KUSOM Policy Lab and Hriti Foundation have recently joined hands to form Karnali Policy Outreach Centre. The Karnali Policy Outreach Centre aims at facilitating informed decision making at the provincial and local level, capacity building of the researchers and open policy forum for stakeholders and policy makers to discuss local development and governance issues in provincial and local level.

As it first activity, Karnali Policy Outreach Centre organized a “Policy Symposium on Provincial and Local Level Policymaking and Planning” on 22 December, 2023 in Birendranagar. The symposium aimed to bring together various stakeholders from sub-national level to discuss the challenges and opportunities for public policy building in the context of federalism and decentralization.

The symposium involved two panel discussions. First, moderated by Dr. Purna Nepali, Associate Professor at Kathmandu University School of Management and Director of KUSOM Policy Lab, explored the collaborative approach for subnational public policy building, with panelists: Hon. Dr. Nahakul KC, Vice Chair of Lumbini Province Planning Commission, Hon. Yogendra Bahadur Shahi, Vice Chair of Karnali Province Planning Commission and Dr. Kriti Kusum Joshi, Dean of IT and Engineering, Lumbini Technological University. Similarly, another session delved into critical role of provincial assemblies in public policy building. This session was moderated by Dinesh Gautam, Executive Director of Hriti Foundation with panelists: Hon. Ghanshyam Bhandari and Hon. Kalyani Khadka, members of Karnali Province Assembly.

Prof. Dr. Chandra Prasad Rijal, Coordinator of MU Policy Lab presented a paper discussing policy scenario in federal Nepal and the implications for sub-national governance. Similarly, paper presented by Kamal Raj Lamsal from Hriti Foundation highlighted the challenges sub-national entities face in implementing policies and plans effectively. Mr. Asharam Chaudhary, from IID Nepal, presented paper discussing best practices and lessons learned from various sub-national initiatives in Lumbini Province.

The symposium featured Hon. Bedraj Singh, Minister of Economic Affairs and Planning, Karnali as the keynote speaker and was attended by different members of Karnali Provincial Assembly, academics and independent researchers.