Journal of Management and Development Studies

School governance in Nepal: A perspective of new public management theory

2023-03-01T06:29:26+00:00

School Management Committees have the tasks to maintain good governance of public schools in Nepal. The School Management Committees are driven by the New Public Management theory. The theory advocates for the transformation of public administration into public management which began in Nepal in 1990 A.D. and has continued thereafter. The purpose of this article is to identify the changes in the application of New Public Management theory in school governance through the perspective of power-sharing between communities and local governments. In this study, I have applied the narrative policy review method to gather evidences and enrich the discussion. I have presented some discussion notes to show that the School Management Committee model was practiced with the engagements of parents and communities from 2003 to 2016 A.D. After 2015, the active role of the parents and communities in school governance was shifted to the jurisdiction of local governments, which I have concluded as an alteration in the New Public Management model. I recommend that the core and leading engagement of parents and communities in school governance should be ensured for the good governance of schools in Nepal, in which local governments can act as a watchdog. The study, carried out based on New Public Management theoretical referent, is helpful to scholars to understand the change in the application of New Public Management theory through the perspective of school governance in Nepal.

Gender responsive budgeting and its implementation efforts in Nepal

2023-03-01T06:55:37+00:00

The purpose of this article is to analyze the contemporary experiences of gender responsive budgeting and its implementation efforts in Nepal. In recent years, the introduction of gender responsive budgeting has become an important topic on the government agenda to meaningfully internalize gender equality in public finance. Gender responsive budgeting, as an integral part in fiscal and budgetary decision making, can make gender equality and help differentiate the impacts on men and women. This article is based on the analytical and descriptive research design based on literature review of secondary data and information used for the analysis of the information. Therefore, the analysis of public expenditure and revenue policies and practices should consider this differentiated gender impact. Gender responsive budgeting in Nepal is committed to maintaining progressive social change, but efforts that are more concrete are needed to match political commitments. In the entire world, women only make 77 cents for every $1 earned by males. This gender responsive budgeting receives the highest share of the Nepal's budget in fiscal year 2021/22 (2078/79), accounting for 39 percent of all investments. Nepal has been associated with various gender responsive activities through different national policies, budgets, periodic and yearly plans and projects since the fiscal year 2007/08; and it is dedicated to the global commitment for the sustainable development goals and its timely achievements with the national targets; and leading the nation towards the gender inclusive society and gender friendly behaviors by the nation in all processes of the governance of Nepal.

Determinants of consumer buying behavior towards Nepali products

2023-03-01T07:24:03+00:00

This study has objected to locate the determinants affecting consumer buying behavior towards Nepalese industrial products in Nepal. Consumer Buying behavior is dependent variable and price fairness, accessibility, opinions, and status are the independents variables. The primary as well as secondary sources of data is used to reach the opinions of the respondents regarding price, availability, opinions, and position in Nepal. This study is based on respondents from particular area from Kathmandu Valley. To achieve the purpose of the study, structured questionnaires had been prepared. This study shows that price fairness is positively correlated to consumer buying behavior. It signifies the fair prices on Nepalese products leads to increase in consumer buying behavior. It indicates that higher the availability of Nepalese products, higher would be the consumer buying behavior. In addition to this, the study shows that status is positively related to consumer buying behavior. It indicates that an individual may have a very favorable decision toward purchasing Nepalese industrial products, if he/she believes that buying those products helps them to enhance their status to the society. The results also show that coefficients are positive for price fairness, availability, opinions, and prestige with consumer buying behavior. However, the coefficients are significant only for availability, opinions and prestige at 5 percent level of significance.

Issues, challenges, and ways ahead to develop citizen-centric e-Governance in Nepal

2023-03-01T07:37:12+00:00

E-Governance is a mechanism to provide services to the citizens through online platform utilizing the tools of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to ease the service delivery process. It is a technological intervention to enhance the existing working process of the organizations. The traditional working process demands a lot of time and human contacts. In addition, the service seekers need to present some vital documents like citizenship certificate and other relevant documents to receive the services. The E-government systems are online systems that citizens can access from anywhere at their convenience to request for the service. The online systems have to be citizen-centric so that they are attracted to use the systems for requesting government services. In Nepal, citizen-centric e-Governance is still at question due to the traditional governance system, lack of awareness and motivation in political leadership, lack of citizen involvement, dearth of adequate research on technology adoption, existing digital divide, difficulties in change management, insufficient ICT infrastructure, lack of integration in online services, and lack of strategic plan for the IT human resources. Exploring various literatures, lessons learned from previous experiences and existing situation of the government implanting whole-of-a-nation thought in the mind-set of leadership can help minimize these issues and move towards citizen-centric approach in e-Governance design, development and implementation.

Perception of dalits who entered civil service through reservation system in Nepal

2023-03-01T07:42:13+00:00

Historically, Dalits have been one of the most marginalized caste groups in Nepal. Always pushed to the fringes of society, deprived of opportunities to make their way out of caste-based hierarchy, Dalits have always been among the lower rungs of society. To eliminate such discriminations and ensure their adequate representation at least in civil service, the concept of reservation, or quota-based hiring was introduced. This exploratory study attempts to understand how Dalits who have entered the civil service through the reservation system perceive themselves as civil servants.

As per the findings of this study, Dalits who have entered the government through reservation system feel isolated and perceive others see them as incapable and not trustworthy. They also feel there exists an indirect discrimination in society which is something that they have experienced all their life. The study confirmed that Dalits who enter the government civil service through reservation system aspire to receive more encouragement at work, as they perceive such thrust will nurture confidence and result in better performance, but their caste status seems to have created problems to realize their aspiration into reality.