THE key element in democracy is to ensure the views and aspirations of the people are adequately reflected in policies undertaken by the state. This will ensure due reflection of people’s will and preferences in matters of national interests. Accordingly, governments in several democracies implement mandate received from people through their respective national policies and work programmes. These should be well catered to reflect national interests. However, to make things work better, there is need for broadened participation of citizens and community as a whole in policy formulation and decision making.
Experience of ministries and agencies, former parliamentary standing committees and even cabinet committees manifests conventional approaches that had neither sufficient scope nor opportunities to verify and solicit citizens views. As a result, community interests were relegated to the backseat and kept outside the mainstream of key decisions. Given the need to address implementation issues and challenges faced by ministries and key agencies, additional mechanism for feedback by citizens should be attached priority. Views of stakeholders remain critically important for enhanced impact and effectiveness.
Most of the people, both in urban and rural areas, are marginalised and find it difficult to have their voices heard. Therefore, they are unable to get due benefits from services and facilities offered by the state. Complex rules and procedures, irrelevant regulations, coordination gaps and deficient implementation mechanism further aggravates alienation and deprivation. This weakens delivery mechanisms and impedes feedback obtaining people’s views and comments, and limits meaningful engagement.
Keeping the above in view, citizen’s consultative committees are proposed for the ministries as well as key constitutional institutions. This is suggested with a view to giving all citizens, including relevant experts, as well as professional and community representatives to give policy and advisory support for ministries and key agencies.
The major objectives of the proposed consultative committees include scrutiny, dissemination and review of views, information and insights, on strategic national policy thrusts as well as programmes on economic and social development undertaken by the government; feedback of citizens and community as a whole, on the objectives, nature, mode and impact of major public policy initiatives and decisions for every sector social and economic development; general advise and expert opinion on complex issues and challenges and review probable solutions, for consideration of the government; a platform for an effective participation of professionals with expertise in different segments. This is aimed at strengthening transparency and accountability; strong monitoring, surveillance and evaluation tools and mechanisms; and effective business continuity plan to cushion adverse impacts of internal and external disruptions and shocks.
The consultative committees may have specific roles that would enable them to represent citizens from different professions and people as a whole to support and give feedback for improvements. In this context the following objectives and roles should be highly relevant and useful.
— to strengthen substantive operational dialogue, coordination and collaboration between policy makers and implementing teams with the community, including stakeholders, in overall national interests;
— to address deficiencies and undertaking corrective measures to fix systemic failures;
— to facilitate impact assessments on government’s services delivery to obtain solutions and fix existing problems;
— to promote people’s roles and engagement in rural and urban projects so that poverty, inequality and deprivation issues could be addressed and solved; and
— to bridge coordination gaps in order to foster improved communication and dissemination of knowledge and information.
As regards structure and composition of citizens consultative committees, it is proposed every ministry should have 10 members in the committee. The members should be selected by the government with support from the private sector and professional organizations. The committees should have specific and focused terms of reference. The selection process for these committees should be based on some key factors, eg expression of interest, eligibility based on required knowledge, expertise, skills and competencies in specific areas and representing different professions and stakeholders.
The terms of reference should relate to opportunities for supporting efficient implementation of programmes undertaken in different sectors of the economic and social development of the country. The tenure of the proposed citizens consultative committees should be fixed at two years and no member of the committees can serve for more than two terms, eg four years. The focus should be given on professional role and standing, integrity and contribution to society.
Roles of the proposed committees should be limited to advisory tasks and giving views, feedback on key policy issues and programmes of the government. The committees will have no other formal mandate beyond their consultative and advisory responsibilities. The committees will have quarterly meetings with the ministries, in which the ministers, secretaries, other senior officials of the ministries and heads of statutory and autonomous bodies, will participate. However, the government will make final decision on the implementation of committee recommendations. The committees will also liaise with the private sector, professional institutions, non-governmental organisations and representatives of civil society organisations, as required.
In course of the consultations, it should be ensured that there is no breach of confidentiality, with specific guidelines for due diligence, disclosure and transparency. There should be clear provisions to ensure that there is no conflict of interests.
The proposed committees will essentially operate based on 360-degree feedback and the flow of communications between all concerned to ensure that core objectives are duly achieved and programmes implemented accordingly. The committees will also give suggestions on cost-effectiveness, minimising disruption in project and program implementation and highlight matters of public interests.
Despite some constraints and challenges, the proposed committees could be a viable and effective platform for promoting meaningful community access and effective people’s engagement in government policy and implementation mechanisms. The committees should be given access to specific levels of information that is required for them to discharge their responsibilities. The ministries and departments concerned should extend cooperation to the committee members in this regard. The committees will not be eligible to benefits or privileges from the state. Due accountability and transparency provisions will make the consultative process more effective and credible in the overall interest of the country and people.
The committees should result in the empowerment of citizens through increased awareness, understanding and participatory provisions. This could bear significant impact on bridging gaps between the policy-makers and people. The committees should also enable citizens to give their views on matters pertaining to upholding and highlighting national interests, not only on important and urgent domestic policy issues but also on bilateral and multilateral development partnership as well as in conducting external relations. Overall, the committees will significantly contribute to strengthening our economic and social progress and help promote our national interests.
Dr Mohammed Parvez Imdad ([email protected]), lead economic adviser, senior consultant and policy analyst, worked with the government and international development institutions for several years.
