Local Governance Processes Research Articles

Local Election of Nepal 2017: An Overview of Gender Inclusion Prospective

Gender refers to the socially constituted relations between men and women. It focuses on power relations, roles and challenges along with the existing women's subordination in the society. Gender Inclusiveness is additional diverse activity and process of local governments, local institutions like Ward, Rural Municipality, District Coordination Committee and Municipality with self-reliant local governance and sustainable and effective service providing agencies. This article based on the objective to highlight the existing variation of women's inclusion in local governments among developed and developing countries. It analyses the provisions regarding inclusion addressed in the federal Constitution of Nepal in local elections. This paper widely covers concept, definition, theories, practice, situation, laws, policies and program at all levels. The paper is based on secondary sources of information, data published by Election Commission 2017, in Nepal. The raw data are analysed using the Excel spread program on computer and are calculated in frequency distribution and percentage to make its meaningful analysis. Data are carefully analysed and interpreted for generalization. The gender inclusion in local government is gradually increasing. As in national election 2017, the female elected members in local government are almost 40 percent in the districts of Nepal and the data is more than allocated (33%) by the Constitution of Nepal 2015 and election manifestos of different political parties. All the acts, policies and constitutions also emphasized the gender inclusion in all sector of Nepalese government.

Dinâmicas orçamentárias dos governos locais paranaenses: Seguindo o incrementalismo ou equilíbrio pontuado?

Este estudo objetivou analisar se o processo orçamentário dos governos locais paranaenses segue os padrões de mudança incremental nas dotações orçamentárias ou ocorrência de pontuações orçamentárias. No que se refere aos objetivos, este estudo se caracteriza como descritivo. Quanto à abordagem, a pesquisa se caracteriza como qualitativa. A amostra corresponde a 39 governos locais paranaenses, cujo levantamento de dados diz respeito ao eixo temporal 2014 a 2017. Os dados foram coletados no site do Sistema de Informações Contábeis e Fiscais do Setor Público Brasileiro (Siconfi) em outubro de 2018. Foram estabelecidas quatro variáveis de análise: educação, saúde, segurança pública e urbanismo. Levando-se em consideração os aspectos analisados, conclui-se que a variação percentual nos dados de apropriação do orçamento é distribuída de forma não linear, conforme ilustrado pelas apresentações gráficas e estatísticas descritivas, sugerindo a ocorrência de um padrão de equilíbrio pontuado e também a ocorrência de pontuações simultâneas nas alocações orçamentárias entre os setores das políticas públicas. As limitações da pesquisa são concernentes à seleção da amostra e variáveis analisadas. Como apontamentos de pesquisas futuras, sugere-se utilizar um recorte longitudinal maior, bem como a aplicação de modelos com testes estatísticos.

Teaching the Town Hall: Incorporating Experiential Learning in a Large Introductory Lecture Course

Experiential learning has been shown to help cultivate habits of effective democratic citizens, but it is often seen as infeasible for large classes. This need not be the case. In this paper, we describe a group project designed to introduce students in a 70-person Introduction to Politics course to the basic political processes of local government. In addition to guidance on how to implement the project, we also discuss survey data from students in the class to compare pre- and post-tests for each semester as well as comparing post-tests across two semesters. We explore how students who were enrolled in the course responded to the experiential learning component of the course on three separate dimensions: cognitive development, community awareness, and self-understanding. Ultimately, students reported that they felt civically engaged because they worked directly with community partners who they felt benefited from their involvement (community awareness) and they developed their skills for teamwork and collaboration (self-understanding). Our evaluation suggests that this group-level experiential learning project in a large course can be an effective tool for political science education as well as student development and implementing these kinds of experiential learning interventions can improve with each iteration of the project. Additionally, in light of student feedback, we provide suggestions on how other faculty members teaching large courses could incorporate this project into their own pedagogical practice.

