The Relationship of Public Policy to Governance: An Empirical Discussion of Nepal


The Relationship of Public Policy to Governance: An Empirical Discussion of Nepal
Udaya Raj Adhikari
Email: rajudaya98@gmail.com




Abstract
This paper points to what public policy process and governance mean. It is known that public policy processes are made to run the governing system and implantation of the policies are the signs of good governance. Here the issue is, whether public policy decides how the government will run or the government will decide how the policy would be best to run the system. Other than this, this paper also tries to focus on the effects of the relationship and the situation of the implementation of policies.
Keywords: Public policy process, governance, relationship between public policy and governance



1. Public Policy and Process


Public policy cycle (PPC) can be characterized as a complex and interactive system through which public problems are identified and resolved by following process of public formation, policy implementation, policy education and policy evaluation.  It is an exhausting and time consuming 'policy cycle '. The basic stages of PPC are as follows; a problem is identified, a policy response is formulated, the preferred solution is then selected and implemented, and finally the policy is evaluated. However, the evaluation stage takes an in depth look into what can be learnt from the process as a whole, whether the original problem has been solved, and if not, what is recommended as an alternative course of action. Thus, returning policy makers to the very first step; the identification. Policy-Making is a multiple-step process and is thus fraught with numerous challenges to the policymakers. Right from the policy formulation to policy evaluation, various dimensions have to be taken into consideration to make a public policy more suitable to people's needs. Policy Making not an end in itself as policy implementation too can pose numerous challenges to the policymakers if policy is not properly framed. It is the responsibility of the policymakers to ensure that at every stage, a public policy should be in tune with the needs of the people which necessitates careful designing of its structures and process. Hence, due care should be taken to ensure that every policy has an inbuilt mechanism to make relevant to the ever-changing socio-economic and political conditions.


Fig: Public Policy Cycle (PPC)






.

1.1. Policy Formulation

  • After a government has acknowledged the existence of a public problem and the need to do something about it, policymakers need to decide on some course of action. 
  • Formulating such a course of action and the second major stage in the policymaking cycle.
  • Policy Formulation is the development of policy alternatives for dealing with a problem on the public agenda. It occurs in government bureaucracies, interest group offices, legislative committee rooms, meetings of special commissions, and policy planning organizations, otherwise known as "think tank ".
  • Towards attaining such objectives, the government promotes and formulates new public policies from time to time and revamps the existing ones to make them suitable to the existing conditions.




Issues
The problem arising out of the sale of spurious liquor in villages, corruption, and malpractices in public officials and lack of institutional support to women 'Panchayat' members.

Goals and objectives
The policymakers have to decide what to do for improving housing facilities for the slum dwellers and to consider the rising no of people in the slum area.

Strategy
              To provide subsidies to farmers, provide employment opportunities
              To improve the physical infrastructure, facilities of villages and empower them through village panchayat.
Implementation Mechanism
              Government of India wanted to ameliorate the living conditions of the rural people after independence.
              The government initiated the community Development program (CDM) in the year 1952. It was a new administrative agency that was expected to cater to the overall needs of the rural people.
End Remarks
              The policymakers should evolve the objectives and goals clearly, adopt strategies and finalize the implementation machinery
              The designing of policy is an important element in the entire process of public policy as any error at the stage may lead to failure of the entire policy.




