Experts for effective, transparent and accountable local governance

Despite years of efforts toward decentralisation, local government of Bangladesh has remained heavily dependent on central government resources, limiting their autonomy in addressing community needs, budgeting and delivering essential services.

Therefore, actionable guidelines to minimise political influence in local governance, fostering transparency, empowering local government officials, practical approaches for boosting people’s participation in governance, providing easy access to technology for quick service, monitoring functions of local government and other necessary steps should be taken to bring a decentralised system in Bangladesh.

Besides, it is necessary to form an independent local government commission and formulate a comprehensive local government policy. Said experts in a roundtable titled ‘Towards Effective, Transparent and Accountable Local Governance’ on 24 November, Sunday in Dhaka, Bangladesh, stated a press release.

This event was jointly organised by UNDP’s Strengthening Institutions, Policies, and Services (SIPS) project and Prothom Alo, supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), with research support from the Centre on Budget and Policy (CBP), University of Dhaka.

The chair of the Local Government Reform Commission Tofail Ahmed delivered the keynote speech. He said, “We need a system which consists of relation between local and central government. He stressed the formation of one Comprehensive Local Government Act, so that districts, upazilas, unions can reform their organisational structure, funding and judiaciary system.”

The dialogue was represented by stakeholders from government, civil society, academia, student representatives from anti-discrimintation movement, youth development representatives, media, local government representatives including four members of the Local Government Reform Commission, and UNDP officials to identify actionable reforms aimed at decentralising governance in Bangladesh.