“Countering Kleptocracy in Nepal: A Leadership Circle MeetUp” was a dialogue series organized by the Accountability Lab Nepal (ALN) in early 2023 to bring more than 300 changemakers within and outside government together to discuss Nepal’s kleptocratic nexus, its impacts, and possible dekleptification measures. It brought the anti-corruption leaders from civil society, media, and government together to brainstorm ideas and foster collaborations to generate new discourses for systemic change. ALN hosted 6 workshops over the period of 3 months with changemakers working across different locations and sectors to dig deeper into how their respective regions and sectors are impacted through this nexus.

The important role of the private sector in the economic transformation of the country is well established among local governments in Nepal. However, there are reservations from a section of the private sector about the prospective role that should be played by the government. Barriers to trade, especially non-trade-related barriers, are increasing in Lumbini province. Due to the lack of institutionalized channels of communication between the government and the private sector, these barriers have not been addressed. One of the most prominent barriers is related to ways to address the conflict between businesses and their neighbors. This issue is largely understood as issue related to industry relocation. The practice of establishing businesses in residential locations has created a conflict between the business units and local citizens who share land boundaries with the businesses. Local people have to live with the nuisance value in terms of noise pollution, traffic congestion, waste, etc. created by the establishment of the business on the one hand. On the other hand, local people have also benefited from an increase in the price of land, and house rent in their locations because of the establishment of the businesses. There is no specific government policy to deal with these issues and businesses are using extralegal measures to deal with the issue. The small business owners are forced to make financial contributions to community events, help build or repair roads and help construct temples, bus stops/stands, and other small community infrastructure. The government response to this issue is limited to establishing Industrial areas and trying to shift all businesses within these areas.

The increase in conflict between businesses and neighbors is not healthy for the businesses and citizens also. An effective way to address this problem is through a dialogue between the businesses and local citizens at the leadership of the government. One of the ways the government can address the issue is by maintaining strict criteria and term limits for businesses to take from neighbors before starting a business. It is high time for local governments to categorize their land use and also categorize existing businesses to enable a phase while relocation plan for businesses. Government should designate areas for businesses according to their potential effect on public life. In designated areas only, businesses should be allowed to operate by taking permission from the neighbors for a fixed period of time. This effort of the government must be seconded by the establishment of industrial/ business zones for industries. There is a need for devising scientific mechanisms to assess the negative effect of the business operation in terms of creating public inconvenience. Periodic inspection of the effect of businesses on public life can be done by institutionalizing an auditing framework for environmental safeguards, waste management, and other public nuisance created by the presence of the businesses. Relocation should be mandatory for such businesses which have created hazards to public life. Governments must support businesses to relocate with certain waivers in taxes or financial support for relocations. Overall local governments must devise a policy for relocation such that businesses do not lose their competitiveness upon relocation. Businesses must also be allowed to operate on the premises after having taken permission from neighbors for a fixed period of time.

Province 1 contributes to about 15% of the national GDP. As the economic potential of the province is quite high, it is imperative for the stakeholders from the public and private sectors to collaborate for increased economic development. Federalization has further contributed to an increase in economic activities which in turn, also increases government spending in the province. However, raising taxes to sustain the growing administrative expenses mandated by the current federal structure is a challenge. So, one of the focuses of the provincial government has been to switch to public-private cooperative partnership (PPCP) models. The provincial government has also been encouraging the local governments to forge public-private partnerships by regularly allocating budgets to the local governments in the form of conditional fiscal transfer for forming PPP initiatives. Yet, there is a big gap between the pace at which PPP projects are being planned and executed. The environment for investment remains uncertain as the province continues to lose its industries to other provinces. Furthermore, challenges of institutional capacity and integrity, lack of project preparation, underrepresentation of citizens, and generating interest from the private sector to invest still rest.

The public sector should continue taking the lead in developing sustainable and resilient infrastructure to support economic development and human well-being. But the real advantage of such development projects can be availed by using the PPP modality in the provision of infrastructure through additional funding, more efficient management, and better public services. These partnerships, however, face considerable risks and challenges.

For proper implementation of PPP projects by empowering the public and the private sectors, creating an enabling environment to foster collaboration is imminent. There can be seen an important role of partnership between the public and the private sectors for realizing the goals of Fiscal Federalism. For this, continual dialogue between the stakeholders as a means to bridge the trust and information gap between the two parties, while developing institutional capacity and integrity is required. There can also be seen a need to develop tools to help the government monitor and evaluate ongoing PPP projects to better incentivize good behavior within and outside the government, as well as to prosecute illicit activities that hamper the partnership.

Public-Private Partnership Dialogue (PPPD) case study provides multifaceted insights from the perspectives of different stakeholders within the Sub-National Government, business communities, and civil societies in order to foster partnership. Public-Private Partnership Dialogues (PPPD) provide ways to solve eminent problems based on the perspective of the actors involved in the dialogue. The paper examines how stakeholders practice open dialogue, co-create opportunities and build common action in implementing local as well as national level issues related to ensuring Public-Private Partnership in addressing developmental and governance-related issues in Nepal. The practice of PPD forms the core of the efforts of Accountability Lab in promoting democracy, fair business, and responsible leadership within the framework of federalization. Given that Nepal is undergoing local governance reform, it is key to ensure support for transparent business at the local level since its design stage. This paper is a result of a series of stakeholder mapping, measurement, and assessment of existing interest and willingness among local businesses to possible reforms; the parameters for possible PPPs; and the critical need for community engagement in the monitoring of these projects.

