Centre for Federalism Studies
INTRODUCTION
The Constitution of Nepal, promulgated through historical Constitution Assembly in 20 September 2015, declared Nepal as a 'federal democratic republic' state with three levels of governments having 761 federal units including one federal union, seven provinces and 753 local units. Nepal witnessed a historical transformation in polity from constitutional monarchial system of governance to republicanism and from a unitary form of state structure to federal form of governance. The division of state-powers among federal, provincial local level provides the bases for exercising federal system of governance in Nepal. Following the constitutional spirit, elections for three levels of governments have been conducted in 2017 that brought a safe landing of political transition. With this, the elected governments are functional to deliver 'perpetual peace, good governance, development and prosperity' and safeguard citizen's entitlements. However, a number of political-administrative and economic agendas pertinent to effective implementation of the constitutional mandates need to be appropriately taken care. This calls for right appreciation of the mandates, continuous assessment of the citizenry aspirations and trust towards the public governance, systematic analysis of the service delivery and evaluation of immediate socio-economic impacts of the new governance system. It also requires to build the capacity of public officials and elected representatives; prepare knowledge-base on federal affairs and support the government for effective implementation of the Constitution. With a felt need of supporting in these aspects through training, research, consulting and informational activities, the Nepal Administrative Staff College takes new initiative to establish and operate a dedicated unit 'Centre for Federalism Studies'.