Strengthening local governance in Bangladesh

Also available in Bangla

The Government of Bangladesh is committed to improving local governance by strengthening the Union Parishad (UP), historically the neglected lowest tier of local government. Effective local government can bring the state closer to communities, creating space for broader political participation and greater accountability. This helps ensure that people get the local services they want.  Through the recently approved Local Governance Support Project (LGSP) the World Bank will provide financing to support the scaling up of the Government’s initiative in this area. The project increases and simplifies block grant financing to Union Parishads (UPs). This allows the UPs to allocate funds according to their own priorities, provided that stringent requirements for community participation, transparency and regular reporting and auditing are met. The Government is on track in preparing to implement the initiative but there is still much to do before the first block grant is provided in August 2007. 

Since August 2006, when the project agreement was signed, the Government has undertaken a series of activities to prepare the project for implementation. The implementation arrangements involve technical changes to existing government systems, including the direct disbursement of funding to UPs through a nationalized commercial bank, the contracting of chartered accountants to undertake nation-wide auditing of UPs on an annual basis, and the contracting of training service providers for UPs.

Preparations have now been made for the project to become effective on schedule in October 2006. The first block grants will be disbursed to UPs in August 2007, in the first quarter of the next financial year. In the first year of the program, until July 2007, the focus of implementation activities will be on auditing UPs to determine their eligibility to join the programme, providing basic training to UP members and staff, and executing a nation-wide information campaign to inform communities of their role in the project.

A recent World Bank mission to Bangladesh assisted the Government in identifying likely future bottlenecks to the implementation of the project. The mission confirmed that the Government was on-track with implementation activities, but emphasized the considerable amount of outstanding work that needs to be completed before enhanced block grants can be provided to eligible UPs in August 2007.

For related information on the project, please click here
To read about the Local Governance Support Project Signing Ceremony, please click here


Contacts:
Rehnuma Amin (8802) 815-9015, Ext 4136
E-mail:  ramin1@worldbank.org

For more information on the World Bank in Bangladesh, please visit :
www.worldbank.org.bd & www.worldbank.org