Nepal’s new federal system is bringing decision making on public services and economic development closer to the people. This is an opportunity to improve services by matching delivery more closely to local priorities. But Nepal needs to have clear indicators of progress and robust and reliable data so that local, state and federal governments can track progress with development, learn what is working, and make course corrections. Urgent action is needed now to ensure strong data systems are in place. The Sustainable Development Goals could provide the framework to support this.

As political scientist Alexis de Tocqueville said, a federal system “combines the various advantage of large and small size for nations.” Subnational governments are literally closer to the people who elected them, and so able to design policies and services that respond more directly to local priorities. And as governments are closer to their constituents, the constituents are better placed to make a judgement on their performance – and perhaps decide whether to vote for them again, or not.

Nepal is making progress implementing the federal system of government. Travelling around Nepal you see exciting examples of local innovation such as investment in specialist services in response to local health issues, targeted efforts to increase access to education for girls from the most vulnerable communities, or thoughtful planning to try to build resilience to environmental hazards.

However, really good decision making on polices and investments requires really good data at local and state levels. If subnational governments can base their decisions on robust data about the costs per unit of improving maternal mortality or generating economic opportunities, they will be more likely to get the greatest value from every Rupee of tax-payers’ money. Without good data, even the most committed state or local leader will be working with a significant handicap. Voters also will find it harder to judge whether politicians have actually been delivering.

Nepal is a diverse country and there is huge variation in the challenges faced by, and performance of, local governments. Over the coming months and years there is important work to be done to clarify precisely which functions should be delivered by which sphere of government, ensure local and state governments have the capable staff and effective systems that they need to deliver, nurture effective coordination between different governments, and match financial resources with responsibilities.

The government has asked the World Bank and UNDP to carry out a federal needs assessment to map out some of the key challenges. But ultimately Nepal will need to find its own solutions – and in doing so create a form of federalism that works for Nepal. Again, really good real-time data could also play an important role. Robust data about progress against development priorities will make it easier to identify which governments are doing well, speed up lesson learning across governments and ensure that those which are struggling get extra support.

A shared framework of indicators across the country will obviously be essential to help Nepal to track progress against development priorities. The SDGs, agreed by the UN General Assembly in 2015, could provide such an overall delivery framework. 169 targets and a comprehensive set of indicators have been developed through a global process, in order to help measure progress against the 17 SDGs. The internationally agreed SDGs were designed to be broad, covering development priorities from basic health services to justice and from economic development to climate resilience. So, perhaps with careful prioritization, they would provide an excellent framework for Nepal to use to measure progress at local, state and federal level. Most importantly Nepal has already started a process of localizing the SDGs across the country.   

Given the importance of data for successfully implementing the federal system, Nepal needs to invest urgently in really strong federalism-ready data management systems. The role of the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) will be critical to building the trust and legitimacy of the National Statistical System.

The CBS needs to be trusted by federal, provincial and local governments to produce accurate impartial statistics that can inform decision making by all of Nepal’s 761 governments. Nepal cannot afford to waste time and resources in duplication of data collection by different levels of governments, or in disagreements between governments about statistics. It will be crucial that the CBS continues to engage with local and state governments to understand their data demands, interests and capacities.

The forthcoming 2021 census is a particularly important opportunity to build a picture of development needs across federal Nepal. It will be essential that consultations on the census start early and are based on detailed discussions with subnational governments across the country. The CBS needs to start this work now with support from across the political spectrum. A well designed and inclusive census will generate data that drives good decision making and accelerates Nepal’s development, but a poorly designed census risks creating misunderstanding and confusion. 

More articles (Development Advocate 2019)