Nepal

Clay Wescott

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G
Focus Area(s)
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7
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Andrew Schalkwyk
Name
Clay Wescott
Interviewee's Position
Visiting Lecturer
Interviewee's Organization
Princeton University
Language
English
Nationality of Interviewee
USA
Place (Building/Street)
Princeton University
Town/City
Princeton, New Jersey
Country
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
Yes
Abstract

Clay Wescott draws on his global experience and talks about civil service reform programs in countries around the world.  He talks about his involvement in such programs in Vietnam, including aspects such as downsizing and the introduction of one-stop shops.  He also recalls the introduction of an effective but contentious computer-based budgeting system in Kenya in the 1980s.  Wescott reflects on the difficulty of reforming a civil service that had been used as a tool of a peace process, such as in Cambodia, where positions were parceled out in order to get different factions to buy into the process.  He also identifies the importance of building reforms to last beyond a current window of opportunity, and of selling a vision of reform that people want to buy into.  He also talks about civil service censuses and outsourcing in Nepal and capacity-building programs in Eritrea, Timor-Leste and Afghanistan.

Case Study:  Policy Leaps and Implementation Obstacles: Civil Service Reform in Vietnam, 1998-2009

Profile

At the time of this interview, Clay Wescott was a visiting lecturer at Princeton University and the principal regional cooperation specialist for the Asian Development Bank.  His work has covered e-government, regional cooperation, governance assessment, civil service reform, public finance, decentralization, citizen participation and combating corruption.  He worked all over the world, including Kenya, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, Ghana, Nepal, Eritrea, Timor-Leste and other countries.  Before joining the ADB, he worked in the governance division of the United Nations Development Programme, assisting countries to formulate and carry out reform programs in Asia and the Pacific, Africa and the Caribbean.  He earned a bachelor's degree in government from Harvard University and a doctorate from Boston University, and he was an editorial board member of the International Public Management Journal and the International Public Management Review.

 

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84.4MB
Full Audio Title
Clay Wesctott- Full Interview

Dwarika Dhungel

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H
Focus Area(s)
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2
Critical Tasks
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Andrew Schalkwyk
Name
Dwarika Dhungel
Interviewee's Position
Senior Researcher
Interviewee's Organization
Institute for Integrated Development Studies
Language
English
Nationality of Interviewee
Nepali
Town/City
Kathmandu
Country
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract

Dwarika Dhungel describes Nepal’s experience with civil service reform as it transitioned from a unitary state ruled by a monarchy to a multi-party parliamentary state evolving toward a decentralized federal system. At the start of this transition, an Administrative Reforms Commission chaired by the prime minister was established. It prepared 116 recommendations to right-size and rationalize the civil service and the organization and functions of government. However, while the commission did its work a large number of civil servants were fired, throwing the reform process into turmoil and the commission chairman resigned. Officials from the political parties then began to politicize the civil service, removing long-time employees and elevating party supporters. At the time of the interview, the Asian Development Bank pressed for some reform and anti-corruption efforts and a new “good governance” law had been enacted, but whether it would be implemented was unknown.  

Profile
At the time of this interview, Dwarika Dhungel was a senior researcher at the Institute for Integrated Development Studies in Kathmandu, Nepal. He served as Head of the Institute from October 2000 to April 2006. He served in the Nepal Administrative Service (NAS) starting in the 1970s rising from junior officer to the rank of Permanent Secretary. In 1991, he sat on the Administrative Reforms Commission to reorganize Nepal’s civil service. Subsequently he served as secretary to the Administrative Reforms Monitoring Committee. He left the NAS in 1998 and served briefly as a consultant to Transparency International and for the Centre for Democracy and Good Governance (CSDG). In 1999, he was a visiting scholar at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, USA.
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Audio file not available.

