Factors Affecting Application of New Public Management Oriented Reforms in Nepal Presented By Bharat Gautam PhD Student Central Department of Public Administration Tribhuvan University, Nepal At the International Conference On Challenges of Governance in South Asia In the Sub-Theme Application of New Public Management Kathmandu, Nepal December 15-16, 2008 Jointly Organized by Central Department of Public Administration, Tribhuvan University, Nepal And Department of Administration and Organization Theory University of Bergen, Norway

METHODOLOGY Main Purpose: To asses factors affecting application of NPM oriented reforms in the Nepalese context, Focus: Reforms initiatives after 1990 Dependent Varaible- Application of NPM oreinted Reforms Independent Varaible- Factors afffecting application of NPM (political, bureaucratic, policy process, institutional, and economic) Mixed Method- Quantitative and Qualitative Data, Data Collection Primary- Questionaire Survey- November, 2008 Ministry of General Adminostration, MOGA Section officer, Under Secretary, Joint Secretary, Secretary Central Department of Public Administration, CDPA Visiting Faculty, Lecturer, Associate Professor, Professor Secondary- Reform Reports, Policy Documents, Civil Service Acts and Rules

REFORM INITIATIVES IN NEPAL Before 1990 1952- M. N Buch Committee 1956- Administrative Reorganization Planning Commission 1968- Administrative Reform Commission 1975- Administrative Reform Commission After 1990 1991- Administrative Reform Comission, ARC 2001- Governance Reform Program, GRP 2006- Vision Paper for Civil Service, VPCS 2008- Commission on Administrative Reforms and Restructuring, CARR

MAJOR NPM RELATED REFORMS AND IMPLEMENTATION STATUS Reviewing the role of government- Not effectively implemented Privatization of Public Enterprises- Partly implemented, 30vs63 Rightsizing public organizations and number of employees- Poorly implemented. Procedural simplifications and reducing layers of decision making and paper works- Poorly implemented Managerial decentralization- Not implemented Improving performance of the Ministries to deliver better services to citizens based on NPM work culture- Not implemented Performance contract- Not implemented Application of Citizens’ Charter- Structure is implemented, spirit is not followed This implementation status indicates that application of NPM related reforms is not effective.

DISCUSSION ON QUESTIONAIRE Factors Affecting Application of NPM in Nepal Questionaire Survey Conducted in November, 2008 First questions was Which factors do you think are the major for ineffectiveness of NPM oriented reforms in Nepal ? Please ranks in order 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…(1 is high value) A. Political Factor B. Economic Factor B. Bureaucratic Factor D. Institutional Factor E. Policy Factor F. If any other, please specify…

RANK ORDER MADE BY RESPONDENTS SPSS software program is used and mean value is explored to interpret the data 1 is high value and 5 is least value in 1-5 rank order Factors Working Organization Total Mean Value Civil Service Ministry of General Administration MOGA University Central Department of Public Administration CDPA Political 1.40 1.50 1.45 Bureaucratic 2.44 3.10 2.79 Policy 3.11 3.22 3.17 Institutional 3.78 3.44 Economic 4.22 3.56 3.89 If any other... Bhavioural- rigid mindset (specified by two repondents from MOGA)

FINDINGS 1. Political Factor may be the most important factor for making application of NPM related reforms effective. Political instability may hinder the application process of NPM oriented reforms, but it is not major factor if politico-administrative leaderships (Prime Minster and Ministers) are committed to lead the reform programs. 2. Bureaucratic Factor may be the second important factor for the application of NPM oriented reforms. Supports from bureaucratic actors, relationship between senior and junior level employees, and relationship between administrators and general public is important to implement NPM based work culture and NPM orient service delivery. 3. Policy Process may be the third important factor for making NPM related reforms effective. There may be a causal relationship between policy transfer process of NPM and its effectiveness. If there is voluntary process of policy learning from NPM approaches of reforms, it may be effectively implemented. If policy process of reforms is hurriedly made with out taking sufficient time to analyze implication of certain reform policy this may not effective.

FINDINGS CONT. 4. Institutional Factor- (Performance of Reform leading and Monitoring) may be the forth important factor for making NPM oriented reforms effective and successful. Causal relationship between reform leading/monitoring institutions and effectiveness of reform programs. Success story of reform programs may largely depends on performance of reform leading/monitoring institutions. If reform leading institutions are active and work centred they can make difference for making reform process successful. 5. Economic Factor may be least influential in comparison with other factors for introducing NPM oriented changes in public sector. It may not necessary to have strong economic condition of the country to apply NPM approaches for reforming public administration. There is also minimal relationship between application of NPM oriented reforms and donors support. In other words, NPM related reforms may apply effectively without supports from donor agencies.

CONCLUSION A number of reform measures- review of the role of State, rightsizing public sectors, procedural simplification, performance contract, and use of citizen charter related to NPM have been introduced after 1990 for modernizing Nepalese bureaucracy. However, application process of NPM related reforms is not effective. There are many variables related to political, bureaucratic, policy process, institutional, and economic sector that have affected reform trajectory of Nepalese public sector. From our experience, we may conclude, to make reform programs effective, strong political commitment from plitico-administrative leaderships Prime Minister and Ministers may require.

Thank You