The Asian Productivity Organization (APO) along with National Productivity Organization (NPO), Bangladesh organized an in-country Technical Expert Services (TES) project on Productivity Measurement and Statistics from 30 October to 3 November. The TES project in Bangladesh was designed to create awareness about digital tools for collecting, estimating, and analyzing data on productivity. The APO expects that the technical knowledge on productivity measurement gained through the TES will help NPO Bangladesh implement the country’s National Productivity Master Plan.

The continuous development of NPOs is a key priority area of the APO in fulfilling its role as a productivity institution builder for the region. As the key institutions spearheading productivity enhancement initiatives, NPOs are expected to be able to develop national productivity plans, policies, and strategies; create synergy with other key organizations in the country; and deliver capacity-building programs to build up pools of productivity experts and practitioners.

The TES project in Bangladesh is part of the APO’s initiative to provide customized support to member countries in addressing specific productivity improvement needs. It aimed to assist NPO Bangladesh in upgrading its institutional capacity and technical competency by enhancing the abilities of the staff to understand and conduct firm- and sectoral-level productivity measurements. Besides, the knowledge gained from the project will be optimized through continuous application of the techniques for measuring productivity internally, within the NPO Bangladesh, and externally with relevant institutions such as the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

Overall, the project covered productivity strategy, action, and approaches to productivity at the organizational, sectoral, and national levels. It covered topics such as productivity data analysis, alternative measurements of firm-level productivity, teamwork and survey design for productivity measurement, and approaches to measuring sectoral productivity, including in the public sector. Twenty-six participants attended. Industry and Technology Expert Faik Yucel Gunaydin, Ministry of Industry and Technology, Turkiye served as the resource person for the project.