Symposium 2022
National Governance Symposium 2022 Highlights
Stakeholders from public policy and governance sectors joined forces to discuss new dimensions of local governance innovation at the event. The 2-day symposium themed “Promoting Innovation in Local Governance for Inclusive Economic Development of Nepal” held in Kathmandu brought together more than 300 relevant stakeholders from government, private sector, civil society, and international scholars and development agencies.
On the first day, 11 municipalities from six provinces of Nepal shared their public innovations, key lessons and scale-up opportunities and on the second day, national stakeholders deliberated on ways to institutionalize the learning from the first day and scale up policy impact. The Symposium concluded with the Kathmandu Declaration for Collective Action which highlights ‘Inclusion, Innovation, Local Governance and Economic Development’ as the four core commitment areas. The Chairperson of Governance Lab, Dr. Pukar Malla made the declaration public.
Stakeholders from public policy and governance sectors joined forces to discuss new dimensions of local governance innovation at the event. The 2-day symposium themed “Promoting Innovation in Local Governance for Inclusive Economic Development of Nepal” held in Kathmandu brought together more than 300 relevant stakeholders from government, private sector, civil society, and international scholars and development agencies.
On the first day, 11 municipalities from six provinces of Nepal shared their public innovations, key lessons and scale-up opportunities and on the second day, national stakeholders deliberated on ways to institutionalize the learning from the first day and scale up policy impact. The Symposium concluded with the Kathmandu Declaration for Collective Action which highlights ‘Inclusion, Innovation, Local Governance and Economic Development’ as the four core commitment areas. The Chairperson of Governance Lab, Dr. Pukar Malla made the declaration public.
The Symposium brought together Secretaries from various relevant Ministries as speakers on various Case Sessions, Governance Dialogues, Knowledge Seminars and Keynotes. Mr. Madhu Marasini, Secretary, Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers made his special remarks on day one. Likewise, Mr. Kewal Bhandari, Secretary, National Planning Commission, Mr. Baikuntha Aryal, Secretary, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology and Dr. Toya Narayan Gyawali, Secretary, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies chaired various sessions.
Dr. Andrew Long, Head of Governance, Politics & Services, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, British Embassy, Kathmandu and Mr. Ramesh Adhikari, Election, Legislative and Political Processes Specialist, Democracy and Governance Office, USAID Nepal also made their special remarks.
Similarly, day two witnessed a seminar on ‘Building Gender Sensitivity in Government Institutions’ and various dialogue sessions, where international experts and scholars like Prof. Soledad Prillaman, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Stanford University and Prof. Ben Berger, Associate Professor of Political Science and Executive Director, Lang Center for Civic & Social Responsibility, Swarthmore College joined virtually as keynote speakers.
The National Governance Symposium 2022 was organized by Governance Lab in collaboration with Daayitwa and Nepal Leadership Academy as organizing partners with support from the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, National Planning Commission and Municipal Association of Nepal as the Government Partners, and Economic Policy Incubator Program (Palladium and FCDO), Nepal Urban Resilience Program (ICF and BEK/FCDO) and Sub National Governance Program (The Asia Foundation and DFAT) as Knowledge Partners, and Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility at Swarthmore College and Public Affairs Section at US Embassy as Financial Partners, with the objective to share innovative practices of local governments, to discuss ways to bolster the local governance system and to strengthen the networking among stakeholders working in public policy and governance.
Mr. Trilochan Pokharel, Nepal Administrative Staff College chaired the session on ‘Adaptive Multi-Stakeholder Management for Local Economic Growth’ where Musikot, Sunwal, Tilottama municipalities shared their experiences through municipality presentations, and Ms. Salina Bhattarai, Governance and Research Coordinator, Governance Lab and Ms. Binda Magar, Policy Advisor (Governance) and Assistant Resident Representative (Programme) were the facilitator and discussant.
Mr. Kewal Bhandari, Secretary, National Planning Commission chaired the session on ‘Public Private Partnership’ where representatives from Tansen, Tilottama and Waling municipalities shared their experiences through municipality presentations, and Mr. Keshav Acharya, Manager, Institutional Strengthening, EPI and Ms. Sirjana Ale, Economist, Nepal Urban Resilience Project, BEK-FCDO were the facilitator and discussant.
Mr. Baikuntha Aryal, Secretary, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology chaired the session on ‘Green, Resilient and Inclusive Development’ where Butwal, Janakpurdham and Pokhara municipalities shared their experiences through municipality presentations, and Dr. Ajay Chandra Lal, Built Environment Expert, NURP and Ms. Shilshila Acharya, Environmentalist and Director of Avni Ventures were the facilitator and discussant.
Dr. Toya Narayan Gyawali, Secretary, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies chaired the session on Inclusive ‘Policy Making for Local Economic Development’ where Bhimeshwar, Birendranagar and Tikapur municipalities shared their experiences through municipality presentations, and Mr. Bishnu Adhikari, Governance Director, The Asia Foundation and Dr. Kalpana Khanal, Senior Research Fellow and Head, Center for Economics and Infrastructure Policy Research, Policy Research Institute were the facilitator and discussant.
Mr. Trilochan Pokharel, Nepal Administrative Staff College chaired the session on ‘Adaptive Multi-Stakeholder Management for Local Economic Growth’ where Musikot, Sunwal, Tilottama municipalities shared their experiences through municipality presentations, and Ms. Salina Bhattarai, Governance and Research Coordinator, Governance Lab and Ms. Binda Magar, Policy Advisor (Governance) and Assistant Resident Representative (Programme) were the facilitator and discussant.
Mr. Kewal Bhandari, Secretary, National Planning Commission chaired the session on ‘Public Private Partnership’ where representatives from Tansen, Tilottama and Waling municipalities shared their experiences through municipality presentations, and Mr. Keshav Acharya, Manager, Institutional Strengthening, EPI and Ms. Sirjana Ale, Economist, Nepal Urban Resilience Project, BEK-FCDO were the facilitator and discussant.
Mr. Baikuntha Aryal, Secretary, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology chaired the session on ‘Green, Resilient and Inclusive Development’ where Butwal, Janakpurdham and Pokhara municipalities shared their experiences through municipality presentations, and Dr. Ajay Chandra Lal, Built Environment Expert, NURP and Ms. Shilshila Acharya, Environmentalist and Director of Avni Ventures were the facilitator and discussant.
Dr. Toya Narayan Gyawali, Secretary, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies chaired the session on Inclusive ‘Policy Making for Local Economic Development’ where Bhimeshwar, Birendranagar and Tikapur municipalities shared their experiences through municipality presentations, and Mr. Bishnu Adhikari, Governance Director, The Asia Foundation and Dr. Kalpana Khanal, Senior Research Fellow and Head, Center for Economics and Infrastructure Policy Research, Policy Research Institute were the facilitator and discussant.
Local Political Representatives from participating municipalities across 6 provinces (Birendranagar, Bhimeshwar, Butwal, Janakpurdham, Musikot, Nilkantha, Pokhara, Sunwal, Tansen, Tilottama, Tikapur, and Waling).
