Prior to joining the National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh, Mr. Md Nazrul Islam served as a Secretary to the Government, holding the position of Secretary (Coordination and Reforms), in the Cabinet Division. His profile included the challenging task of governance reforms in line with national vision of pro-people development and coordination among ministries and divisions for seamless progress towards the national goal of a middle income country.

Mr. Islam worked hard to revolutionize the administrative system by creating a robust mechanism of transparency, accountability and responsiveness. He initiated the implementation of Annual Performance Agreement (APA), a results based performance management system in public sectors. He developed strategic guidelines on APA and sensitized policy makers to inculcate the spirit of APA. It created a system of identifying the actual achievement of organizations against their agreed commitments.

He played vital roles in formulation and implementation of the National Integrity Strategy (NIS) of Bangladesh. He coordinated among the ministries to institutionalize the Right to Information (RTI) by serving as a Chairman of inter-ministerial working group on RTI implementation. He pioneered the development of a second generation of citizen’s charter and establishing a web based grievance redress system (GRS).

He has contributed to formulation of a National Social Security Strategy of Bangladesh to consolidate and streamline the fragmented schemes of social protection. His initiative of establishing the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) will serve the purpose of a single registry MIS in service delivery to people. He also played a vital role in materializing the government initiatives of creating Digital Bangladesh for up scaling e-Governance. He worked for promoting a culture of innovation, learning and team spirit in civil administration for better service to the people.

Mr. Islam joined Bangladesh Civil Service (Administration) in 1983and served as Magistrate, Upazila Nirbahi Officer, Land Settlement Officer and Additional Deputy Commissioner. In the Ministry of Education, he worked as the Project Director of a multi-donor-assisted large project with an mission of institutionalizing quality and inclusive education by promoting the use of digital technologies.

Apart from the excellent career records, he secured the awards on – Best Project Team Award in 2011, Outstanding Performance Award in 2008 and 2009 and Prime Minister’s Gold Medal for tree plantation in Balagonj Upazila, Sylhet in 1995.Mr. Islam obtained his degrees of Bachelor of Arts and the Master of Arts in Political Science from the University of Chittagong in 1977 and 1978 respectively.