Governance Concern
Effectiveness of policy formulations in Bangladesh
Muntasar Ali
The Constitution of Bangladesh stresses on policy formulation for public welfare. The fundamental Principles of State Policy (from Article 8-25) contains the economic vision of the state forming the governing basis of the country. In practice, the particular office or Ministry takes initiative and formulates policy according to the desire of the donor agencies/investors or interested groups. Now a day, the officials define areas and take initiatives to make policy from the experiences they gather from foreign study tours. On the other hand the political demand should prioritize policies. The civil society, media, particular group of people or agencies demand also play important role in policy formulations. It seems that policy is imposed from top to down. The elite or high officials formulate policies depending on the old provisions, then the inter-ministerial meeting approves it for placement before the cabinet. Without involvement of the stake holders or beneficiary, it is difficult to implement the policy properly. Reports of various commissions, different enquiry bodies' reports could help for better policy formulation. There are various national and international non-governmental/private agencies working in Bangladesh and foreign aid group, different pressure group i.e. media, industrialist, civil society, labour union etc. are active regarding adoption of proper policies. The political and economic condition, trade and commerce are also related to make policy. Above all, wider people's participation is very significant in the policy making process.
Government of Bangladesh usually follows previous policy and extends its activities with incremental changes. It does not have any institutional output as it does not provide linkages between institutional arrangement and public policies. Process model is partially followed by policy makers in Bangladesh. The cabinet passed the policies but it is not proceed over the legislation. The policy making process in here still follows the top-down process. The systems are closed and have little participation of stakeholders. Maximum time it's driven by the donors or interested groups and too ambitious that it is tough to implement.
Now a day, government / different NGOs initiated to issue open draft paper for public opinion on website, arranging meeting, seminar and workshops among stakeholders. In case of revision of the Labour Act 2006, for example, the concerned ministry published advertisement in news paper (a few months back) and requested different professionals / organizations to provide feedback.
To make better policy in Bangladesh it should be participatory so that people can be made more aware about policy implementation and consequences. Policy makers should consult with stakeholders and justify their opinions before they further go. The local situation such as metro-logical, geographical, environment laws should be justified and public demand should also be considered. The local government should be strengthened and given more power to advance their own policies. Every policy should be justified by the legislature. Proper monitoring and evaluation need to be modified to implement policies. Some further suggestions might be:
Avoiding political biasness
Public awareness/openness to demand welfare policy.
Examination of the necessity of demand.
Collection of opinion from different stake holders.
Draft policy should discuss in front of civil society / general people through media, broadcast through website for public opinion
Final policy should pass after critical analysis instead of political / personal interest
Revision - if necessary
Capacity of implementing agencies should increase
Political leaders should be trained up regarding development, policy formulation, implementation, review etc.
Arrange open discussion / seminar / workshop etc. For example there were debates about 'National Women Development Policy 2011'. It is assumed that there was a lacking on the part of the concerned ministry to circulate the details of the debatable clauses among general people. The 'sensitive' clauses were:
23.5. To give equal opportunity and partnership in resource utilization, employment, market and business;
25.2. To give women the rights to wealth and resources earned through income, succession, loan/credit, land and market management.
If the Government or Ministry of Women and Children Affairs could have taken such initiative i.e. seminar, workshop, open discussion etc. for awareness of general public, there would have been less debates. General people were not in a position to get the reference of the clauses and they were in confusion and turmoil put by the religious clerics. There should be more suggestions from civil societies, different professionals, politicians to make the policy process more effective in Bangladesh.
The writer works with CARE Bangladesh.
