A GOOD READ - IMPACT EVALUATIONS CRUCIAL FOR EFFECTIVE PUBLIC POLICY.

IMPACT EVALUATIONS CRUCIAL FOR EFFECTIVE PUBLIC POLICY:

Courtesy: Asian Development Blog- See more at: http://blogs.adb.org/blog/impact-evaluations-crucial-effective-public-policy#sthash.ZGxzffSZ.dpuf

By Vinod Thomas on Mon, 01 September 2014

Asian countries are increasingly turning to investing in dedicated development programs rather than relying entirely on economic growth to deliver better social outcomes. Evaluations of their actual impact have not always accompanied such decision making, but where they have, it has made a key difference.

Impact evaluations can  guide policy and investments based on evidence instead of them being driven mostly by special interests.

Evaluations and policy choices intersect in three respects. First, conducting assessments of policies or investments—for example, a social protection initiative—allows them to be expanded on the basis of the results obtained. Second, they bring out the crucial complementary factors that are necessary for development success—for example, road projects can improve inclusion if they are linked with programs addressing education and health care in the same area. Third, there are emerging avenues of action—for example in climate change, where past experience may not provide a sufficient guide for the future.

Careful evaluations in some social areas have given policymakers grounds to expand or wind down a program. For example, assessments of conditional cash transfers have provided a basis to expand these programs in Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, and elsewhere. 

An impact evaluation of the Philippines’ conditional cash transfer program, which started with 6,000 households in 2008, showed gains in reducing stunting in children, increases in school enrollment and attendance, and increased ante- and post-natal care for women—well worth the program costs. As a result, the program was massively expanded to cover more than 3 million households in 2013.

Impact evaluation initially focused on social programs, where information on beneficiaries, and others before and after a program, is relatively easier to obtain. But it is now expanding into other areas of policy, such as transport, energy, and the environment. All these areas present challenges for analysis, such as separating cause and effect, attribution, and assessing the validity of the outcomes across various locations, beneficiary groups, or policy instruments.

Evaluations have often also highlighted the importance of complementary factors. In many instances, while the intervention did produce results, the gains were limited and full impact was not achieved. Impact evaluations help identify the barriers to achieving better outcomes, or the inadequacies in program design.

One consistent theme has been the limits of poverty-oriented efforts to reach the very poor. An impact evaluation of microfinance in Pakistan and Viet Nam found that there were trade-offs between program impact and targeting of the poor. Pakistan’s program was able to target and include the poor, but the program had very little impact on their welfare. On the other hand, Viet Nam’s mostly non-poor clients enjoyed positive direct impact on income and enterprise employment.

A study on Bangladesh pointed to the gains from rural roads maintenance, but again the benefits missed the very poor. In these and other instances, the presence or investment in related areas such as education, health, and financial literacy proved critical. Rural electrification will not only light communities, but can transform lives if education and income opportunities are promoted.

Among emerging issues, biodiversity and the environment have received relatively little attention from impact evaluation. But where they have been considered, the results have been noteworthy.

An evaluation of forest protection worldwide found that establishing protected areas is effective in reducing the loss of forest cover. But the impact of protected regimes—

rates of deforestation before and after intervention—were sharper in areas closer to communities and economic activities than in settings far from economic activities. 

Studies in Latin America found a strong correlation between forest protection and indigenous land tenure and property rights. While protecting pristine forests is equally important, protection of land competing with other economic uses can have relatively high payoffs too.

The application of lessons to new challenges remains difficult as there are limits to what can be inferred from historic data. Using an impact evaluation based on past experience to guide future action presents a tough challenge when the problems are new. Climate change is a case in point where climate models yield various projections with varying probabilities.

These are some of the challenges of applying impact evaluation to guide policy. These and many others are to be discussed at an international conference on 5-6 September cosponsored by 3IE, the Government of the Philippines and the Asian Development Bank, that will review the growing body of evaluative work directed at policy.

Disaster Management Cycle

It is imperative to understand the Disaster Management Cycle in order to have a holistic & comprehensive policy for it.
Earlier Disaster Management was viewed as a short term relief endeavour that lasted till some time after a disaster,but now it has become both pre & post Disaster citing the benefits & lesser losses caused by preventing a disaster or mitigating it through proper policy. That saved expenditure can be then further used for development programmes & policies for the country.


STAGES IN DISASTER MANAGEMENT:

1) Before the Disaster: To reduce the potential for human,material or environmental losses caused by hazards & to ensure that these losses are minimised when the disaster strikes.

