http://rulrepository.ru.ac.bd/handle/123456789/232 Tue, 07 Apr 2026 21:40:23 GMT 2026-04-07T21:40:23Z http://rulrepository.ru.ac.bd/handle/123456789/288 Impact of ‘The Local Government (Union Parishad) Act, 2009’ on the Local Governance in Bangladesh: A Focus on People’s Participation and Accountability Chowdhury, Mst Shuvra This is an impact study of the Local Government (Union Parishad) Act, 2009. It is about the scope of people’s participation, and thereby accountability of public officials, i.e. Social Accountability Mechanisms (SAM) in local level planning at the Ward Shava (Ward Meeting hereinafter WS) and budgeting at the Unmukto Budget Shava (Open Budget Meeting, hereinafter OBM) processes. The state of the application of two other techniques of New Public Management (NPM), i.e. Right to Information (RTI) and Citizen’s Charter (CC), by the citizens in the planning and budgeting processes has also been explored. This study has employed both qualitative and quantitative data derived from both primary and secondary sources. The first observation is that, for the very first time, grassroots people are engaged in the local level (Union Parishad hereinafter UP) planning and budget preparation in Bangladesh, as a result of the enactment of the Local Government (Union Parishad) Act, 2009 (“the Act, 2009”) . It is evident that the process of planning and budgeting through WS and OBM, as processes, are well-designed by the Act, 2009. The Act offers people the opportunity of direct engagement to identify problems, related to their livelihoods, at the Ward level. At each stage of the planning process, there are provisions for engaging ordinary citizens, as well as representatives of Civil Society Organizations (CSO). The obvious expectation of Parliament was that general people, with their associates, could demand answerability of the UP functionaries. This study also finds that the mandate of the process of dissemination of information, under the the provisions of the Right To Information Act 2009 (“RTI”) and Citizens’ Charters (“CC”), has empowered those UP Councillors who want to be responsive to the general people at the WS and OBM. However, the flow of information at the UPs, through their Union Information and Service Centers (UISC), website of Local Government Division (LGD), at the notice board and billboard of the UP office etc., has not created transparency, as most village residents do not access these sources. The second set of observations is related to the outcomes/ changes which have occurred with the implementation of the Local Government (Union Parishad) Act, 2009. It is evident that, when people are offered legitimized engagement in the planning and budgeting cycle, they have the ability to identify their areas of priority needs and to bargain with the UP functionaries. The fund utilization process has been monitored by the people at the OBM. Dissemination of other information, including a UP’s income, expenditure, project beneficiary list, project list, etc. has enhanced transparency. The trust of the voters in their elected UP officials, has also been enhanced, since many of the people who participated at both the WS and OBM have expressed their satisfaction with those processes. Personal motivation of the elected and government officials of UP to involve the public in the processes and involvement of NGOs have been seen as means for enhancing the capacity of the UP functionaries to implement these provisions. The third set of findings has depicted the challenges which have to be resolved to secure more participation by citizens and more responsiveness of the UP functionaries. Inconvenient times and places of meeting, religious codes and patriarchy, lack of education and awareness of the general people and mistrust of the UP functionaries due to institutionalization of corruption are some reasons that discourage people’s access to the WS and OBM. On the other hand, lack of resources, local power structure, lack of cooperation from government officials, lack of capacity of the UP functionaries and interference of national politicians in local matters are some challenges of SAM that reduce the UP functionaries’ responsiveness and answerability to the needs of their voters. However, non-compliance with the strategy of bottom- up planning, lack of a standardised charter of services for UPs or citizens’ engagement in developing CCs, lack of customer focus, lack of realization of user charges, lack of experts on the application of ICT at the UP are some challenges of implementation of the NPM techniques that are hindering effective service delivery and popular participation in planning and budgeting at the UP level Finally, some suggestions for UP, including capacity building of the UP functionaries to conduct social mapping for UP plan preparation, placement of government officials in UP offices, partnership with private, other public and NGO programs, e-Governance, utilisation of ICT, advertisement and mass awareness building programs etc. have been offered, for improved socio economic development of the local people. This thesis is Submitted to the Department of Public Administration, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi, Bangladesh for The Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT http://rulrepository.ru.ac.bd/handle/123456789/288 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z http://rulrepository.ru.ac.bd/handle/123456789/234 Good Governance in Rural Development: A Case Study on a Selected Government Project Islam, Md. Shafiul Rural development programmes and projects aim at improving the quality of life of the rural people. Improvement in the quality of life depends on increased productivity and income which include regular employment of landless or near landless section of rural populace. For this it needs a comprehensive policy guideline. Moreover, it needs a sound governance system to achieve objectives set for rural uplift. This research study explores the governance system in rural development programmes and projects which are being implemented under Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB). The study reveals that all the programmes and projects are designed on the basis of top-down approach. But at the implementation stage, there is very close provision for involvement of target group people at field level. Taking a government run rural development project as the case study, this research study deeply explores project design approach and governance system. It finds that policy, programmes and projects are taken by the choice of policy makers in the name of target people, especially rural poor people who have nothing to do regarding project acceptance or rejection. But they have to accept it willingly or unwillingly. At the stage of decision making, the first step of project formulation, the target people have no scope for participation. However, the study quests for good governance focusing participation and accountability in the rural development project. The study reveals that there is lack of good governance in term of participation and accountability. Participation by stakeholders’ especially rural poor people, the target group of the project, is almost absent in every sphere except in the stage of implementation of the project activities. Although there is a provision for participation of the beneficiary group, it is not functioning properly. The rural development project, Rural Livelihood Project (RLP), is a cooperative based rural development project. The main objective of this project is to alleviate poverty through sustainable income generation and employment creation in the agriculture and non-agriculture sectors of the target people. The project was on track earlier. But now it is deviated from the track due to lack of good governance. The activities of the project are now stagnant except providing micro-credit only to its members of the primary societies. It cannot ensure accountability due to lack of participation by the stakeholders. It is happening owing to various governance problems. For example, the project coordinating committees situated at upazila and district levels are not functioning at all. For the last one decade, no meeting of upazila coordinating committee of Puthia upazila is held which is supposed to be held at least one meeting with the time interval of two months. Training programme which is considered as vibrant tool of the project has been suspended for long due to shortage of funds. Training is meant a way of participation, communication and it can ensure accountability through skill development as well as awareness creation. However, the managing committees of the primary societies as well as central cooperative association are not functioning properly. A six-member managing committee of primary societies is responsible to run these samabaya samities properly. But it is not happening due to lack of good governance particularly participation. Members of the primary societies are not interested to participate at different meetings. On the other hand, a 12-member managing committee of central cooperative association is in fact ineffective. Among the 12 members, 8 members are government nominated and most of them do not know about their membership. So, it appears that there is lack of participation as well as accountability in term of responsibilities of the stakeholders in the rural development project. In conclusion, the study puts some recommendations to ensure good governance particularly participation and accountability to achieve the objectives set for rural development. It makes suggestions including restructuring the managing committee of central cooperative association and vibrating it. The coordinating committees should be effective for reviving the project activities. Last but not the least participation of target people should be ensured in different capacities with the project activities and it is considered that it will ensure accountability. This Thesis is submitted to The Department of Public Administration, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi, Bangladesh for The Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Wed, 01 Jan 2014 00:00:00 GMT http://rulrepository.ru.ac.bd/handle/123456789/234 2014-01-01T00:00:00Z