Effectiveness of citizen charter in public administrative function: A Case study of District Administration Office, Dhading, Nepal

Abstract

In a rapidly changing context where efficiency, effectiveness and competence of state institutions are being questioned, it is imperative for the state agencies to strive for improvement in performance. With the globalization of new techniques of administrative reforms, NPM and good governance agendas have been spread all over the world. John Major's introduction of the Citizen Charter (CC) in 1991 was intended to mark a revolution in the provision of public service delivery in the United Kingdom by promoting the objectives of responsive and accountable governance. CC is regarded as a tool of good governance. The essence of CC was to empower citizens by mentioning their rights, privileges and duties; to make the administration less bureaucratic-dominated and more citizen-led. Hence the service delivery mechanism would be improved through the use of CC. It has attracted international attention as it has resulted in significant improvements in public service delivery in UK. Nepal was also one of those international communities to seek improvement in its public service delivery through introducing CC. After the enactment of Right to Information Act, 2005, people have the right to know what services are available from a particular office, what formalities need to be completed, and what their timeframe is. Improving citizen’s access to such information and their participation in the governance processes would lead to greater accountability and transparency and there will be improvement in service delivery mechanism. This was the reason behind the establishment of CC. The basic foundation of CC spin around the citizen’s right to information and public offices’ basic obligation with regards to delivering transparent governance. So, the government of Nepal has mandated every office to publish it’s “citizens’ charter” and follow it in both letter and spirit through the Governance (Management and Operation) Act, 2005. Many offices have started to do it. The objective of this study was to map whether this so called tool of good governance is successful in its intention. This thesis defines the Charter programme and tries to evaluate its impact in terms of service delivery. The research uses both qualitative and quantitative method for finding out this objective. Both primary and secondary sources of data were used to get comprehensive picture of the reality. The researcher contacted with different participants – DAO officials and Citizens to gather information. Besides, officials’ records, documents and other secondary sources were utilized. Government vision, strategies and targets in terms of improved service delivery through CC to enhance accountability, transparency and responsive behavior seems to be very ideal in case of country like Nepal. Transparency in different procedures to get services through government will ensure the efficient delivery of services. But, even though the charter scheme is made mandatory in every public office, there is a danger that it remain as a paper-exercise only as this study revealed that the complaint mechanism is ineffective. Hence complaint mechanism should be made more effective. However, CC in DAO seems to be very successful creating procedural clarity among the service seekers and helping in improvement in service delivery. From citizen’s perspective, this has been appreciated to a great extent which relieves them from traditional mode of functioning where information was hard to come by and there was no way of knowing in advance about formalities and other requirements in connection with receiving governmental services.