Governance in the subnational context is going to be decisive in determining the success of the Public-Private Partnership in Nepal. One of the critical areas for partnership among the public and private sectors is the mechanism for Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects. Following the federalization, PPP is equally crucial in easing out the government that is burdened with federalization execution challenges. In the context of Biratnagar Metropolitan City, key reform priorities are needed for the effective implementation of these projects in collaboration with provincial and local governments. The PPP Project will require keen interest and need to be the priority of the sub-national governments to invest in these projects. And to get a better deal from such PPP projects, the local government will need to analyze risks properly and emphasize the project’s sustainability as well as include local participation in the decision making.

Local governments have resorted to using the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model to meet the gaps in financing and management in infrastructure development in Nepal. The governance mechanisms set for PPP determine the quality of partnership in infrastructure development between the public and private sectors. This position paper inquiries into the practices of operationalizing PPP by local governments in Nepal. The paper adopts an explorative research design. Most of the data were collected through qualitative methods such as mini-meetings with stakeholders, in-depth interviews with municipal officials and leaders of the association of private sectors and citizens who were affected by the selected PPP projects, and a Public-Private Dialogue (PPD).

This process revealed that there are opportunities for local governments to broaden the avenues of participation of private sectors in PPP projects by addressing their concerns in areas of project identification, project selection, and project prioritization. It is vital to gain trust from all sectors. There is an urgent need to broaden the avenues of participation for the private sector in PPP mechanism decision-making platforms. Likewise, concerns of affected populations and general citizens should be given institutional representation while deciding whether to list any projects as potential PPP projects. Adoption of the principle of transparency, open government, collaboration among parties, suitable feedback mechanisms, and building trust with affected populations are keys to ensuring the sustainability of any PPP project. Ensuring decisions of the municipality are taken based on citizen feedback will definitely reduce disputes and increase trust between the private sector and the municipality. The governance of the PPP process should be approached from a citizen-centric perspective; it should not only be treated from a mere legal and technical point of view. The position paper recommends what course of action local governments must take to ensure that the private sector is involved in PPP projects and make the governance of PPP projects effective.

Learning from major emergencies demonstrates the critical importance of two-way communication between communities and responders. By listening to people’s needs, opinions, suggestions and complaints, governments can adapt their responses to specific circumstances and concerns. Although challenging during an emergency response, enabling local populations to have a say in critical aid decisions increases the population’s ability to be stronger and more resilient after the crisis. The Accountability Lab is collecting feedback from communities in Nepal and providing substantive analysis of this information to better understand how communities feel about the government’s response to this crisis and to help support more informed decision-making.

In order to measure the effectiveness of the Fiscal Transparent Ecosystem Program, conducted by the Accountability Lab Nepal in association with BAS and the support from the American Embassy in the 12 wards of Nepalgunj Sub-metropolitan city, a baseline survey was conducted for 10 days from 14th November 2018 to 23rd November 2018. Similarly, an end-line survey was also conducted from 15th September 2019 to 24th September 2019 for another 10 days. In both of these surveys, 500 respondents were randomly selected from all 12 wards.

The purpose of this survey was to gather data on returnee migrants, more specifically; on their perceptions and experience of the overall process of migration (from initial recruitment to return). We also gathered data on returnee migrants awareness of local government support services in general,and central governments migrant-specific services. This will allow us to provide the local government units with direct feedback from returnee migrants and for us to make recommendations for them to improve their service delivery for migrants. The questions related to both local and central government services are important in the ongoing decentralization phase, as we really want to push migration as an area within the remit of local government, not just of central government.

Following the first round of surveys on migration, we conducted the second round of surveys over the past four months to analyze the development and changes in migration trends. The findings from our last survey suggested the majority of migration issues stem from lack of information about the process, weak policies to hold labor agencies accountable, and limited government capacity to respond to migration-related challenges. However, this survey suggests policies fail to  hold labor agencies accountable.

After surveying 400 respondents, including returnees, migrant workers, and family members, 64% of the returnees stated that they would want to start their own business in Nepal. However, 35% of migrant workers were found to be opting for foreign employment after completing only secondary level education. This has led to increased vulnerability of migrant workers. Findings from the survey demand an immediate call for a peremptory step from the national level to mitigate appalling migration-related challenges that is growing day by day.

Citizen Helpdesk is Cited as the best Case on Closing the Feedback Loop After Earthquake in Nepal.

This document was developed as part of a collaborative learning project directed by CDA. It is part
of a collection of documents that should be considered initial and partial findings of the project.
These documents are written to allow for the identification of cross-cutting issues and themes across
a range of situations. Each case represents the views and perspectives of a variety of people at the
time when it was written.

We carried out a survey around migration accountability in four of the most earthquake affected districts of Nepal over the past three months. From the survey, we discovered that many of the worst problems related to migration stem from a lack of information about the process, weak policies to hold labor agencies accountable and limited government capacity to respond to migration-related challenges.

The primary purpose of the survey is to gather and communicate the voices and opinions of the migrant community and synthesize their feedback in an organized way so that the government, civil society and media can work to ensure a more humane, safe and accountable migration process for Nepalis.