1.2. Policy Implementation

  • The passage of a legislative act, the issuing of an executive order, the handling down of a judicial decision, or the promulgation of a regulatory rule and the consequence of the policy for the people whom it affects. The assignment of new responsibilities to exiting an organization. These organizations must translate laws into operational rules and regulations. They must hire personnel, draw up contracts spend money, and perform tasks. All of these activities involve decisions by bureaucrats' decisions that determine policy.  
  • Example
    • The policy about land reforms is good but the policy failed due to poor implementation by the political and the administrative executives.
    • Corruption prevention act.
    • Compulsory reserve % of participation of women in decision making and other activities like application on public service commission.
    • Free and quality housing distribution act.
  • Why Policy Implementation fail?
    • Not given sufficient authority and autonomy. They should be saved from political pressures so that they concentrate on the accomplishing of policy objectives.
    • Lack of skills and expertise to deliver better goods and services. Faulty recruitment, selection, and training processes have resulted in the decline of civil service standards.
    • Lack of financial resources and human resources.
    • No clear enunciation of the objectives, time frame selection of beneficiaries, and structure of implementing agency.
1.3. Policy Education

  • It is the responsibility of the government to educate people regarding different facets of public policy.
  • Many problems during implementation can be solved to a large extent if people are educated about various dimensions of public policy.
  • For.eg. People should be educated regarding the benefits of the policy institutional arrangements, the impact of policy on their lives, and the monitoring mechanism.
  • Example: Supply of solar power to Rural Area
    • Where there is abundant sunshine, it should initially educate the people regarding the implication of using solar power.
    • The assistance of voluntary organization: These organizations help can be taken to spread awareness about a policy.
    • Services of voluntary organization can be utilized to spread awareness about child care and women's health.


1.4. Policy Evaluation

  • It can be evaluated from the perspective of minimizing errors in the future. Once the policy implementation starts then all necessary steps should be taken to ensure that all the agencies involved in it are functioning well
  • According to Wholey, policy evaluation is the assessment of the overall effectiveness of a national program in meeting common objectives.
  • For.eg. Building Houses for slum dwellers
    • If slum development is the goal to be accomplished by the government, it should enunciate the corresponding objectives
      • People who receive grants from the government may not necessarily use it to construct new houses
      • The government should process the money through banks and construction companies to the people who take the responsibility of building houses for slum dwellers.
    • Therefore, the terms goals and objectives must be clearly defined so that the major objective of the policy can be accomplished.

2. Governance
2.1. Definition and Parameters of Governance
Governance can be defined as a system or process for the exercise of authority by state authorities and other entities, in reference to broadly shared values (foundation of governance) and thorough democratically-established institutional mechanism (infrastructure of governance), that deliver on the state's commitments for public goods and services (Service delivery) that together define and consolidate the relationship between the state and citizens.
 According the definition of governance adopted by Nepal National Governance survey 2017/18, parameters were identified corresponding to each three major dimensions of governance: foundations (values), infrastructure (institutions) and service delivery. A fourth dimension of 'future Prospects' was added to gather information on people's views on the future of and changes to governance, the condition of the country and their own socio-economic conditions. An outline of these parameters for each dimension is presented in below box 1.


Box 1: Parameters of governance


Source: Nepal National Governance survey 2017/18

3. Relationship between Public Policy and Governance
Conceptualization of public policy and governance has made it easier to define the relationship between them. As we know that public policy is created for the development of the state mostly by the government or by the institutions under the government. Public policy cannot be made by a day. It is processed in different level. Such as, for implementing a policy or evolving a policy there are institutions which get involved.
They are:
         i.            Cabinet
        ii.            Secretariat Committee
      iii.            Parliamentary Committees
      iv.            Council of Ministries
       v.            Executive Committee of Ministries
      vi.            Ministries
If we discuss the context of Nepal then, the government gets involved in these institutions. They decide how it should go and how much money it should get for the implementation. They set an agenda and through evaluation it gets a form of public policy. If the government chooses what the policy should be in first level then, there are possibilities of getting it done fully by any means. It seems quite clear how the relationship works. Overarching the situation, I personally think that if the government works as a good government (whether it is democratic or not), the relationship kind of works to ‘government to policy’ not vice versa. Because if there were different institutions of deciding the public policy then there were chances that the policies would have been different than what the government wanted it to be. In contrast, the institutions that get involved in deciding the public policies, contain the government officials including the prime minister. So there are slight chances to decide the public policy from a different opinion view. It does not matter whether it’s a pluralistic society or not. The need of public policy can come from anywhere. It can be from the government or the society or sometimes the government opens a debate for a situation where a public policy is needed. People can express anything about the policy. But ultimately it’s the government who gets to decide how the policy should be and implements it lastly. This is how the relationship works.