Smart Governance in Public Financial Management: A Study of Government Resources Management System (GRMS) in the City of Surabaya

This paper aims to examine the implementation of the Government Resource Management System (GRMS) in order to address problems in local government and local financial management from the Smart Governance point of view. It is based on a qualitative descriptive research involving interviews with various stakeholders, observation and analysis of relevant document. In line with its focus, this research uses smart city theory focusing on one of the dimensions that is relevant to this research problem, namely, smart governance. This research finds that the City Government of Surabaya has implemented the concept of Smart Governance in the management of regional finance through the GRMS system. The implementation of Smart Governance is evidence from five criteria, which include: 1) Participation in decision making: manifested in E-Planning process; 2) Public and social services: materialized in E-Procurement process; 3) Transparent Governance: manifested in e-Planning and e-Procurement processes in which in E-Planning the community is involved in the formulation of development planning through E-Musrenbang, and the auction process in E-Procurement; 4) Political strategies and perspectives: materialized in all GRMS processes because the whole system of GRMS is a strategy that integrates bureaucratic activities from upstream (the top or decision making level) to the downstream (to the community or citizen) so that it represents good local government and especially local financial management. By using GRMS, the overall local government and regional financial management process in the City of Surabaya can be done easily, effectively, efficiently, participatory and accountably.

The Role of the Economic Sector Growth in the Province Maluku

Regional economic development is a process of local government and the entire community to manage the various resources available. One measure of the success of economic development is viewed from the economic growth. The economic growth of an area can be seen from the value of GDP of the area. The imbalance in the contribution of each sector to the GDP value of Maluku province indicates the persistence of disparities in economic sectors Maluku province. The gap is meant income gap, employment gap in each sector that will always be a problem if left continuously. This study aims to analyze which sectors that have relevance to the forward and backward linkages that can be known which sector became the leading sectors, potential and backward in Maluku province. Then with the input output analysis can know which sectors have the most impact on output, income and employment opportunities for other sectors and to identify changes that occur in each sector if there is a change in the economic structure in Maluku province. Of the three analyses, we can conclude which sector most positive influence on other economic sectors in the province of Maluku.

Пути вовлечения населения в процессы политического управления в рамках модернизации системы местного самоуправления

The paper deals with the reforms of local authorities and organization models of municipal authority over the past decade. The purpose of the research is to investigate reform processes of local govern-ment by a case study of Nizhny Novgorod region. The objective of the study is to develop a mecha-nism for reforming local authorities to increase the engagement of the population in political govern-ance. The paper discusses the ratio among the tiers of municipal government and the effective-ness of governance in the municipal district, rural and urban settlements. Besides, the research examines the Nizhny Novgorod region practices of transforming territories into urban districts.In view of the amendments to the federal law involving the emergence of a new type of municipalities, i.e. municipal districts, an interaction model is proposed for several authorities and public institutions to increase the efficiency of municipal govern-ment. In the author’s opinion, this model fully reflects the initial idea of local government as an independent authority.

Coproduction of Public Leadership: The Engagement of Mayors With Citizens, Managers and Politicians

This paper studies how mayors engage with citizens, managers and politicians to coproduce public leadership in the pursuit of several local governance processes: agenda setting; institutional decision making; public services design and delivery. We draw on an extensive survey with answers from 1,119 Italian directly elected Mayors. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and then clustering, we shed a light on the existence of four different clusters of engagement who coproduce different types of public leadership: political managerialism oriented leadership; multi-actor and participatory leadership; centralised leadership; conventional leadership. Our findings show that centralised leadership is the most popular cluster among the four; female mayors tend to enact a more multi-actor and participatory type of leadership; leadership in rural areas is more conventional. Interestingly, some mayors prefer to engage with politicians for issues related to public service design and delivery rather than with managers. We discuss how our findings advance public administration theory, specifically the literatures on public leadership and on the relationship between politics and administration.

