LocationsIn The Spotlight
After digitization people have started to feel ‘local government is at my home’
March 22, 2024
Ever since a new federal set up was adopted in 2015 the Government of Nepal has been working to leverage technology to improve service delivery, strengthen local governments and implement federalism in line with the spirit of 2015’s Constitution. To assist the government's digitization campaign the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development has been implementing the flagship Provincial and Local Governance Support Program (PLGSP), a multi-donor project, which supports provincial and local governments to improve good governance and service delivery. The project aims to support coordination among three tiers of government.
As part of digitizing service delivery, all 753 local governments and seven provinces are now capacitated to use informational technology as a tool.
Rajapur Municipality is one among hundreds of local governments heading towards digital governance. In an interview early this week, Mankala Kumari Chaudhary, Deputy Mayor of Rajapur Municipality, shared insights on how Rajapur municipality is enhancing the use of technology to ease service delivery and good governance.
How is Information Technology helping Rajapur Municipality if you are using it to enhance service delivery and ensure transparency?
The municipality is using information technology for good governance. Technology has helped us in many ways. It promotes good governance, makes service delivery faster, easier and more efficient. In other words, people can pay revenue in a click even if they are staying at home. That saves time. Also, there’s no possibility of revenue leakage and bribery. The system itself tracks everything. Revenue is not given to anyone. This way, it has improved governance in Rajapur and other places wherever they are using information technology.
For example, Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHV) are working in this municipality. They are responsible for helping pregnant women and new mothers. FCHVs collect details of pregnant women in their areas, track health conditions as per pregnancy time and send mobile SMS to remind them accordingly. Those SMS remind them of regular health check-up dates and advice for betterment of pregnant women, babies and new mothers. While doing so, FCHV shouldn’t conduct door to door campaigns to remind them for health checkups. Technology is closely linked with service delivery and good governance.
From now onward, we are focusing on preparing a household profile. When the profile gets readied, it will show entire household details such as properties, household population and their economic status. Locals will be able to update their status on their own. For example, a child is born in my family. I can update the birth details on my own. You can also remove the name list of the deceased once obtaining a death certificate. I can apply for a death certificate while staying at home. I can upload the same death certificate in the application filed for removal of deceased details and the municipality can approve digitally even if I don’t go to the municipality. In that scenario, we shouldn’t even conduct a census.
We are in the process of finalizing the household digital profile and include all those vital registrations related information into that digital system. What I’m trying to say is that if we digitize our service delivery system, that ensures good governance, eases service, makes it faster and more efficient. For people that’s a kind of concession in service delivery. After we started to digitize service delivery people have started to feel that ‘local government is in my home’. The government is in their devices that they are using.
What are the other areas where Rajapur municipality is using information technology to improve its governance system?
We have used information technology in the area of disaster risk reduction and education sectors. You saw how schools are equipped with smart boards and digital course contents. Both teachers and school students are enjoying the new learning environment. Children have got an opportunity to learn digitally. Digitally created contents are uploaded as syllables and teachers use smartboard to teach them. We procured and handed over digital boards to three schools of Bardiya—Pakku Secondary School, Kalika Secondary School and Bheri Secondary School—as a pilot project. The municipality provided them Rs 1.8 million to procure digital boards, computers and train teachers with digital pedagogy. It’s been one and half years since we started school digitization programs. Now, the demand for digital boards is high. Pakku and Kalika Secondary schools are top government schools in Bardiya in terms of their performance in academic excellence and extracurricular competitions. Rajapur Municipality has ensured free education till 12th grade.
Digital boards have eased children to learn more effectively. Students are quite interested to learn wherever digital boards are used for teaching purposes. Smart teaching is a focused teaching method where children can use the internet whenever they are confused or couldn’t get expected details. That’s why digital boards have improved the academic excellence of schools. There’s no need to use chalk and dirty black boards.
We have announced book free day on the last day of the month. On that day, children go to school without books, use computers and learn about their culture. Although we have not printed the local textbook, the local contents are ready as per syllables. The same contents are available and the same content is used to make children aware about their culture.
Do you want to expand digital board schemes?
Yes. That's our plan. The demand for digital boards is high. So, we want to replicate it in other schools as well.
The use of information technology is considered important for transparency. Are you also using this information technology to ensure transparency in collecting revenue and other banking transactions?
We are following e-bidding to award development projects to any contractors. While collecting revenue, payers go to the ward offices and deposit the cash to the municipality's office. Likewise, information technology is used to register business firms worth Rs 500,000.
Preparing a household profile will be another milestone task for us. We are trying to prepare a household profile so that the service seekers will be able to settle any issues related to municipality staying at their home. Currently, government offices such as Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), deploys its employees to dispatch electricity tariff bills. That’s a kind of door-to-door service. The service seekers need to go to the electricity office to settle bills once a bill is dropped at their doorstep. It’s a lengthy and time taking process. So, we are planning to develop a housing profile so that the electricity office will send bills digitally and the service seekers could settle all of their bills online.
