PROMOTING GOOD GOVERNANCE

THROUGH POLICY CONSISTENCY

THE ROLE OF CONTENT
EXPERTS
BY FRANDEK INTERNATIONAL CONSULTING LIMITED
Bridging the Gap
Capacity Building and Human Development

FCL

AIMS
Facilitate understanding of Good Governance in
the public sector
Facilitate understanding of the link between Good
Governance and Policy Consistency in the delivery
of service
Promote Good Governance in the public sector
Increase Policy content writer efficiency and
effectiveness for Policy consistency and Good
Governance

OBJECTIVES
To promote Good Governance through the use of
Policies, procedures, systems, and structures.
This includes the development of a Strategic
Framework, Implementation Strategy, Impact
Assessment and Monitoring and Evaluation.
Promote clarity in Policy development and
sustainability.
Establish
good
Implementation

Governance

in

Policy

OUTCOMES
Establish understanding of the linkage
between
Good
Governance,
Policy
consistency and sustainability in the
Public Sector
Promote knowledge of Policy Content
Writer
role
in
promoting
Good
Governance in Policy Implementation

GOOD GOVERNANCE DEFINED

Good Governance is the effective use
of processes, procedures, systems
and decisions to define
Organisational actions, impart
authority and verify performance
through extant rules and laws.

POLICY DEFINED
A Policy can be defined as a Strategy or
Principle of Action adopted by or proposed
by an Organisation to guide decisions
and achieve rational outcomes.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GOVERNANCE AND

POLICY

It is important that all Policies developed are

consistent for the purpose of promoting Good
Governance and sustainability.
The essence of effective Policy development and
implementation is in ensuring that the Policy is well
designed, has systems, processes and procedures for
implementation.
It should be acceptable to both implementors and
stakeholders
There must be good evidence of its impact.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GOVERNANCE AND

POLICY (contd)
Governance in Policy development and
implementation includes processes and systems
for holding Policy implementors accountable.
This is the essence of a monitoring and
evaluation framework for every policy
implemented.

GOOD GOVERNANCE
It involves the implementation of policies, with
consistent and continuous monitoring of its
proper implementation by the Organizations /
Public Sectors.
Good Governance must ensure a total
framework for accountability of Staff and the
Management of the Organisation.

COMPONENTS OF GOOD GOVERNANCE

Rule of law and Procedures
Transparency and Accountability
Good quality administration
Democratisation
For effective promotion of Good Governance,
there must exist necessary conditions and
facilities to comply with the obligations in
question.

RULE OF LAW AND PROCEDURES

Good Governance in policy development has to
be linked to existing extant rules and procedures
in the Public Sector.
Good governance in policy development and
implementation must involve the effective use of
existing rules, procedures, processes and
systems e.g the current procurement rules and
processes in d Public Sector

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN

GOVERNANCE
Transparency and Accountability are two of the
central pillars of good governance in
Policy development and implementation.
They are intertwined and can be mutually
reinforcing.
Transparency is a necessary precondition for
the exercise of accountability since without
access to clear, accurate and up-to-date
information, it is impossible to judge whether
the standard promised has been met

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN

GOVERNANCE (contd.)
Transparency and accountability, enables
citizens to have a say about issues that matter
to them and a chance to influence decisionmaking and hold those making decisions
accountable.
Such as the use of websites and social media by
public sector organisations for citizen
participation in policy implementation

MANAGING TRANSPARENCY AND

ACCOUNTABILITY IN POLICY CONSISTENCY
A known characteristic - openness in the clear
use of information, rules, plans, processes and
actions.
Use of procedures within the policy that are
accessible and unambiguous.
Policy Transparency speaks about the clarity or
openness of intentions and actions. It connotes
frankness, without concealment or disguise;
open to public scrutiny.

CONDITIONS FOR TRANSPARENCY

.
Making information available is not sufficient to
achieve transparency.

Large amounts of raw information in the public domain

may breed opacity rather than transparency.
Information should be managed and published so that
it is:
Relevant and accessible: Information should be
presented in plain and readily comprehensible language
and formats appropriate for different stakeholders. .

CONDITIONS FOR TRANSPARENCY

(contd)
Timely and accurate: Information should be made
available in sufficient time to permit analysis,
evaluation and engagement by relevant
stakeholders.
This means that information needs to be provided
while planning as well as during and after the
implementation of policies and programmes.
Information should be managed so that it is upto-date,
accurate,
and
complete
for
accountability.

ACCOUNTABILITY DEFINED
Ensuring that officials are answerable for their
actions and that there is redress when duties
and commitments are not met is known as
accountability.
It connotes responsibility for decisions or
actions taken and the readiness to explain
them when required.

IMPORTANCE OF TRANSPARENCY AND

ACCOUNTABILITY
A transparent and accountable government and its
officials will run government business with:
Economy: Obtaining maximum value for money.
Efficiency: Producing positive results simply and
swiftly.
Fairness: Impartial, consistent, and reliable. Offering
a level playing field for all to compete and benefit.
Accountability and Ethical Standards: holding key
players responsible for enforcing and obeying the
rules.
Deterring collusion and corruption

BENEFITS OF TRANSPARENCY &

ACCOUNTABILITY
Ensure orderly conduct of the public service
personnel and the service
Rapid socio-political and economic development
Reduction in the cost of running government
business
Restoration of public confidence and respect for
the service
Effective service delivery

THE NIGERIAN PROBLEM

In the Nations yearly budget broadcasts, the
desire to bring about rapid socio-economic
developments have been variously expressed by
successive governments.
Huge sums of money are spent in executing
different projects and programmes in this
direction, but with little or no tangible results.
Worse still, the few tangible results are usually of
poor quality.

