public Financial management, Private Sector Development, Results Based management, Civil Service Reform. This umbrella was designed and implemented through the 3 Sub Programs over the period 2007-2012, each implemented within an 18 months interval.
PRMPU has coordinated and spearheaded three important World Bank funded programs including Punjab Public Management Reform Program (PPMRP), Punjab Jobs & Competitiveness (J&C) Program and Punjab Tourism for Economic Growth Project and has worked in close coordination with Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) (formerly DFID, UK), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank in the past as well as mentioned above. Apart from these, PRMPU has remained involved in providing skills enhancement and value addition through short term and long term trainings to the government servants working in the province. Over the last many years, PRMPU has provided an excellent platform to equip government servants in Punjab with the best and cross cutting professional knowledge, skills and competencies. As per the impact evaluation of previous PCB Programs, the beneficiary officers acquired latest skill-sets and utilized the same in the discharge of their official duties.