Public Management and Policy Making, Which way to go?
By Ben Uugwanga

Introduction

The government of the Republic of Namibia is 20 years old. In these 20 years the government has done much in its resolve to address development, poverty alleviation and the provision of basic amenities. This task is huge and can successfully be undertaken should we prioritise resource allocation and if our plans are smart and morally sound. In light of this, there is a need to take stock on how service delivery has been implemented and the extend to which it has been successfully carried out in order to institute corrective measures where necessary. This will provide an understanding on where we are, where we want to be, how we got there and how we know that we got there.

Under the current state of affairs public management and policy making has been extremely humanistic. Perhaps this is the reason why we need a new approach. Vision 2030 envisions that Namibia should become an industrialized country by the year 2030. From a system thinking perspective this is quite an enormous challenge considering the reliance on foreign direct investments and the bottlenecks involved in accessing certain markets, the technological skills constraints and the policy dictates of the International Political Economy. The above are factors that instill uncertainties and insecurity to Namibia in achieving prosperity at a targeted time frame.

In spite of the above it is crucial from a citizen’s perspective for service delivery to be pro-poor and executed through prudence after equity, effectiveness and efficiency measures have been complied with. Being mindful of the meager resources at government’s disposal, surely good planning and priority setting is needed in the implementation of programs which need to be sustained with available resources. It is also important for government to be transparent and accountable in its policy decisions by providing the rational for the choices taken. In any event choices need to be cost-effective and address the moral, economic and developmental spin-offs that they will provide to the beneficiaries of service delivery.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the framework for policy making and the extend on how policy analysis, priority setting, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation can be executed in order to cut on cost and ensure the effective utilization of human, material and financial resources for the purpose of attaining effective service delivery. At the same time the paper looks at leadership and management and the concept of Public Private Partnership to which a set of criteria are recommended to avoid getting into loose-win relations.

The paper opines that the secular humanistic framework for policy analysis is proving costly and ineffective to government. The author proposes a Christian-centric approach to policy making to provide alternatives to the revamping of the education system, holistic health provision, crime prevention and rehabilitation, family restoration, counseling and poverty eradication. The world has relied on secular humanistic interventions for too long a time, the question put is, why not test and follow the wisdom of God? He has set promises and blessings upon being obedient to Him and curses for disobedience (Deuteronomy 18).

Leadership and Management

A leader is said to be someone who has the ability to manage people. At the same time he/she is said to have a vision, good human relations, emotional intelligence, a team player and a strategist.

A good manager is said to be someone who manages systems, processes and resources in order to achieve institutional goals and objectives. He/she is known to be a good tactician, skillful, knowledgeable and experienced, a team player and output driven.

There is an interface between leadership and management and increasingly both domains are complementing each other. Leadership has now moved towards borrowing from management and management has moved towards integrating leadership principles. The world has come to learn through management courses that the pillars of management are planning, control, organizing and leadership. Obviously this provides further weight that the two domains should be conduits for renewed efficacy in implementing successful programs that ensures that resources, process and systems are utilized for the benefit of all and attainment of goals and objectives set out.

Leaders and managers everywhere are challenged to address problems by coming up with new innovations that redefine the traditional way of doing things in the wake of the global economic crisis. In the same breath leaders and managers are challenged to prospect a holistic approach to leadership and management in order to come to terms with the spiritual, mental, and physical aspects of effective leadership skills.

Integrated Policy Planning

There is a need for all policies and goals be aligned to the higher goals or meta-policy of a country, in this case Vision 2030. At the same time coordination of all institutional activities and reporting should be implemented in order to keep track of who is doing what and to avoid duplication of efforts. This will assist in saving needed resources that could be used where the need is pressing.

It is important for the higher goals and policies to reflect the moral, socio-economic and political challenges faced by the nation and to be accompanied by Action Plans outlining the responsible institution to carry them out, resources needed, deadline for implementation and progress to date. Furthermore, progress reports should be submitted quarterly to provide information on the status of projects and the corrective measures taken to keep implementation on course if necessary. This process should be done after monitoring and evaluation interventions have taken place and this should be captured in progress and final reports and provide recommendations and lessons learned.

Priority Setting

Governments especially in Africa suffer from serious resource constraints. This problem is compounded by the over dependence on primary resources whose prices fluctuate on the world market because of the law of supply and demand. This scenario is regrettable as African commodities deserve to rake in more income. Unfortunately, the current status quo of unipolar capitalism has its own rules by which everyone needs to play.

