Watch it on NIICE Nepal Youtube Channel

Event Report

The webinar was held by NIICE, CDD, NPI and NeMUN in collaboration with JICA on the theme of good governance and international cooperation, presented by a panel of four; Ms. Noriko Matsuda, a Good Governance expert from The Japan International Cooperation Agency, Professor Tulsi Dharel from the Centennial College of Toronto, Mr. Pratap Kumar Pathak who is the former secretary of GON and Mr. Keder Neupane, the Executive Member of NPI.  The webinar was chaired by Mr. Mohan Krishna Shrestha who is the Founding President of CDD and the Former Ambassador to France.

The webinar touches upon the importance of good governance and how it is part and parcel of the national and international sphere, especially in terms of international cooperation and development. Mr. Shrestha identifies values, rules, regulations, accountability, responsibility and transparency are the main pillars of good governance. He also points out that countries with lower corruption indexes tend to have a better position in attracting diplomatic relations as opposed to countries with a higher corruption index.

Ms. Matsuda adds to the discussion by sharing JICA’s Cooperation to strengthen governance in Nepal. She noted that the main challenges Nepal faced were concerning the need for the development of modern laws, improvement of administrative services and elimination of corruption. JICA’s cooperation with Nepal consists of the drafting of the Civil Code which includes areas relating to family law, property law, contract law and private international law and conducting scholarship programs for studying in Japan.

Prof. Dharel shares that a good system serves as a solid foundation for the development of a country. He also mentions that good leadership is crucial for development and that leaders should always consider themselves as part of a developing process rather than a beginning entity. This is especially applicable when leaderships change from time to time. Prof. Dharel also strongly notes that international cooperation is not occurring from government ventures alone but is very much attached to the fields of international business and global investment. According to him, international cooperation in Nepal is lagging because Nepal has failed to create a suitable environment that attracts foreign direct investment, rather than the corruption rates alone.

Mr. Pathak has found good governance to be the most challenging contemporary issue in international cooperation. He notes that international cooperation has an instrumental role in building a capital responsive government in the fields of poverty reduction, governability enhancements for enabling states, human rights and social justice and economic prosperity. By the Paris Principles, Mr. Pathak states that international cooperation is based on 4 factors, namely, national ownership alignment, harmonization, managing for results and mutual accountability. He further states that good governance is determined by a few important factors. They are as follows,

1. The legitimacy of the government.
2. A people-centred system pollical system.
3. transparency and accountability which also translates to the right to information.
4. Predictability of state delivery.
5. Rule of Law and regulatory quality of governance.
6. Effective delivery of citizen services.
7. Rights-based development.
8. Meaningful collaboration with the partners of development.

Further, Mr. Pathak identifies two streams of issues in international cooperation.

1. Good governance as the basic criteria for international cooperation objectives and minimum conditions – Good governance is seen as the driving value of international cooperation dynamics. It also helps to establish the legitimacy of the state with accountable and transparent systems and will aid to strengthen the economic and political landscape of the state thereby reinforcing the attainment of sustainable development goals.
2. Use of international cooperation for meaningful performance and results such as anti-corruption interventions – corruption acts as the major obstacle to development and governance from two critical points. They are through investments which then lead to slow economic growth and the possibility of building capability for effective citizen delivery.

Mr. Pathak uses Nepal as an example and explains that the effectiveness in the mobilization of international development cooperation is less due to the weak development governance. He explains that the delivery of development is becoming weaker because of the missing link between good governance and international cooperation. He identifies a critical gap between constitutional liberalism and governability as well as between good governance and citizens' rights. He also notes the substantive gap between state obligation and state capacity which should be linked with the relationship between international cooperation and good governance.

Mr. Neupane builds on the presentations of the previous speakers and reiterates that good governance means ensuring respect for human rights and the rule of law as well as respecting the value of democracy which consist of equal participation. He notes that to reach good governance transparency, inclusivity and equity are crucial. Moreover, Mr. Neupane states that good governance relies on consensus, especially in cases of decision-making. In such an event, it is prudent to utilise a bottom-to-top approach. He also mentioned in a nutshell that the fact everything is being politicised, the lack of effective delivery of rights, lack of accountability, lack of guarantee of equity and lack of trust in the political leadership serve as problems for Nepal to ensure good governance. Further, due to the issues in good governance, the employment sector and education sector have also been negatively affected.

Prepared by Yumna Azeez, Intern at NIICE.