Characterizing Land Use Systems within Awoja Watershed

This manuscript analyses trends in land use changes in Awoja Watershed with the aim of exploring the underlying causes of degradation in this watershed within the context of frequent draughts and floods. Changing trends of land use characteristics were used as indicators of ineffectiveness of control of access to resource use in the watershed. The study was carried out in the districts of Katakwi, Amuria and Sorotiin Eastern Uganda where the watershed is experiencing increasing trends of degradation despite the presence of elaborate watershed management institutions. The study used Remote Sensing, and focus group discussions to acquire relevant data on land use changes and their perceived causes. Perceptions of respondents on the effectiveness of the local governance processes were generated. The findings show increase in built-up areas from 0.21% between 1986-1996; to 3.28 between 2006 and 2016 and a notable decrease in forest cover from 107.48 Km2 in 1,986 to 6.94 Km2 by 2016. The results also show a dramatic increase in small scale farming area from 629.44 Km2 to 2,376.64 Km2 from 1986-2016 while the area of wetland reduced from 2,810.47 Km2 to 1,355 Km2over the same period. Results from focus group discussions revealed that although climatic and demographic factors were responsible for land use changes in Awoja, control of access to natural resources was inadequate to stop degradation. Climatic factors mentioned included increased frequency of floods and draughts that were perceived to have been responsible for changes in vegetation cover, water levels and infrastructure. Socio economic factors driving the changes in land use included increased cultivation of wetlands and communal land, increased sale of fuel wood, charcoal and sand, increased migration of cattle herders into the watershed during draughts and out of it during floods and increased fishing. While climatic factors were important, socio political factors such as displacements of communities, resettlements in the fragile environment brought about by government efforts to demarcate wetlands and wild life conservation areas were cited as drivers of degradation. The study concludes that besides climatic factors, inadequate management of access to resources was contributing to degradation of the watershed.

Urban Anticipatory Governance

Legal scholars who study cities and urban governance discuss participation in a number of ways, and at various moments in the legal process. Frequently, however, less attention is placed on anticipatory participation — forward-looking, flexible, and inclusive public engagement — and its role in promoting effective and legitimate policy. The emerging concept of anticipatory governance synthesizes different notions of improving participation and places focus on how residents can best participate in society’s most difficult decisions. At the local level, such matters are often those that address land use and economic development. The recent climate change preparedness strategic plan in New York City, known as PlaNYC, is an example of a local anticipatory governance process addressing population growth as well as global climate change. Building on the PlaNYC case, this Article illustrates ways that cities can, and in fact already are, address participation early on in the planning process to improve the quality of resident engagement. This Article offers a frame-work for how local government can use anticipatory governance concepts to promote resident participation in influencing how projects are developed in the built environment. Residents, the primary users of public space, have unique expertise and can engage with professionals to plan accessible and equitable cities. Anticipatory participation may even assist in moving beyond difficult land use decisions where compromises appear most remote. An urban anticipatory governance approach addresses society’s most complex issues, in flexible ways, allowing residents and experts to work together, with enough time for that collaboration to have a meaningful impact on decisions.

The Use of Geo-Questionnaire in Spatial Planning

Changes in the attitude of local authorities towards the managerial processes of local governments have opened the area for cooperation of many actors in decision making processes. Taking into account the complexity of urban planning it is necessary to search for methods facilitating the participatory planning processes. Of potential use are internet tools based on GIS, supporting the engagement of the public in the processes of management and consolidation of local inhabitants. One of such tools is the geo-questionnaire developed within the project: Geoportal supporting public participation in urban planning (GEOPLAN). The aim of the article is to present these results of six pilot studies of e-consultations performed in Poznań and Łódź agglomerations (Poland). Subsequent sections of the article present characterization of Public Participation Geographic Information System (PPGIS) tools and assessment of the possibilities of their use for spatial management on the basis of opinions of local inhabitants and local authorities. Attention is also paid to the legal and organizational challenges related to implementation of internet consultation processes in Poland. Solving these problems may lead to increased contribution of local society and greater effectiveness of decisions made in spatial management at local levels.

Architecture Design of China National Urban Transit Database

Transport policy making process of national and local governments should be supported by a comprehensive database to ensure sustainable and healthy development of urban public transport. China National Urban Transit Database (CNUTD) has been built to play such a role. This paper is to make an introduction of CNUTD framework including different user’s demands, sustainable data exchange mechanism from different level and application modules. Considering the urban transport development features of Chinese cities, sustainable urban transport development indicators are proposed to evaluate public transport service level in Chinese cities. The application of CNUTD in monitoring sustainable transport development in China is introduced in this paper as well.

