President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday underlined the need for the capacity building of civil servants by ensuring the provision of quality training to civil servants as per international best practices to improve public service delivery. This, he added, would enable them to appreciate, handle and resolve wide-ranging and ever-evolving challenges faced by the government in the heterogeneous, pluralistic and diverse socio-political context of Pakistan. The president was chairing a meeting of the Board of Governors (BoG) of the National School of Public Policy (NSPP) here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr. Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives /Vice Chairman of BoG of NSPP, Ahsan Iqbal, BoG members, and senior officials of the government and NSPP attended the meeting. President Alvi urged the NSPP to integrate Artificial Intelligence, utilize online and hybrid modes of learning in its training procedures and standard operating procedures (SOPs), and upgrade its education modules to fine tune civil servants’ skills for making timely and informed decisions. This, he said, would help deliver efficient and quality services to the general public as well as help in the automation of trade, commerce and business-related processes and procedures, which were paramount for speedy and meaningful development and progress of the country. The president said adopting online training modules by the NSPP would increase its reach and effectiveness for imparting quality and relevant training to civil servants without incurring additional expenditures which were, otherwise, required for setting up physical training facilities. He also emphasized the launch of short-duration training courses to impart specific and sector-specific skills required by the government officers for better service delivery in special and technical disciplines. During the meeting, BOG Vice Chairman Ahsan Iqbal highlighted the need for improving the collective service delivery by the bureaucracy.He also underlined the need to introduce IT-based technology platforms for imparting quality training, both short and long-term, to the officers stationed in far-flung areas of the country as well as smaller towns and cities. The minister also proposed the conversion of NSPP into a degree-awarding institution on the pattern of the National Defence University (NDU). The Board of Governors also communicated its decisions to the NSPP on the agenda items presented before the meeting. The NSPP imparts Mid-Career Management Course (MCMC) for Grade-18 officers, a Senior Management Course (SMC) for Grade-19 officers and the National Management Course (NMC) for Grade-20 officers. The National Institute of Public Policy (NIPP) is a research institute of the NSPP on public policy. Its mission is to develop policy research and dialogue capabilities for addressing wide-ranging and ever-evolving challenges of government in the heterogeneous, pluralistic and diverse socio-political context of Pakistan.