A United Nations report describes governance as the exercise of political and administrative authority at all levels to manage a country’s affairs. It comprises the mechanisms, processes and institutions through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations and mediate their differences. In keeping with the description, this article proffers that civil society (CS) can play a greater role in developing a country’s policies, transformation strategies and reporting and monitoring mechanisms for how resources are allocated.

Present and future

Trinidad and Tobago (TT) remains largely uncompetitive as evidenced by the below 50th percentile ranking at 79/141 in the World Economic Forum 2019 Global Competitiveness Index (GCI). Future Orientation of Government GCI sub-indices such as government’s responsiveness to change and government’s long-term vision rank at 130 and 107 respectively.

No single government, individual or group of individuals is solely responsible for this outlook. TT’s governance is an emergent property of its culture of short-termism and entitlement linked to its reliance on oil. Vision 2030 National Development Strategy (NDS) cites several challenges with respect to transformation, which include (1) reversing the non-progressive values, attitudes and behaviours such as low productivity and poor work ethos and (2) ensuring effective and efficient public service delivery, implementation of development interventions and measurement of results. The way forward has been recognised, as the NDS identifies culture transformation, macro-economic policy and institutional/ constitutional reform as challenges requiring immediate attention. Even with a robust NDS in place, issues with continuity of initiatives, accountability and performance could hamper its execution. Here, CS could support with selecting the right strategic initiatives, ensuring its continuity over successive governments, as well as performance monitoring and accountability.

Meta governance

Meta governance is finding the optimal combination of different modes of governance. Network governance is a mode of governance by which CS can become more involved in ensuring transparency and accountability. Unlike traditional hierarchal (bureaucratic and centralised) and market governance (private players involved in functions and accountability), it involves a complex ecosystem of interrelated parts with several nodes including but not limited to a central government, public administration, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), international bodies, companies, social organisations and citizens.

It is in this mode of governance where CS can tackle TT’s socio-economic issues strategically. If done right, it can create a synergy between, as well as leverage different competencies and expertise of CS in solving complex and longitudinal problems, policy formulation and the provision of mechanisms for reporting and accountability.

TT already has a network of civil society organisations (CSOs) that comprise NGOs, community-based organisations and faith-based organisations. However, there is room for more official and technocratic bodies that provide reinforcing nodes on the network between the central government and CSOs.

One way to achieve this is through the establishment of independent councils (ICs).

Independent councils

Through the establishment of independent councils, CS can attempt to ensure accountability and transparency. ICs can serve four main functions:

I. Technocracy and problem solving: Leverage academics, experts and qualified members of CS to develop the optimal strategies and policies;

II. Independent watchdog: Objectively monitor the implementation and performance of solutions;

III. Information dissemination: Outreach and apprising CS and the public of relevant issues; and

IV. Representation and collaboration: IC experts can synthesize best practice with the feedback of other stakeholder groups and citizens, thus ensuring all major concerns are ventilated and addressed in proposed solutions.

This paper considers three ICs that could interlink with each other, government and CSOs in strengthening the national governance model:

(1) Fiscal Council

TT’s debt-to-GDP ratio is now at a historical high with a fiscal deficit nearly every year since the 2008 financial crisis. Many countries have fallen into this pattern despite implementing fiscal rules. The International Monetary Fund recommends fiscal councils which have been around for over 70 years with a recent uptick after the 2008 crisis. Fiscal councils are independent public institutions aimed at promoting sustainable public finances through various functions, including public assessments of fiscal plans and performance, and the provision of macroeconomic and budgetary forecasts. They can target several issues including:

(1) Over-optimism and biased forecasting about future growth;

(2) Lack of transparency, understanding and monitoring of fiscal performance; and

(3) Poor fiscal rules and implementation: developing countries which are resource-rich tend to fall into the pro-cyclicality trap, i.e., monetary and fiscal policy that exacerbate economic peaks and troughs. This instability is not conducive to investment and growth. Natural resource-dependent governments are unlikely to adopt stabilising countercyclical policy, mainly because of low diversification and vulnerability to commodity price shocks.

(2) Strategic Human Resource Management Council (SHRMC)

Stabilising the fiscal position before the country can leapfrog is critical but it has to work in tandem with the strengthening of the country’s human capital. Culture issues are amplified in the public sector, the largest employer in TT. Therefore, the public sector presents the biggest lever for systemic change. There are disparate ministries, departments and agencies that are involved in executing the human resource function in the public sector, but these functions should be harmonised toward a strategic intent. Some attempt and

progress have been made to address these issues, with the National Tripartite Advisory Council (NTAC) implemented in 2016. NTAC intended to address sustainability, innovation, culture transformation, social issues and industrial relations but did not speak to specific strategies and a roadmap for public sector transformation. An independent SHRMC has the potential to close these gaps. An SHRMC can align itself first to a national vision for transformation via a national human capital roadmap which should seek to fulfil the following:

(1) A national competency framework that is implemented in the public sector and used to influence the labour movement and private sector;

(2) A strategic roadmap for transforming the public sector, re: culture, systems and processes, in keeping with Vision 2030; and

(3) National professional licensing, monitoring and database for trade/ vocational and professional services.

(3) Strategic Management Council (SMC)

Both Fiscal and SHRM councils should align to a single NDS, i.e., a single plan for national development. The issue with the current NDS is that it is government-centric, even if other stakeholders were consulted. As such, there is need for an overarching SMC.

An NDS should synthesise all aspects of development incorporating local and global economic, sociological, cultural and technological research. This can then inform a national vision, mission, core values and an integrated ecosystem of goals, key performance indicators and initiatives by which all areas of governance should align to. The current NDS (Vision 2030) has succeeded to a great extent in doing this. However, it follows the Vision 2020 NDS for attaining developed country status which has not been realised. Here experts indicate that most strategic plans fail due to poor execution and performance monitoring. Adapting the recommendations of strategists Diskiene et al in their 2008 paper published in the Baltic Journal on Sustainability and Economic Development, consideration could be given to establishing a National Strategic Planning Centre — a council of independent experts in various areas of research and strategic planning responsible for collaborating with CS in developing the strategy and monitoring the strategic plan for performance and continuity over successive governments.

Wider role of civil society

The additions to the governance process discussed can allow the expertise of CS to come forward to provide the know how, as well as represent the wider public in the governance process. However, transformation goes beyond building institutions and harnessing capabilities, but also involves living the values of a developed society. One critical value is sacrifice; the entire governance network including politicians, technocrats, CS and citizens must be willing to plant the seeds for fruit that may not be harvested in their lifetimes.