2) During the Disaster: To ensure that the needs & provisions of victims are met to alleviate & minimise suffering.

3) After the disaster: To achieve rapid & durable recovery which does not reproduce the original vulnerable conditions.

THE DISASTER CYCLE:

1) The Disaster Event/Impact: The real time event of a hazard occurring and affecting the elements at risk.

2) Disaster Response: This entails restoring physical facilities rehabilitation of affected population, restoration of lost livelihoods & reconstruction efforts to restore the infrastructure lost or damaged. One can gauge flaws in the efforts pertaining to policy and planning with respect to location and type of infrastructure and social schemes to improve the social positioning of underprivileged.
Disaster losses can be mitigated to a large extent by effective response on the part of govt. & civil society.

3) Disaster Recovery: Recovery phase involves implementation of actions to promote sustainable redevelopment including reconstruction & rehabilitation following a disaster. It is a long term measure.

4) Development: Once the above is done then the development works begins once again, by development it is meant sustainable development.

RESPONSE MECHANISM IN INDIA:

1) Central Response ( Prime Minister, Cabinet Committees, Home Affairs & Agriculture Minister)

2) Administrative Response ( Operational requirements & provision of Central assistance as per existing policy)

3) Energising the local govt. to strengthen administrative preparedness for disaster response.

Disaster Types, Vulnerabilities Classification, Hazard,Environmental concerns,Development Vs Environment

The recent Uttarakhand & Kashmir floods and its uncontrollable aftermath have once again brought up the overarching importance of Disaster Management , understanding and predicting a hazard and taking preventive action for it as well as corrective and remedying action post a disaster.

Now, before proceeding further it is imperative for one to understand the fragile yet important relation between a Hazard & Disaster.

A) HAZARD: A potentially damaging physical event,phenomenon or human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury, property damage, social and economic disruption or environmental degradation. They can be natural or man made and single,sequential or combined in their origin and effects.

When a Hazard turns into reality it is termed as a Disaster. It proceeds by cause-effect due to endogenous (inherent) & exogenous (external) factors that combine to excite the phenomenon into a large scale destructive event. Disaster Management is an attempt to inquire into the process of a hazard turning to a disaster and identify the causes and rectify the same through public policy.

CLASSIFICATION OF DISASTERS:

Under the chairmanship of J.C. Pant, a High Powered Committee was constituted in Aug '99 grouped disasters into the following five categories,based on generic consideration:

1) Water & Climate: Floods,cyclones,tornadoes,hailstorms,cloudbursts,heat/cold wave,snow avalanches,drought,sea erosion,thunder/lightning.

2) Geological: Landslides,mudflows,earthquakes,large fires,dam failures and bursts,mine fires.

3) Biological: Epidemics,pest attacks,cattle epidemics,food poisoning.

4) Chemical, Industrial & Nuclear: Chemical and Industrial disasters, nuclear disasters.

5) Accidental: Forest fires, urban fires, mine flooding, oil spills, major building collapse, serial bomb blasts, festival related disasters, electrical disasters and fires, air and road and rail accidents, boat capsizing, village fire.

NODAL MINISTRIES COORDINATING ALL ACTIVITIES OF STATE & DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION:

TYPES OF DISASTER/CRISIS	NODAL MINISTRY
Air Accidents	Ministry of Civil Aviation
Civil Strife	Ministry of Home Affairs
Major breakdown of any of the Essential Services posing widespread problem	Concerned Ministries
Chemical Disasters	Ministry Of Environment
Biological Disaster	Ministry of Health
Nuclear Accident inside/outside the country which poses health or other hazards to people of India.	Department of Atomic Energy

But there are still many that are missing like heat waves & migrant issues. Also it is being increasingly realized that many natural disasters are also due to man made causes, reason being policy disasters rather than as a result of nature's vagaries or designs of fate.

Experience of floods in India has proven that more deaths are caused due to epidemic outbreaks following vector proliferation in accumulated waters rather than the flood itself which proves the system failure.

The lack of timely decision making & action after droughts by the govt. leads to multiple deaths of farmers.

Earthquakes are majorly increased in today's times due to abuse of natural resources by man alongwith bad policy decisions.

Disasters also lead to major economic damage and diversion of financial resources to non plan expenditures instead of plan development expenditures.

INDIA'S KEY VULNERABILITIES:

1) Coastal states particularly on the East Coast & Gujarat are vulnerable to cyclones.

2) 4 crore hectare landmass is vulnerable to floods.

3) 68% of net sown area is prone to droughts.