We are developing an integrated IT system. Once the system is in place service seekers can register applications online and the municipal officials can go through those documents to check whether they are required documents and send them back to them instantly. As our IT officer explained to us earlier, we are close to issuing a public call to develop an integrated IT system. There’s no possibility of corruption when cashless transactions. Once the system is in place you can pay land revenue tax and income tax by using your own mobile.
Can service seekers pay revenue online?
We are working hard to make that possible. We have already started the process. A few bureaucratic works need to be done to benign fully digital service.
What else have you been doing to connect local people with technology?
Information technology is used in tackling disaster risks as well. We have installed a digital board directly connected with the home ministry, province government and district administration office. If we have to issue warnings related to disaster, we can notify all bodies concerned in a single message. Then, they respond to us, we instantly prepare a rescuers deployment plan accordingly. Focal persons equipped with mobile applications send SMS to them instructing them to stay prepared or deploy to the ground for rescue. Based on the increased floods level we keep sending messages to focal persons and they disseminate information to locals. If water level crosses 10 they begin to take out needy essentials and move to safer places.
Has this been effective in saving people’s lives in disasters?
Yes. It’s been really effective. I've been working as deputy mayor for seven years. Not a single person has died in floods since I took charge of office. It’s because we have used IT in disaster preparedness systems. Apart from this, we have constructed machans to keep logistics, food stuffs and clothes safe during the floods. Safer locations are identified and locals are informed in that way so that people in the risk zone can move to those areas.
If we are not wrong you have already prepared a plan to ensure inclusion of marginalized people. Has IT helped to implement inclusive policies?
We have a plan for gender equality and social inclusion (GESI). GESI plans are being audited periodically. Under this scheme, we plan separate programs for Dalit, disabled, single women, conflict victims and other disadvantaged groups. Programs designated for these communities’ ranges from training to infrastructure development. For example, if there’s a Dalit settlement, we try to connect their villages with road facilities. Then, we discuss with them to get a sense about their priorities and act accordingly.
We recently held a discussion with the Badi community. At the meeting, they demanded financial support from the municipality to discontinue centuries-old prostitution. We supported them to run the shop as per their demand. Now, they have started small groceries. Conflict victims keep complaining about their difficulties despite working for a decade in war. Some families are really facing economic pressure. We trained conflict victims for a week and provided Rs 1000,000 as grants to each household. They have used the grant for buffalo keeping.
How’s your performance in other development indicators?
This year, we secured 80.75 in the Government's assessment, which we call Local Government Institutional Self-Assessment (LISA) scoring. This is considered a good performance. All performance related to GESI and IT are evaluated while scoring. I think we failed to secure the remaining 20 percent as we couldn’t show evidence. Otherwise, we are excellent in terms of performing responsibilities.
As you mentioned, relations among the three governments are good. What other measures should be taken to improve relations further in days to come?
All federal, provincial and local governments need to coordinate before formulating law as enacting conflicting law is not legally acceptable. As per federal principles federal government is responsible for promulgating the law, then in that line, provinces and we local governments should draft laws. But then because we wanted to move fast, we promulgated a law and ensured free education until 12th grade before even federal and provincial laws were promulgated. Our education law therefore contradicted the old national law so it’s now on hold. So, I think, there should be coordination among all three level governments.
Next, we should also coordinate with the federal and provincial governments while formulating plans. What I think is that the federal parliament should endorse only projects worth above Rs 30,000,000 if some projects are to be built in local government. The provincial government should endorse projects worth above Rs 10,000,000 to Rs 20, 000,000 so that local governments can handle small projects in provinces. Then only, local governments should approve programs less than Rs. 10,000.000. We are holding discussion this way thinking this will avoid duplication and federal and provincial governments would enjoy due respect. This is what we want.
Local government cannot arrange a budget for mega projects. Given that context, the federal government covers up to 70 percent and the rest of the government is managed by the local government. This concept helps to ensure ownership of local government and recognition of the federal government. If the provincial government also agrees to match funds, it should allocate 40 percent of the total budget and the rest can be managed by the local government.
All three governments can monitor the project. Also, ownership lies on all three local governments. This helps make implementation of federalism a success. Match funding is continuing. This should be continued. It’s our stance.
In terms of collecting revenue from sand and pebble collection, the provincial government promulgates the constitution and the municipality executes it. The municipality takes 60 percent of the total income and 40 percent goes to the provincial government. What we believe is the share of revenue given to the provincial government is not fair. The royalty we allocate for the provincial government should ultimately be allocated for local governments as well. We don’t complain with the province if it’s an issue of single rights but when the issue of common rights comes, the local government should enjoy the right to claim a significant chunk for local government. Because the local government works hard for revenue collection.
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