Empirical Discussion
Theoretically there are many things that can be described. But there is a different between theoretical understanding and empirical understanding.


The Process of Urban Development Policy Making
The Problem
o    Unplanned land and housing development.
o    Conflicting and overlapping responsibilities among agencies to execute urban plans and programs.
o    Absence of an effective mechanism for identification and mobilization of the instruments and resources.
o    Fragmented and piece meal approaches of various agencies.
o    Lack of an effective mechanism for mobilization and coordination of the assistance and resources.

Justification
o    Address all aspects of urban development.
o    Establish an effective mechanism for mobilization and coordination of the assistance and resources in urban sector.
o    Foundation for Comprehensive Zoning regulations and controls.
o    Cornerstone for formulating regulatory bases for planned urban setting.
o    At the national level, there is dearth of policy regarding open spaces. The proposed policy is expected to fill up that void.
o    The proposed policy will address the spatial framework for urban development from a national and regional perspective in the infrastructure and resource development context.
o    The proposed policy will be supportive for the construction of reliable, effective, efficient and sustainable basic urban infrastructures (roads, water supply, sewage & drainage, solid waste, energy, urban open space, basic physical amenities etc.) and quality benchmarking.
o    A milestone for improving urban environmental concerns - air, land, noise pollution; urban transport issues, high fossil fuel consumption, land us e incompatibility, public space encroachment and growth of squatter settlements.
o    Guide for planned development of services-- education institutions, nursing homes, industries and real estates in suitable locations.
o    Municipalities are facing ever increasing funding and financing gap .The volume of fiscal transfer systems from the central government is very low. The proposed policy will have due focus on mobilizing and utilizing resources from different sources.
o    The proposed policy will be effective for institutional development, coordination and good governance.
Methodology
o    Stakeholder consultations and agenda setting
o    Review of literature, existing regulations, programs and implementation mechanism
o    Collection of relevant data from both primary and secondary sources
o    Data analysis
o    Preparing results and discussion for the data
o     Drawing conclusion

Selecting Tools of Actions
o    Policy tool - methods used by governments to achieve a desired effect.
o    The two basic types of policy tools - regulatory and economic tools.
o    Exist at all stages of the policy process
o    Specific tools such as stakeholder consultations and government reviews linked to agenda-setting activities
o    Legislative rules and norms linked to decision-making behavior and outcomes
o    Use of ex-post, or after-the fact, cost–benefit analyses-to evaluate policy

Research Tools
o    Regulatory Tools---Existing policies/Acts/Regulations
o    Financial Tools – Income tax/Sales tax/Duties and Tariffs – User fees and Charges – Licensing – Grant, Subsidy, Equity, Loans – Public expenditures – Government Insurance
o    Informational Tools – Public education and information – Advertisement – Information technology

Implementation Plan : Roll out of the Programmes
o    Implementation of land use plan
o    Planned urbanization
o    Improved urban environment
o    Development of adequate, affordable and safe urban infrastructures
o    Coordinated efforts of stakeholders in urban sector through One window approach
o    Effective functioning of Kathmandu Valley Development Authority(KVDA )and Town Development Committees (TDC)
o    Increased investments in urban sectors
o    Facilitation of Private sector investment
o    Effective and Coordinated Urban Governance

Plan in action
o    Organizational set up and allocation of human resources
§  A number of agencies involved in urban sector, various agencies have their special roles in policy implementation.
o    Financial Resources
§  The financing of the implementation of the policy activities shall be done in principle of shared responsibilities between governments, the private sectors and development partners.
o    Communication Plan
§  The communication plan for the proposed policy includes the key message, the targeted audience and communication action plan.

