Policy Response, Local Service Delivery, and Governance in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka

This book analyzes contemporary issues in governance, policy management, and policy performance both at the central and local levels in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The focus is on some central social issues such as empowerment, the inclusion of minorities, institutional trust, policy implementation, and local service delivery. Although these three countries have recently opted for democratic governance, the journey to establish and consolidate democracy as well as enhance governance capacity have been painful and filled with challenges. The chapters in this volume are country specific studies based on empirical data both quantitative and qualitative collected for several years and presented in readable prose. This does not, however, rule out the general applicability of the findings to other contexts within and beyond the borders of these countries. Despite huge differences in South Asia, the policy and governance issues and challenges that are explored, highlighted, and analyzed also have commonalities with other South Asian countries.

This book analyzes contemporary issues in governance, policy management, and policy performance both at the central and local levels in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The focus is on some central social issues such as empowerment, the inclusion of minorities, institutional trust, policy implementation, and local service delivery. Although these three countries have recently opted for democratic governance, the journey to establish and consolidate democracy as well as enhance governance capacity have been painful and filled with challenges. The chapters in this volume are country specific studies based on empirical data both quantitative and qualitative collected for several years and presented in readable prose. This does not, however, rule out the general applicability of the findings to other contexts within and beyond the borders of these countries. Despite huge differences in South Asia, the policy and governance issues and challenges that are explored, highlighted, and analyzedalso have commonalities with other South Asian countries.

Chapter 1. Introduction: Understanding Governance in Three South Asian Countries.- Chapter 2. Lower Institutional Performance but Higher Institutional (Dis)Trust in South Asia: A Piece of Puzzle.- Chapter 3. Women’s Micro-Entrepreneurship: Can It Lead to Sustainable Empowerment in Nepal?.- Chapter 4. Governance of Agricultural Service Delivery at the Grassroots Level in Nepal.- Chapter 5. Policy Advocacy for Foreign Direct Investment: A Study of the Board of Investment of Bangladesh.- Chapter 6. An Analysis of the Role of Street-Level Bureaucrats in Implementing the National Labor Migration Policy in Sri Lanka.- Chapter 7. The Nexus between Citizenship Rights, Quality of Government, and Public Services: Evidence from Sri Lanka.- Chapter 8. The Citizen’s Charter in Nepal: An Effort to Achieve Quality of Governance at the Local Level.- Chapter 9. Process-Based Performance Framework for Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Policy Implementation in Bangladesh.- chapter 10. Patient-Doctor Trust Relationship at Local Health Care in Rural Bangladesh.