4) 55% of total area is in seismic zones III - V, hence prone to earthquakes.

5) Sub-Himalayan sector & Western Ghats are prone to landslides.

MAN MADE DISASTERS:

1) Road/Traffic accidents

2) Nuclear, Chemical & Biological threats

3) International terrorism

4) Communal riots

5) HIV/AIDS

6) Food insecurity, poverty, worsening health care,dirty water & sanitation, uncontrolled urbanisation & common disease.

7) Civil war & International wars

These are just a few to name, the list goes on. The few actions taken are that now Disaster Management has become a part of plan commitments thus getting it  more priority and more resource allocations. Retrofitting & Earthquake resistant structures et al are being undertaken too.

The agenda now according to the 10th Plan for disaster management is development of capacity at local levels through effective decentralisation, improvement in law and order administration, through modernisation & training, urban development with a perspective of disaster mitigation planning involving all stakeholders.

VULNERABILITY PROFILING:

All this calls for a thorough vulnerability( threat) profiling of India to remedy the above.

Following steps are imperative for the vulnerability assessment and preparedness in high risk zones:

1) Identification of various hazard prone areas. Preparation of detailed vulnerability profiles, mapping food insecurity, aviation hazard, landslide hazard, etc.

2) Vulnerability & Risk assessment of buildings.

3) Developing disaster damage scenarios.

4) Developing technical guidelines for hazard resistant construction.

5) Upgrading of hazard resistance of existing housing stock by retrofitting.

6) Crafting techno-legal regime to be adopted for infrastructure development.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS:

1) Global warming & Extreme climate: This leads to El Nino & La Nina having increased impacts leading to disasters. Entire water system is being disrupted by melting of Himalayan glaciers. A large number of deaths are caused due to heat and cold waves from northern and coastal states.

2) Agro Forestry: Large scale deforestation across the globe coupled with faulty management practices have resulted in all kinds of environmental degradations such as wind and water erosion, physical & chemical degradation of soil, water & biodiversity, global warming, floods,droughts & desertifications.

Agro forestry is the solution to all these issues.

Agro Forestry: Agroforestry or agro-sylviculture is a land use management system in which trees or shrubs are grown around or among crops or pastureland. It combines agricultural and forestry technologies to create more diverse, productive, profitable, healthy, and sustainable land-use systems. ( source - Wikipedia)

Lets summarise the benefits of Agro - Forestry:

a) Control of soil degradation

b) Control of desertification

c) Flood control

d) Drought Moderation

e) Reduction in groundwater pollution caused by high inputs of fertilisers

f) Increasing biodiversity in farming and watershed scale.

g) Increasing food security and reducing pressure on land

h) Checking deforestation and its impact on environment

i) Reducing pressure on forests though on farm supply of fuel wood,fodder and other forest products

j) Reduction in build up of atmospheric CO2 and other greenhouse gases

k) Disaster prevention,rehabilitation & reconstruction

3) Urban Risks: Rapid urbanisation is increasing at unprecedented levels. High density areas with poorly built and maintained infrastructure are subjected to natural hazards, environmental degradation,fires,flooding & earthquakes.

DEVELOPMENT VS. ENVIRONMENT:

Development should never come at the cost of environment. We all have seen the effects of commercialisation & development activities in Uttarakhand & Delhi and other states. Therefore, what is required are proper eco-friendly and environment friendly development policies. 

TOWARDS NEW ICT BASED ADMINISTRATIVE CULTURE

We have already discussed the Nature and Concept of Administrative Culture in a previous post of this blog.

So, today we will discuss the case for ICT based change and how to implement and blend it into an organisation's existing Administrative culture.

One sees the immense public interaction that govt. offices have to do day in and out and that is very burdening on the staff if they are using primitive & inefficient systems to carry out these heavy transactions. Such inefficiency leads to degraded service delivery and also corruption resulting from non-transparency.

The solution to this issue is - ICT implementation.

STEPS TO ICT IMPLEMENTATION:

1)Gain high level management support for the project;
2) Undertake a pilot project
3) Ensure that all users have access to the networks to provide an adequate population of users
4) Make sure the networking is integrated with the organisation core office automation applications.
5) Have the central IT unit coordination
6) Tackle difficult questions of security cost and ownership
7) Demonstrate possibilities to those interested
8) Provide the organisation with a presence on the internet
9) Provide a way to receive information from internet
10) Create an internal process to guide internet use
11) Provide positive role models for users
12) Provide new mechanisms to support rhetoric of organisation
13) Use technology to implement and administer technology


MECHANISMS TO BE USED FOR ICT IMPLEMENTATION:

1) Identify ICT applications that can provide improved services to citizens and help public administration in improving planning,monitoring and administrative processes.

