Bangladesh - Belgium

Citizens’ Voice and Accountability Evaluation – Bangladesh Country Case Study
2.2 Research questions
The TOR posed the following research questions (from the ODI Evaluation Framework):
Question 1: Channels, mechanisms and processes: What are the concrete channels, i.e.
actors, spaces and mechanisms, supported by donor-funded interventions for (i) citizens’ voice
and empowerment, (ii) increased role of poor and excluded groups and women or their
representatives in governance processes and (iii) accountability of government to citizens? How do
these channels work and how important are they to achieve CVA outcomes?
Question 2: Results and Outcomes: To what extent have the different approaches and
strategies adopted by donors contributed to enhanced CVA in Bangladesh?
Question 3: Pathways to broader development outcomes and impacts: In what ways are CVA
interventions contributing to broader development goals, such as poverty reduction and the
MDGs? In particular, what are the main pathways leading from improved CVA to such broader
development outcomes?
Question 4: CVA and aid effectiveness: What can we learn from experience to date of donors’
effectiveness in supporting CVA interventions with particular reference to the principles enshrined
in the Paris Declaration?
2.3 Case selection process
Following the TOR and Evaluation Framework, the process of selection of case studies was
initiated through a workshop in country with donors and a selection of other stakeholders 4 .
Recognising that this phase was critical, the team emphasised the inclusion of civil society
representatives, media, Trade Unions and private sector 5 who had limited or no current
development aid, support in addition to more conventional representation by NGOs.
The half day workshop, held at a hotel in Dhaka, had the following objectives:
• to understand the purpose and process of the Joint Evaluation of CVA
• to develop a mutual understanding of voice and accountability
• to identify types of interventions and criteria which can be used to select the interventions
• to select interventions for the study
• to garner support and ownership of the study.
Participants were asked to identify a range of intervention types and then criteria which should be
applied in selecting a broad range of interventions. Table B1 (Annex B Methodology) indicates the
types of intervention identified by the participants, categorised as supply-side, demand-side and
supply-demand side interface. Table B2 (Annex B Methodology) provides most of the other criteria
which the participants felt were essential in making an ‘interesting’ selection of the diverse range of
CVA interventions in Bangladesh. It was not possible for workshop participants to rank
interventions based on these criteria since there was very little common understanding of the huge
4 Including NGOs, INGOs, Advocacy Bodies and Networks, Social Movements, Trade Unions, Media (print
and electronic) and Chamber of Commerce.
5 The team considered the inclusion of representatives of political parties but this was not possible in the
prevailing Caretaker Government situation at that time where they both would not have agreed to
participating and the meeting might have been subject to censorship.
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