Bhojraj Pokharel

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ZH
Focus Area(s)
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3
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Rushda Majeed
Name
Bhojraj Pokharel
Interviewee's Position
Chief Elections Commissioner
Interviewee's Organization
Election Commission of Nepal
Language
English
Nationality of Interviewee
Nepal
Town/City
Kathmandu
Country
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract

Bhojraj Pokharel, who served as Chief Election Commissioner of the Election Commission of Nepal between 2006 and 2008, speaks about his experiences in developing procedures for, and overseeing the conduct of, the historic 2008 national elections. Pokharel, who had a long career in public service in Nepal prior to being appointed Chief Election Commissioner, explains in this interview that at the time of his appointment, “there was…nothing in place technically, legally or conceptually.” Only the most basic parameters as to how the elections were to be conducted were set forth in Nepal’s governing constitution; every other detail was left to Pokharel, and Nepal’s government, to resolve. At the time of Pokharel’s appointment, the constitutionally-mandated election day was only months away and the challenges were enormous. For example,  before any planning could occur, an interim parliament had to pass laws giving basic guidance as to election procedures. Yet the political leaders were unable to reach timely agreements on important points in the legislation. Also immediate, and critical, was the need to bring the Maoists, who had been actively involved in civil strife for the previous ten years and who had never before been involved in conventional politics, into the election process. Pokharel managed to persuade the Maoists to participate fully in the election process, and to stay involved through a host of challenges that, at many points, threatened to make any sort of representative election impossible. Next, the methodology of preparing voter lists had to be decided upon, and eligibility determined. Staff willing to work in remote, strife-torn areas had to be found and trained, and their security assured. Ballot forms and voter education materials had to be developed and printed. Once printed, these materials had to be disseminated, so reliable means of transporting them to, and ensuring their integrity in, remote, strife-torn areas and areas that lacked electricity, transport, and other essentials had to be arranged. Pokharel describes his frustrations as these challenges prevented the conduct of the election on the first, constitutionally-mandated date in June 2007, and as still more challenges forced another postponement of the rescheduled date in November of that year. At one point, he recalls, he actually prepared his resignation, though ultimately he chose to withdraw it. Finally, he describes his pride, and the pride of the Nepalese people, as the election ultimately occurs in 2008, in an atmosphere largely free of violence and other disruptions.

Case Study: Managing the Political and Practical: Nepal's Constituent Assembly Elections, 2006-2008

Profile

Bhojraj Pokharel was the Chief Election Commissioner of the Election Commission of Nepal between 2006 and 2008. In this capacity, he developed procedures for, and oversaw the conduct of, the historic 2008 elections for the national Constituent Assembly. Prior to becoming Chief Election Commissioner, he held various government posts including at Nepal’s ministries of health, home affairs and local government. After the votes were counted, Pokharel resigned his position and pursued graduate study at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In 2010, the Secretary-General of the United Nations appointed Pokharel to a panel charged with monitoring self-determination referenda for Southern Sudan and the Abyei area, making Pokharel the first Nepali to hold such a high ranking position for the United Nations.

Full Audio Title
Audio Available Upon Request

Managing the Political and Practical: Nepal's Constituent Assembly Elections, 2006-2008

Author
Michael Scharff
Focus Area(s)
Country of Reform
Abstract
Appointed chairman of Nepal’s Election Commission in October 2006, Bhojraj Pokharel faced an uphill battle. One month after his appointment, a peace agreement between major political parties and Maoist rebels ended a 10-year conflict and set the stage for elections to a Constituent Assembly that would write a new constitution. An interim government would choose a new electoral system and set the rules for the contest. With the Maoists threatening to resume hostilities if the elections did not take place on schedule, Pokharel, a former civil servant with no previous experience managing elections, had to work quickly. His main goal was to ensure the elections were maximally inclusive, free of fraud and peaceful so as to avoid giving the parties reason to pull out of the electoral process or boycott the results and send the country back into chaos. Pokharel worked closely with the interim government, providing valuable information and counsel on electoral rules and requirements. He oversaw the updating of voter lists, hired poll workers and helped assemble a special police service. Political squabbling forced the commission to delay the elections twice, yet as the chief architect of the process, Pokharel managed to keep the parties engaged. In April 2008, Nepalese citizens finally went to the polls. Although there was violence during the campaign period and on election day, as well as reports of voting irregularities, the election strengthened the fragile peace. The Maoists joined the government, and democratically elected representatives began the difficult task of drawing up a new constitution. In 2012, the peace continued to hold even though persistent disagreements in the Constituent Assembly had stymied efforts to produce a constitution.
 
Michael Scharff drafted this case study based on interviews conducted in Kathmandu, Nepal, in December 2010 and using an interview conducted by Rushda Majeed in July 2011. Case published in June 2012. Most ISS case studies rest on large numbers of interviews. This case study was informed in large part by an interview with Bhojraj Pokharel, who served as chief election commissioner of the Election Commission of Nepal from 2006 to 2008.
 
Associated Interview(s):  Neel Kantha Uprety