2) Demonstrate feasibility of implementing such applications by specifying broad architecture, detailed design and creating prototype application software (wherever feasible); and

3) Disseminate the work to public administrators that promote and use e-governance.

REFORM ACTIVITIES THAT THE GOVT. NEEDS TO PERFORM TO IMPLEMENT ICT:

1) Lay emphasis on 'new governance' concept and its implications to accountability,management and democratic control

2) Instructional materials to acquaint both policy scholars and practitioners with these alternative tools and with the 'tools approach' that focuses attention on them. More than that,it is needed to establish an agenda for future action that might improve the operation of public programmes by sensitising policymakers and policy administrators to the distinctive features and operating demands of the various tools that public programmes embody;

3) Develop conceptual papers on strategies that governments can follow to introduce e-governance.

4) Work with specific departments/programmes to identify opportunities for developing ICT applications

5) Design ICT applications and identify hardwares and software resources that would be required to implement such applications

6) Develop the software or prototypes(wherever feasible) to demonstrate the feasibility of building such applications.

7) Conduct cost-benefit analysis of e-governance projects and preparing comprehensive evaluation reports.

8) Document case studies of successful e-governance applications already developed in the field.

9) Design workshops for sensitising senior echelons of public administrators.

10) Develop papers,reports and films to disseminate the output.


LIMITATIONS TO THE ABOVE IMPLEMENTATION OF ICT:

1) Bureaucracy is ever so reluctant to open up and give away the power of secrecy that they wield over the information they control through the internet that will expose their inefficiency.

2) Paucity of funds with the public bodies.

3) Many public administrators and office staff understand e-governance as mere 'computerisation' for calculations and typewriting thus 90% of the computers' processing and storing and information delivering capacities are lying unutilised/underutilised.

4) Non compilation of data bases and even if there is a database, it is rarely updated thus reducing the computer networks to no use at all.

SUGGESTIONS FOR CUTTING BACK ON THE LIMITATIONS:
1) Make a compelling case for change - The people who have a stake in the outcome see the need to change as it has been proved via research that as the employees' understanding of a need for change went down, the failure rate went up.

2) Communicate formally and informally

3) Personalise the Message - What does it mean for me?

4) Acknowledge the unknowns

5) Surface rumours and Fill in the blanks

6) Practice what you preach

7) Acknowledge and build on what employees value

8) Re frame resistance

9) Employees resist coercion, not change

10) Empathise

Roles And Applications of ICT ( Information & Communication Technology)

Significance Of ICT in Governance:

1) Enhances the quality and delivery of Public services

2) Enhances the quality of citizen-government interface

3) Enables people's participation in governance, and

4) Provides greater access and outreach so as to include the disadvantaged in governance





ROLES OF ICTs:

• Information Browsing - Remote Access Systems to information databases on personal computers and via the internet have grown exponentially in the last few years. World Wide Web browsers allow a user to quickly access a wide variety of information sources which are both in audio and video (multimedia) format but they are still very less in number. But the paradox here is that though there is more and more multimedia data available on the internet but our ability to pick up what is available is limited.

• Electronic Publishing and Dissemination: Access to online databases,electronic resources,online information transactions and digitised services have revolutionized the way information is disseminate. Therefore there is unfettered access to reliable information to academicians,researchers,practitioners and policy makers alike from any part of the world.

• Modelling and Simulation: This helps in developing a level of understanding of the interaction of the parts of a system, and of the system as a whole which further helps in improving systems' capacities in delivering services. Huge database are required that are managed through various ICTs and a pattern is derived based on certain parameters that give shape to models. Simulation generally refers to a computerized version of the model,which is run over time to study the implications of the defined interactions and are iterative in their development. A model is then simulated and then learnings from the same are used to revise the model and iterations continue till an adequate level of understanding is developed. ICTs have enabled the related processes to handle complex situations.

• Online Business and Government Transactions: Land records have been made available by many state governments. Birth and Death certificates can be procured without physically visiting the government offices. Telephone bills can be paid over the internet saving crucial time in the process. Paying income tax or property tax is no longer a cumbersome process thanks to ICT.  Thus service delivery and governance is improved considerably and also generates huge resources in savings by reducing operating inefficiencies,redundant spending and excessive paperwork.

