A new journey of governance and delivery: Testing results-based reform in RSP’s first 100 days

Umesh Poudel

KATHMANDU: In Nepal’s democratic history, governments have largely been evaluated through speeches, policy announcements, and formal achievements. However, the lived experience of citizens has often told a different story—one of bureaucratic delays, procedural bottlenecks, intermediaries in basic services, and incomplete development projects that have steadily eroded public trust in the state.

Against this backdrop, the government led by Prime Minister Balendra Shah has sought to frame its first 100 days not merely as an administrative milestone, but as the beginning of a structural and cultural shift in how the state operates. The core claim is clear: government performance will no longer be measured by rhetoric, but by tangible outcomes experienced by citizens.

A legacy of dissatisfaction and demand for change

Despite more than seven decades of democratic practice, Nepal’s governance system has remained heavily process-driven rather than results-oriented. Successive governments have changed, policies have been revised, and budgets have been announced, yet the institutional culture of public service delivery has shown limited transformation.

For ordinary citizens, accessing basic services such as citizenship certificates, passports, driving licenses, or business registration has often meant long queues, repeated office visits, excessive paperwork, and at times reliance on intermediaries. Development projects have frequently suffered delays, while anti-corruption rhetoric has rarely translated into systemic accountability.

This accumulated experience has contributed to rising public frustration, declining trust in political leadership, and a widening distance between citizens and state institutions.

Electoral mandate and search for a new governance model

The general election held on February 21, 2025 (Falgun 21, 2082 BS) has been interpreted by many observers not merely as a change in leadership, but as a demand for a new governance model. The underlying public message was increasingly clear: politics must shift from competition for power to competition in service delivery, governance quality, and measurable results.

Responding to this mandate, the government approved a “100-Point Governance Reform Agenda” on March 26, 2025 (Chaitra 13, 2082 BS). Rather than a routine administrative document, it was presented as a comprehensive framework aimed at redefining governance priorities, institutional behavior, and administrative culture.

Towards results-based governance

A key reform direction has been the introduction of performance-based governance across ministries. Each ministry has been assigned defined timelines, measurable indicators, and responsibility frameworks, supported by regular monitoring mechanisms.

For the first time in Nepal’s administrative practice, the government has attempted to shift evaluation criteria away from budget utilization rates or project inaugurations toward service quality, delivery timelines, and citizen satisfaction.

This represents a significant political and institutional shift: governance success is being redefined through outcomes rather than announcements.

Putting citizens at the center of services

Central to the reform agenda is the repositioning of citizens as the core of governance. Historically, citizens have often functioned as passive service seekers navigating complex bureaucratic systems.

The government has now prioritized face-less digital services, integrated identity-based service delivery through a national identification system, time-bound public services, and a strengthened multi-channel grievance mechanism, including a more effective “Hello Government” platform.

The objective is to reduce dependency on physical office visits, eliminate unnecessary procedural steps, and minimize opportunities for intermediaries in public service delivery.

In practical terms, improvements such as issuing driving licenses within 24 hours and expanding home delivery of passports represent early steps toward a more responsive administrative system.

Administrative restructuring and efficiency

The government has also initiated structural reforms aimed at reducing administrative inefficiency and public expenditure. These include reducing the number of ministries, eliminating overlapping institutional structures, introducing digital personnel profiles, and linking performance evaluation directly to measurable outcomes.

A key reform principle is limiting service approval layers to three tiers or fewer, thereby reducing bureaucratic delays. These measures reflect a broader shift in thinking: the effectiveness of the state is considered more important than its size.

Digital governance as a structural transformation

Digital governance has been positioned not merely as a technological upgrade but as a core instrument of administrative reform.

Initiatives such as “Once-Only Data Entry,” automatic form filling systems, a national digital governance platform, digital signatures, file tracking systems, and citizen mobile applications aim to fundamentally transform how government interacts with the public.

If fully implemented, these reforms could significantly reduce the need for physical interaction with government offices, paving the way for a paperless, faceless administrative ecosystem.

In such a system, citizens would no longer need to “visit” the government—the government would effectively operate within their mobile devices.

Anti-corruption: from rhetoric to systems

While anti-corruption discourse has been a longstanding feature of Nepal’s political landscape, systemic enforcement has remained limited.

The current government has introduced a set of structural measures, including asset verification mechanisms, a unified digital asset registry, risk-based monitoring systems, conflict-of-interest management frameworks, whistleblower protection provisions, and a national integrity policy.

Unlike earlier approaches focused primarily on commissions or investigations, the emphasis now appears to be on building institutional systems that reduce opportunities for corruption in the first place.

Private sector engagement and economic direction

The government has also signaled a more cooperative relationship with the private sector. Faster business registration processes, investment-friendly regulatory frameworks, and protection strategies for private enterprises indicate an attempt to position the private sector as a development partner rather than merely a regulated entity.

Economic targets are ambitious: expansion of the middle class, sustained growth of around 7 percent, and a medium-term goal of significantly increasing per capita income and overall economic size.

A proposed “Sovereign Diaspora Fund” aims to attract investment from non-resident Nepalis, while infrastructure financing reforms are expected to diversify development funding sources.

Social sector priorities

In the social sector, reforms include free hospital beds for economically vulnerable citizens, digital health records, improved hospital monitoring systems, and expansion of affordable pharmacy networks.

In education, efforts are being made to reduce political influence in student organizations, reform examination systems, and expand access to higher education, including provisions allowing study up to the bachelor level without mandatory citizenship documentation.

These initiatives reflect a broader intention to place human development at the center of governance priorities.

Challenges and structural constraints

Despite the ambitious reform agenda, significant challenges remain. Legal constraints, bureaucratic resistance, limited administrative capacity, fiscal pressures, and the complexities of federal coordination continue to pose serious implementation risks.

Policy announcements alone are insufficient; their success depends on execution, institutional alignment, and sustained political commitment.

The first 100 days of the government should not be viewed as a final measure of success or failure, but rather as a directional phase in governance reform. Several initiatives remain in early implementation stages, and their long-term impact will depend on consistency and institutionalization.

What is evident, however, is a deliberate attempt to link governance with results, reorient public administration toward citizen experience, and rebuild trust between the state and society.

Citizens are no longer demanding miracles—they are demanding honesty, efficiency, and results. If the government sustains this trajectory, the first 100 days may ultimately be remembered not as an endpoint, but as the foundational moment of a broader governance transformation in Nepal.