By Nabukalu Jalia, General Secretary, InterAction Leadership Association Uganda (Guest blogger)
Good policies are usually developed by governments. But the challenge to meet is their effective implementation.
Most ordinary people know little about the policies that affect them which leaves them in a position where they can not give constructive criticism.
In order to improve policy understanding and implementation there is need to improve communication between the policy makers and the people their policies affect. Currently in Uganda policy communication is not very good, there is a gap and this gap must be addressed to improve governance.
Feedback systems need to be built to allow free and easy communication between the people and the policy makers. The people need to see how the policies are impacting on them at the grass roots level, and if they are failing, people should be able to hold the policy makers accountable. However this can only work well if effective communication systems are put in place that allow the easy flow of information between the policy makers and the people.
Transparent accountability systems also need to be developed to give people a proper avenue to hold the government accountable. This improves the confidence of people in their government and results in effective policy implementation and people participation in the matters that concern them.
Policies can also be developed better when people are consulted. Uganda has got a very good local government system and through it people can be consulted on different topical issues before policies are developed.
Through the local council one level (LC1) approach, each council is in charge of people in a given village, people can be educated about the policies and their views can be heard and used to develop policies. When people participate in developing a policy they view themselves as part of the decision making process so they respond better to the policies than when a few decision makers develop it for them. This will contribute to good governance which is key to development.
In order to make this work collaboration among the Commonwealth countries is needed. If we work together and watch over each others progress the desired position will be reached.