Monitoring and Evaluation
o    Central Level
§  Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM), National Planning Commission (NPC), Ministry of Finance (MOF) will carry out M&E functions at the national level.
§  Office of Attorney General (OAG) and Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO) also should monitor and evaluate as required by different acts and bylaws of the country.
§  The National Development Action Committee (NDAC) and Ministerial Development Action Committee (MDAC) shall ensure the progress, quality and the coordination.
o    Ministry/Department/Regional Level
§  M & E will be undertaken by the respective ministry and department and regional offices of sectoral ministries. Department and regional offices should monitor and evaluate inputs, implementation process, outputs, and outcomes of programme/project.
§  The Regional Administration offices submit reports to OPMCM and the NPC after carrying out M&E of development activities under their jurisdiction.
o    District level
§  The Supervision and Monitoring Committee at district level shall monitor the activities at district level following the frameworks.
o    Project Level
§  M&E at the level of programme or project shall be carried out by the concerned programme/ project implementing offices to monitor the mobilization and use of resources, implementation process and outputs.




Disclosure statement
·         With the new constitution, Nepal is poised to move towards a federal system of governance which will have significant implications for urban growth and development.
·         New Urban Development Policy can be a guide to orient regional urban development processes and associated investment decisions and to shape the work of newly born ministry-that is Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD).
·         Various policy action tools like regulatory, financial, informational and governance have been proposed.
·         Implementation plan has been proposed with defined roles and responsibilities, time frame, cost and human resources.
·         Monitoring and Evaluation process and framework has also been figured out.
·         The proposed Urban Development Policy is expected to be a milestone in planned urban development and improved urban environment.


4. Conclusion

Since the government decides how the policy should be, it’s hard to believe that the policy would be different form the perception of the ruling government. The government is trying to process the public policies contrasting the overall situation. It’s not completely failing. But the empirical situation is far away from the policy that should have been implemented completely. However, it is expected that the public policy will be decided for the peace and development of the public under the governance of the government. Public policy is intricately tied to governance. This is true because the ultimate objective of public policy is the accomplishment of nation building. Good public policy will lead to the provision of social amenities; reduce unemployment, income inequality and poverty that are the major elements of poor governance. Manipulative leadership perpetuates corruption and in such a polity the vast majority of the people suffer in frustration and aggression. Aggression as a result of weak public policy and bad governance manifest because poor people who are in the majority are not getting enough to eat, not being able to purchase clothes, an inability to continue traditions that are important to them and feelings of defenselessness, hopelessness, fear, ignorance, humiliation, exclusion from social and commercial life and low ability to provide basic necessity for the household are easily visible. A good public policy is critical to enhance good governance. This fresh study found that public policy has a strong positive relationship with governance architecture. To  sum  up,  an  honest  public  policy  and  efficient  yet  good  governance  are  the  primary tools if we are to realize the Gandhi is greatest words “to wipe out every tear from every man’s eye.”

5. References
·         Kooiman, J. (2003). Governing as Governance. (London: Sage Publications).
·         Orthy, S.R. Khan (2017). The Relationship of Public Policy to Governance. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/35213621/The_Relationship_of_Public_Policy_to_Governance
·         Gelal, M.R (2010). Practices of Policy Making: A case of Urban Development Policy in Nepal. NASC, Kathmandu
·         Vedantham, V.M., & Kamruddin, S.(2015). Good Governance and Public Policy in India.Peple :International Journal of Social Sciences, Retrieved from https://grdpublishing.org/index.php/people/article/view/351
·         Bevir, M. (2016). Public Policy. In Encyclopedia Britannica Retrieved From https://www.britannica.com
·         Ugoani, John, Dimensions of Public Policy and Governance (2014). Journal of Public Policy and Governance, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp: 51-61.. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2562331



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