THE NIGERIAN PROBLEM (contd)

Information and records of government
transactions are poor and are poorly managed.
Dissemination of information on government
activities to
the citizens are haphazard and
inadequate.
Effective Policy Implementation will promote
good governance.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Measure and objectives of the policy

Availability of Resources
Communication
Characteristics of the implementing
Agency
Bureaucratic Structure
Socio-political and economic aspects of the
environment
Political Factor
Implementors Dispositions
Effective Monitoring and Evaluation

TYPES OF PUBLIC POLICY

There are three prominent types:
Distributive Policy
Regulative Policy
Redistributive Policy.
Many developing nations have adopted and
domesticated the three types of policies discussed
as follows:

DISRUPTIVE POLICY
Sometimes Government may enact public policy
to benefit a distinct sector of the economy.
The philosophy behind such action may be that
the sector had been long neglected or deprived
of Government attention.
To engender a sense of belonging, Government
may decide to build low-cost housing for the
low-income group.

DISRUPTIVE POLICY (CONTD)

When this happens, we say that a distributive
policy has been formulated to benefit a distinct
sector of the economy the low income group.
This is different from the housing-for-all by the
year 2020, for instance, because the later is
universal not restrictive
Another good example of Distributive Policy is
opening of a school in one community to bring up
the educational standard of a community long in
distress; e.g. community secondary school.

REGULATORY POLICY

A regulatory policy is one that defines the

boundaries of acceptable behaviour.
Government may formulate a policy to define the
boundaries of acceptable behaviour.
A government policy which restricts smoking at the
airport to designated areas only is regulatory in
nature.
A regulatory public policy is essentially enacted to
enforce law and order, and to define conducts and
maintain discipline and coherence in the society.

REDISTRIBUTIVE POLICY
An egalitarian society seeks
opportunity for its members.

equality

of

It may happen sometimes in the process of

nation building, that one group in the society
has an upper hand in what belongs to all or the
common-wealth.
To ensure that the gap between the two groups
does not assume a dangerous dimension,
government may decide to take from an
advantaged
group
and
gives
to
the
disadvantaged one.

REDISTRIBUTIVE POLICY (CONTD)

Each time there is such a deliberate policy to make
for or promote a more equitable society; we say that
Government has made a redistributive public policy.
An example of a redistributive public policy is the
Progressive Income Tax Systems. These can be
highly controversial.
They contend that there is a correlation between
hard-work and high income.

THE ROLE OF THE CONTENT EXPERT IN POLICY DEVELOPMENT

STEP 1: DEFINE THE PROBLEM

Identify specific needs to be satisfied and

indicate its magnitude.
Isolate
the
Causes
or
major
contributions to the problem
Identify how specific population group
(age geographic, economic racial/ethnic
etc) are affected by the problem.

STEP 2 STATE THE GOAL OF THE POLICY

CLEARLY AND GENERATE VARIOUS
ALTERNATIVES TO ACHIEVE THE GOALS.
Identify the major goals and how they relate to
the problem.
Identify alternative ways to achieve your goals.
Evaluate the alternatives in terms of benefits and
costs.
Identify the distribution of the impact of each of
the alternatives in the society.

STEP 3 ANALYSIS
Use Information, assumption to
assess pros and cons of each
alternative in terms of relevant
criteria.

POLICY CONSISTENCY FOR PROMOTION OF

GOOD GOVERNANCE
The Public Sector must work in synergy to develop
Policies that are aligned in terms of Policy
Statements e.g Trade and Investment Policy
Statements must align with Ministry of Finance,
Banks and Industry, Ministry of Mines and Steel
etc.
Anything else would promote confusion and lead
to ineffective Governance.

HOW TO PROMOTE GOOD GOVERNANCE

WITH POLICY CONSISTENCY
Create an enabling Environment: Policy Content
Experts
must
consider
the
required
environment for the effective implementation
of the Policy.
Policy Transparency and Equitability: Policies
must be developed with clear Statements. They
must take into account equitability for fairness
and good governance.

HOW TO PROMOTE GOOD GOVERNANCE

WITH POLICY CONSISTENCY (contd)
Stakeholder
Sensitization:
All
relevant
stakeholders must be sensitized as to roles and
responsibilities for ownership to be created.
Processes,
Systems,
Structures
and
Framework: A Roadmap and a strategic
Framework for the Policy implementation are
to be developed to ensure compliance,
ownership, clarity etc.

HOW TO PROMOTE GOOD GOVERNANCE

WITH POLICY CONSISTENCY (contd)
Budget: A Budget for the implementation of the
Policy is to designed, submitted and due processed
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): these are to be
developed to track baselines, Policy implementation
and Impact.

Monitoring and Evaluation:

An Effective Monitoring and Evaluation
Plan is to be designed to ensure
compliance.

CONCLUSION
Policies should be designed following critical
success factors development.
Policies should be built taking cognizance of the
Critical Success Factors, best implementation
strategies, measures for mitigating future
challenges and sustainable impact.
Proper Implementation of Policies can depend
on its design, clarity and measures put in place.

CONCLUSION (contd)
Required resources to promote the efficient
design of Policies must be in place before the
development commences.
Content Experts have a critical role to play in
promoting Good Governance.