• Electronic Conferences ( Meetings and Discussions): Meetings and Conferences provide arenas for dissemination of information and immediate presentation of new results and cutting edge research but the costs associated with it like traveling reduces its potential audience thus restricting its benefits. Also time constraints imposed by them often conflict with duties. Thus Electronic Conferences can offer many of the same features of traditional conferences that serves the purpose, which is exchange of new results. The Internet provides a robust environment for providing and presenting information,allowing extensive use of text,graphics and multimedia along with low cost and lack of travel time and other restrictions are banished like time and place on the audience that are imposed by traditional conferences and meetings.

APPLICATIONS OF ICTs:
 The various applications of ICTs that are used are:

1. Data Base - Relational Data Base Management Systems, Knowledge Base Expert Systems;
2. Decision Support Systems
3. Geographic Information Systems - Data Capture, Data Integration,Data Modelling; and
4. Management Information Systems

• Data Base : It is a information set with a regular structure which is usually but not necessarily stored in some machine-readable format accessed by a computer. It comes in wide varieties, from simple tables stored in a single file to very large databases with millions of records stored in rooms full of disk drives or other peripheral electronic storage devices.

• Relational Data Base Management Systems (RDBMS): Databases can be compiled using RDBMS so that it is possible to subject the database to queries for more informed decision making. It is also possible to interface such an RDBMS to a GIS of the area that will act as a front-end so that scenario analysis result can be simulated to see the options on the GIS. Such systems can also support forecasting and predictive models,especially if time series data sets are available for such areas and communities. Databases should be properly archived for specific purposes retrieval through well designed query interfaces form a very valuable resource. 

• Knowledge Base Expert Systems: This focuses on  systems that use knowledge based techniques to support human decision-making,learning and action. The quality of support given and the manner of its presentation are important issues with such systems. Its primary goal is to make expertise available to decision makers and technicians to enable them to respond swiftly with effective and efficient solutions to problems. Computers loaded with in-depth knowledge of specific subjects can help in accessing information to solve a problem. The same can assist supervisors and managers with situation assessment and long range planning. These help in enhanced productivity of business,administration,science, engineering,military,etc. 

• Decision Support Systems: DSS are systems that facilitate,expand or enhance a manager's ability to work with one or more kinds of knowledge. A properly designed DSS is an interactive software based system intended to help decision makers compile useful information from raw data,documents,personal knowledge,and/or models to identify and solve problems and make decisions.

• Geographic Information Systems (GIS): It is a computer system capable of integrating,storing,editing,analysing,and displaying geographically referenced information. It is a smart map tool that allows users to create interactive queries(user created searches),analyse spatial information and edit data.

• Management Information Systems: This topic has already been covered extensively in an earlier post of this Blog. Refer - http://publicadministrationtheone.blogspot.in/2012/08/techniques-of-administrative.html

ROLE OF ICT IN ENHANCEMENT OF SERVICE DELIVERY TO CITIZENS BY GOVERNMENT:

1. Qualitative & Quantitative comprehensive information on departmental websites,especially in the local/regional languages. Internet and websites are used to disseminate information pertaining to various policies and programmes of the govt. Govt. departments host notifications and various Acts promulgated from time to time on the web to make the people aware. It has even reached out to people in the remote & disadvantaged areas where there is no access to libraries,newspapers,etc.
2. Rural services relating to Land records are provided.
3. Police services concerning FIR registration and lost & found matters.
4. Social services relating to pension schemes,schemes for elderly & widowed,schemes for physically challenged, licenses, motor vehicle registration,ration cards,birth and death certificates,domicile,caste/tribe,etc.
5. Public information regarding employment exchange registration,employment opportunities,examination results,hospital beds availability,railway time tables,airline time tables,govt. notifications,govt. forms,govt. schemes,etc.
6. Agricultural information on seeds,pesticides,fertilisers,crop disease,weather forecast,market price,etc.
7. Utility payments of electricity,water,telephone,etc.
8. Commercial services pertaining to taxation and return filing
9. Public grievance matters pertaining to civic amenities such as electricity,water,telephone,ration card,sanitation,public transport,etc.

Andhra Pradesh govt. and Delhi Govt.  is providing public services through the single window and one-stop shop namely e-seva kendras and city civic centres and Kerala govt. is providing the FRIENDS shops to the people who can visit these shops and got all public information and services mentioned above.

Thus such ICT efforts help in the Govt. and Citizens maximum interaction and also since it is all online and computerised therefore there is no delay and maximum transparency,accountability and efficiency.