National School of Public Policy is a prestigious institution for training of civil servants in Pakistan. It aims at building their capacity for undertaking tasks of policy formulation and implementation at tactical, operational and strategic levels. This is achieved in an environment of intellectual freedom so as to generate in them an investigative urge, spirit of rational enquiry and a genuine desire to seek knowledge. The overarching aim of the NSPP is to improve the quality and effectiveness of public Policies and management in Pakistan, by improving the quality of pre-service and in service training and education of all those engaged in Public service
Under the umbrella of National School of Public Policy, training at various levels is imparted at its integral and constituent units i.e. from initial induction of Grade-17 level to strategic policy level for Grade-20 officers. Initial Common Training Programme (CTP) is conducted at Civil Services Academy (CSA), which is followed by a Special Training Programme (STP) at respective departments’ training institutions. Next is the Mid-Career Management Course (MCMC) for Grade-18 level, which is of tactical level and is held at National Institutes of Management (NIMs). Grade 19 officers are put through Senior Management Course (SMC), focusing primarily on the operational level, at Senior Management Wing of the National Management College (NMC). Finally, Grade-20 officers attend the strategic policy level course, National Management Course (NMC), at National Management Wing of the National Management College. This progressive training structure affords opportunity to trainees to gradually develop their capabilities from tactical to strategic levels.
The scope of NSPP is to further expand to include education and research functions. The idea has been conceived with the objectives of:
- Improving and building upon the existing structure of public sector training institutions
- Upgrading the skills/capacity of public service to meet the demands of a modernizing and progressive state
- Providing mechanism for induction of the needed skills, where/when such skills are not available, particularly at the higher policy-making level.