Challenges and Prospects of Women Participation in Local Governance - Evidence from Jirapa District, Upper West Region, Ghana

Women’s role in community development has become crucial and critical in contemporary times. It is in the light of this that women’s involvement in governance and decision-making is paramount to the realization of this social objective. Despite the benefits that communities stand to gain if women were incorporated into local governance and decision-making, women still face a barrage of discrimination at various levels of social and political discourse. Traditional social structures have tendered to place women in the subservient position in relation to men and hence making such societies patriarchal in nature. Even though women generally outnumbered men in Ghana (PHC, 2010), their numerical strength does not transform their power positions as they themselves have come to accept their traditional placements without question. This led to the deep institutionalization of women’s role at the margin of society. The monopoly of men in the political discourse in Ghana and in the Jirapa District in particular, thus resulting in the relegation of women to the background, this neglect according to the study is attributable to; lack formal education among women, inaccessible to community resources leading high rate of poverty, inferiority complex due to inadequate exposure and many more culminating into women not been active participants but passive ones in critical decision-making, implementation and evaluation, even issues that affect their own welfare. Many other varied reasons accounted for this unfortunate situation in political circles in the given District. These range from cultural, educational, economical and even politically. Society considers women as the property of men and property cannot be part of decision-making. A good number of women have a low level of formal education and can neither read nor write in order to understand many social and cultural issues of concern especially those that enlightens them. The absence of independence coupled with societal perception makes it extremely difficult for women to actively participate in local governance process let alone put themselves to be elected into positions of responsibilities. The study revealed that culture and religion despise women for the reason of monthly menstrual flow, and therefore regarded as impure during those moments to occupy leadership positions. Women have always remained in the shadows of men in all spheres of life within the Jirapa District. Keywords: Women Participation, Patriarch, Local Governance, Empowerment, Jirapa District DOI : 10.7176/RHSS/9-2-04

Exploring the Local Sustainability Approach Using Indicators

The purpose of this research was to analyze the application of the Barometer of Sustainability (BS) as a tool for monitoring the sustainability process, using the case of the municipality of Ribeirão Preto, Brazil. The method adopted was based on the important seven stages for the BS application. The methods used were exploratory, descriptive, analytical and field research approaches, combining primary and secondary data. BS as an evaluation tool has proved useful in contributing to the understanding of social and natural phenomena, providing the monitoring of sustainability on a local scale. The findings indicated that the municipality had a greater concern with socioeconomic issues in relation to environmental issues. Based on BS, Ribeirão Preto was classified as intermediate level in relation to Sustainable Development, presenting better performance in the Human Subsystem. To solve the main methodological difficulties related with sustainability indicators to measure the sustainability dimensions on local level, and transpose these challenges is a continuous and emergency process. The integration of information from institutional bodies and sharing of data are paramount for public management at the municipal level to help develop and consolidate national databases. In this paper the authors demonstrated that is necessary to develop efficient methods of sustainability evaluation for local practice to develop policies and actions and add value in the decision-making process of local governments.

Elite capture of local participatory governance

Elite capture is a major barrier to citizen engagement in local governance processes in many developing countries. Data from six case studies of development initiatives in Bangladesh show that, in spite of attempts by aid donors and others to ensure citizen participation, programmes are dominated by a nexus of local elites including MPs and bureaucrats. Local stakeholders do not understand the value that direct citizen participation can bring, and citizens are unaware of their rights and wary of challenging elites. Monitoring of requirements for citizen participation is weak, and the management of some programmes deters participation. Representatives are sometimes selected by elites and legal frameworks are not sufficiently strong or enforced consistently. We conclude that a range of additional and effectively implemented policy measures are required to reduce the extent and effects of elite capture in developing countries.

Local Politicians and the Implementation of Local Government Reforms

Local government plays a crucial role when it comes to reforms because it must usually approve such projects or is at least responsible for their implementation. It is interesting to discover more about the role of local executive politicians in the modernization process of local governments. While there is much literature on local government reforms and on the role of the local executive authority in general, studies which investigate the connection between the two are scarce. This study investigates whether the reform agenda of a municipality is rather influenced by the institutional setting or the personal attributes of local politicians. This hypothesis-based paper assumes that institutional settings as well as specific personal attributes of the local politicians influence the local reform agenda. For the empirical analysis, the case of Switzerland was chosen, where local politics is mainly made by the local politicians and reforms are mostly implemented on a voluntary basis. Two surveys form the dat...

