https://journals.umt.edu.pk/index.php/jppp <p style="text-align: justify;">Journal of public policy practitioners is a scholarly research journal, exclusively for the publications of practitioners working in the public sector of Pakistan. The journal aims to feature substantively on the core governance and policy issues such as management in public sector organizations, local government issues, intergovernmental relations, performance management and evaluation, public financial management, budgeting, governance, service delivery, and public involvement.</p> University of Management and Technology (UMT), Lahore, Pakistan en-US Journal of Public Policy Practitioners 2959-2194 https://journals.umt.edu.pk/index.php/jppp/article/view/5458 <p style="text-align: justify;">The 21^st century offers unique opportunities and challenges for public sector institutions. Technology has increased the choices available to the citizens in their personal and private lives and, consequently, there is immense pressure on public institutions to deliver with enhanced efficiency and effectiveness. Generally, it is the responsibility of public audit institutions, commonly called the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs), to provide independent reports to the legislatures on the adherence of government departments to regulatory and performance benchmarks. SAIs, like other service delivery institutions, are accountable to the ultimate stakeholders: the citizens. Currently, however, their engagement with the latter is somewhat sub-optimal. While some SAIs have engaged the citizens at various levels, the overall public audit community has a long way to go. SAIs need to connect with the citizens in a meaningful manner and the latter’s involvement in audit tasks should be consistent throughout the audit cycle, that is, from planning to reporting. For SAIs, to justify their existence in today’s world, this would be a respectable and dignified approach to adopt.</p> Aamir Fayyaz Copyright (c) 2024 Aamir Fayyaz https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2024-12-20 2024-12-20 3 2 https://journals.umt.edu.pk/index.php/jppp/article/view/6263 <p style="text-align: justify;">In today’s world, information is the most valuable resource. Geospatial information, which refers to the location of various features on earth, plays a&nbsp;crucial role in policymaking, implementation, and monitoring the policy outcomes. The information about forests, roads, water bodies, health and education facilities, population, human settlements etc. is geospatial. Due to financial and human resource constraints a single government department cannot collect such diverse information. Therefore, each department is mandated to collect and maintain one particular type of information. The information collected is used as evidence in policymaking and to ensure its efficacy, various types of information collected by departments is integrated and utilized. The dilemma is, government departments often do not share their collected information, despite them being funded by public money. Consequently, informed decision-making is hampered. The reasons for non-sharing of the information may include lack of technical capacity, fear of loss of control over information assets, poor quality of the information and lack of legal and policy framework to share information.&nbsp; This article focuses on policy and legal barriers to geospatial information sharing in Pakistan. The study follows&nbsp;content analysis method, specifically used for deriving relevant information from the data. The data is collected through reviews of policy documents, minutes of meetings, and focused group discussions with experts on the subject. The article discusses how the current provisions are inadequate to deal with new developments in geospatial information sharing, and proposes recommendations for amending and updating existing laws and policies. The study finds that policymakers in Pakistan are still not aware of the potential of geospatial information and its sharing through NSDI for informing, and implementing public policies. Accordingly, the study recommends approving NSDI Act at the earliest.</p> Asmat Ali Hammad Hussain Rida Fatima Munir Ahmad Copyright (c) 2024 Asmat Ali, Hammad Hussain, Munir Ahmad, Rida Fatima https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2024-12-20 2024-12-20 3 2