Civic Participation
For Effective Local Governance

By Mukti Rijal

MAKING local governance effective has become a necessity today. This imperative has not been owing to the failure of the centralised political systems alone. An effective local governance system is also needed for democracy and empowering citizens. It has both political and economic value. This fact has been well recognised in the nations of South Asia including Nepal.

Special Case

Nepal has a rich and resourceful tradition of local communities taking care of their needs without external or central inputs. Nepal is a special case in South Asia in the sense that it was never apart of the colonial rule. Nepal is a land locked country sandwiched between two Asian - countries China in the north and India in the south.,east and west. This country has got to contend with exogenous shocks and tremor from time to time due to political and economic vulnerability. However, Nepal has been able to preserve some niches and values for democratic local governance.

Local government units in Nepal have been democratically organised irrespective of the changeovers in political systems. During the partyless Panchayat polity local bodies found prominent role in terms of development and governance. Local elections have been held uninterruptedly for the last fifty years. The local government laws in the past established and gave value to some important elements for grassroots democracy and participation.. However, in the absence of democratic environment and freedoms, local government institutions had often to work completely in conformance with central dictate and control.

The democratic revolution of 1990 brought about a big change in the country. Multiparty democracy was reinstated and political and social pluralism became the guiding norms. The space for democratic liberty has been reclaimed. The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, which was promulgated in 1990 provides room for a widened social and civic space. Though the constitution does not spell out a framework for dececentralisation and self-governance, it directs the state to pursue democratisation and self-governance for social justice equity and development. Accordingly new legal framework has been created. The enactment of Local self governance act constitutes a major leap forward in instituting the process of decentralisation and self governance in the country. There has been a parallel growth of civil society organizations in Nepal. NGOs, CBOs, GROs and self help groups have proliferated enormously in villages and cities. These civil society organisations are said to be of huge number covering a large proportion of the population. Despite these positive developments, democratisation of the state and decentralisation of power has not occurred in the substantive terms. It can therefore be said that the externalities of democracy and decentralisation have been established in Nepal but cultures and ethos to complement and support them are acutely lacking. Though local government institutions are, of late, showing their effectiveness in some areas of people's concern but the cases are very limited.

Moreover, the influence of civil society on local government performance is skewed or almost nonexistent. Barring some user groups, people's organisations and self-help groups doing some small economic projects, the local governments view NGOs and civil society groups with some dose of hostility. Likewise, the Incidences of poor management of resources or in several cases abuse of resources by local government officials and central agencies working at the local level are increasing. But they are limited or even donot exist. But where local constituents are conscious and vigilant, they afford to engage in frequent interaction with local bodies It is to be noted that the local self-governance act is very liberal in this context. The legal provisions room for NGO-local government interaction and engagements for governance and development but this has not been fully utilised.

Two things can be inferred from the above points. One is that the civil society In Nepal is very weak. The government- central and local-is reluctant to recognise to the role of civil society organizations as partner to complement efforts for development. Laws have provided new opportunities for civil society organizations as much for independent as for collaborative work. At the same time there has been a strong adversarial element .

The Lack

The civic vigilance that is crucial and important for making local governance effective is virtually lacking in Nepal. It is time the agenda for decentralisation took cognizance of the need for empowering the civil society so that civic vigilance is strengthened. The new government should implement activities towards this end.

Other Story

• Multiple Translation In Light Of Evaluation