The Arrangement of the Information Technology and Communications Master Plan using PeGI Model (e-Governance Ranking Indonesia) to Improve District Government Services

Implementation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) within the scope of government is one important aspect that needs to be developed. Implementation of ICT applications is expected to facilitate various activities quickly, precisely and accurately with the aim of improving productivity so that the quality of government performance can increase in service to the public and internal government. Many district governments in Indonesia have no reference in strategic planning in the context of ICT, so stakeholders find it difficult for decision-makers in ICT development. The impact of this problem also affects the level of implementation of the regional work units in the region area. It, therefore, has no guidelines for developing and utilizing ICT properly and appropriately. Master plan of information and communication technology for local government is a product of scientific research with PeGI model (ranking of e-government Indonesia) as measurement model of e-government system. Model PeGI takes measures on 5 (five) dimensions of the e-Government system: policy, institutional, infrastructure, application, and planning. The final outcome of the measurement will be used as a recommendation and policy in preparing the ICT master plan to support local government processes and management work. The Master plan of Information and Communication Technology is expected to realize district governance system that is able to bridge the various needs of ICT implementation in agency.

De-democratisation and the rights of street vendors in Kampala, Uganda

ABSTRACTFor a large segment of the urban poor in Kampala, Uganda, street vending has long served as a key livelihood strategy in the absence of formal employment opportunities and a public social safety net. This article explores the effects of de-democratisation on the rights of street vendors in Kampala, describing how changes to local government institutions and processes have forced vendors to adopt new strategies to assert their rights in an environment of closed political space. It argues that for street vendors in the city, economic and social rights are fundamentally rooted in political rights. As de-democratisation has robbed them of their political rights, it has also robbed them of their ability to assert their right to engage in their economic activities, leaving them increasingly vulnerable and marginalised. Barring a fundamental change in the city’s political landscape, the hardships that vendors face appear to have no end in sight.

The institutionalisation of sustainable practices in cities: how initiatives shape local selection environments

The ways in which institutions are reconfigured to change mainstream selection pressures to favour sustainability is central to research on sustainability transitions but has only recently begun to receive more attention. Of this existing work, empirical attention has mainly focused on the national level with less attention to local dynamics. Attending to this gap, we mobilise theory on institutionalisation processes and insights from the politics of transitions literature and take an actor perspective to investigate the agency of local sustainability initiatives to navigate local governance processes and reconfigure selection environments at the urban scale. Our work subsequently demonstrates the importance of diverse actor tactics, of networking for advocacy and of networking for the creation of informal, ad hoc governance arenas.

Using public participatory mapping to inform general land use planning and zoning

Zoning is a ubiquitous land use planning and regulatory mechanism whose purpose is to provide for orderly community growth and development by segregating land uses that are deemed incompatible. The delineation of zones and related land use ordinances are traditional components of an expert-driven, local government process that produces a general or comprehensive land use plan as required by law. Public participation in the development of general land use plans has rarely used participatory mapping methods that engage the general public to explicitly inform zoning decisions. In this study, we demonstrate how participatory mapping methods can assess the consistency, compatibility, and potential conflict of zoning with public values and preferences in a general plan revision process using a coastal community in California as a case study. We describe the participatory mapping design, data collection, and data analyses in a workflow to illustrate the methods, and present the strengths and limitations of the approach for use in a general land use planning process. Future research should expand these methods to assess the potential effects of resident domicile and “NIMBYism” on the results, and importantly, assess the impact of public participatory mapping in land use decisions if actually implemented by local government authorities.

Social impacts of marine protected areas in South Africa on coastal fishing communities

In South Africa, marine protected areas (MPAs) continue to be a favoured tool for biodiversity conservation and fisheries management. Efforts to expand the network of MPAs are contested largely due to historical injustices associated with MPA establishment and the ongoing social impacts linked with their current management and governance. This paper presents findings of recent research on the social dimensions of MPAs in five MPAs in South Africa. Drawing on information gathered from 70 oral histories, over 250 key informant interviews and 28 focus groups, the paper examines key social impacts respondents attribute to MPAs and their establishment and ongoing management. Significant negative impacts reported include the weakening of local governance rights and processes, in particular the lack of effective mechanisms for local community participation in decision-making. The loss of tenure rights and access to resources amongst already marginalised communities has contributed to food insecurity, less exchange of food and less household income. The MPAs investigated have impacted on culture, way of life and sense of place. Yet, despite government commitments to several international policy instruments relevant to MPAs and national laws legislating redress, social issues associated with MPAs have been largely overlooked. Findings from this research demonstrate that the failure to address historical impacts, as well as social hardships and inequities still being experienced, undermine the legitimacy of MPAs and frustrate the achievement of objectives and plans to increase the marine space under protection. Ways of working towards more effective, legitimate and sustainable MPAs in South Africa are suggested.