Dhaka, Oct. 25 -- Over the past decade, Bangladesh has spent nearly twenty-two thousand crore taka on training its government employees. The figure alone suggests a nation deeply invested in upgrading the skills and efficiency of its bureaucracy.

But as the numbers rise, public trust in government services continues to fall. Citizens still queue for hours for a passport, struggle for basic services at land and tax offices, face extortion in the name of police assistance, and endure endless paperwork to get electricity or water connections. The paradox is unsettling. How can a state that spends such an enormous amount on capacity-building show so little improvement in governance?

The contradiction between expenditure and outcome is not j...