In light of the limited choices offered to raise government revenue, due care need to be made in managing the resources of the state. These calls for prudent policy interventions accompanied by the political will to prioritize programs needing financial injection in view of competing needs. Below are some steps which could guide policy makers in prioritizing funding for programs in line with government objectives and priorities.

Steps in Priority Setting

1. Identify the nature, location, intensity and probability of problem or deprivation level of people needing service delivery.
2. Determine the existence and degree of vulnerability and exposure to problem, deprivation or threat.
3. Identify the capacity and resources available to address or manage problem.
4. Determine acceptable levels of intervention.
5. Involve stakeholders in the planning and implementation of intervention plan.

Policy Analysis

The stages involved in policy making are: problem analysis; policy formulation; policy implementation; policy monitoring and evaluation. Policy analysis is an integral part of policy making that measures the impact of a policy before, during and after implementation. This process is made out of Ex-ante analysis which is the measurement of pre-feasibility and feasibility study outcomes of a policy/program/project. The other component of policy analysis is Post-facto analysis which is, measuring the post-implementation impact and outcomes of a policy/program/project after implementation.

Ex-ante analysis applies techniques such as cost-benefit analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis among others. Cost-benefit analysis assess whether the costs outweigh the benefits in terms of monetary, socio-economic, environmental and other impacts on a project. Cost-effectiveness analysis looks at the political, developmental, moral benefits to be derived before embarking upon a program, even if the monetary costs are higher than the consideration. Post-facto analysis applies integrated criteria for public policy analysis which is to measure the following variables in terms of whether the policy objectives are achieved or not. These are:

1. Equity
2. Accessibility
3. Affordability
4. Sustainability
5. Inter-sectoral collaboration
6. Community involvement
7. Efficiency
8. Effectiveness
9. Administrative feasibility
10. Political feasibility
11. Moral responsiveness

In a nutshell it is inconceivable to think of policy making without policy analysis. There exist other techniques which also measure the impact of policies/projects and programs through socio economic indicators such as infant mortality rate, access to health and water, literacy rate, life expectancy, gini coefficiency, access to housing, unemployment rate, per capita income, GDP, corruption index, competitiveness index etc. These tools are also helpful and should be used to provide information on how a policy/project/program/sectors or a country is performing.
Public Private Partnership
Governments are inundated with offers to get into partnership with international businesses who initiate Public Private Partnership ventures for undisclosed reasons. Noting, that governments are guaranteed of revenue through taxes, international businesses seize this opportunity to negotiate deals that boost their income. Government’s reaction to these offers should be guided by the resolve to achieve win-win relations so that state resources cannot be conned and diverted in financing unfeasible and costly projects which have no long-term benefit for the country and its people. Hitherto, some guiding criteria are proposed to assess the benefits before entering in some of these agreements.

Criteria to enter Public Private Agreements

1. Consideration of the monetary benefits and cost to be derived and incurred in the implementation of the project by both parties. 2. Consideration that the cost to be incurred should not be more to government than the benefits it can derive.
3. Determine the positive spin-offs to be derived by the economy in terms of taxes, employment and improvement in service delivery.
4. Determine the multiplier effect of the project to the economy in terms of the expansion of new business and new opportunities.
5. Determine the positive impact of the project to the moral, natural environment and socio-economic and political progress of the country.
6. Consider the long-term sustainability of the project.
7. Conduct due diligence on the company.
8. Enter into a MoU that stipulates the rights and obligations of both parties.
9. Consider a quid pro qou or win-win relation for government involvement.
10. Submission of relevant documents by company before signing the partnership agreement that is, financial statements, company registration documents, complete project/business proposal and environmental impact assessment reports.

Conclusion

In view of the need to do more with little, consultative efforts by government with political and non-state stakeholders should be commended as they set the stage for heresthetics or the resolve to implement policy alternatives from sources other then itself in order to improve on policy and service delivery. In general, what is best is when problems are addressed proactively and not reactionary through prospective policy analysis and other measures that defines the problem and propose solutions. In this case one will underscore the importance of leadership, spirituality, ethics, planning, prioritisation and the continues engagement to consult with spiritual, technical and other players to draw advise augmented with home grown solutions that promote policy making capacities capable of predicting and delivering on promises.

Reference

1. Dickson R. E., Servanthood Leadership, volume 4, Texas, Star Bible Publications, 1996
2. Parker C., A Manual of Public Management, Windhoek, AIM Publications, 2003
3. Project Management Course Manual, Regenesys School of Public Management, Republic of South Africa
4. National Policy for Disaster Risk Management in Namibia, 2009
5. Holy Bible