Bangladesh - Belgium

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Citizens’ Voice and Accountability Evaluation – Bangladesh Country Case Study cultural groups, there is a risk of reducing the possibility of enhancing healthy pluralism. Recent developments The range of interviewees met during the Inception Phase, (October, 2007) concur on the view that Bangladesh is currently experiencing “uncertain times”. It is presently governed by a transition Caretaker Government which intends to stand down for national elections to take place by December 2008. This arrangement commenced in January 2007 as a response to months of violent protests by opposition parties over the electoral system and, in particular, the national elections which were to have been held in late 2006. The Caretaker Government initially enjoyed popular support as it vowed to “clean up” politics, in particular, taking tough action against insidious corruption. However, the imposition of a state of emergency which included banning all kinds of political activities, protests and rallies as well as curtailment of freedom of speech was increasingly criticised amidst allegations of abuse of power. These criticisms came to a head in August, 2007 with a series of violent student protests. On September 10th, 2007 the Caretaker Government lifted the ban on indoor political meetings to pave the way for crucial negotiations between the Election Commission and the political parties on electoral reforms, planned over the following two months. As a consequence of the state of emergency all meetings regardless of the purpose or the convenor (NGO, Trade Union, CSO or Government Department) required police authorization, which included prior approval of all participants as well as the agenda. The impact of this continues to be felt and even government–led consultation processes have been curtailed 19 . The Caretaker Government is determined to stem corruption before the elections. Over 200,000 people have been arrested including 160 high-profile political leaders and the leaders of the two main parties, both former Prime Ministers who ruled the country for 16 years until October, 2006. There is much speculation regarding the future. It is feared that despite the efforts to prepare for elections at the end of 2008 including the preparation of a new voters list and ID cards and instigation of new qualifying regulations for candidates, the two main parties will boycott the election. The two year transition period is regarded as too short for the establishment of and mobilization of support for alternative political parties. Other scenarios suggest the possibility of an institutionalised and expanded version of the current Caretaker Government arrangement of advisors or further infiltration by the military. In principle, the Caretaker Government claims to support not only enhancing accountability (where the main opportunities appear to currently lie) but also voice. It has publicly endorsed the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) which remains the key document for alignment of development aid. Under the title “Unlocking the Potential; National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction, 2005-7”, the document spells out a commitment to poverty reduction and the Millennium Development Goals. Along with growth and human development, governance is one of the three key elements of the policy triangle used in the PRS to determine priorities. The consultations leading up to development of the PRS gave high priority to improving governance and suggested a concentration on the local governance agenda, which is described in the PRS as “central to the critical issues of decentralized servicedelivery, grass-root accountability and the newer focus on regeneration of local 19 e.g. Local Government Engineering Department has suspended its customary village consultation process on small infrastructure priorities and feels that its credibility as participatory agency is being undermined. 12
Citizens’ Voice and Accountability Evaluation – Bangladesh Country Case Study economies through relevant partnerships amongst local government bodies, CBOs, NGOs, private sector and central government agencies”’ (1.13). Local governance is thus one of the eight strategic agenda (1.15). Promoting “good governance by ensuring transparency, accountability and rule of law” is also one of the four supporting strategies. The PRS identifies the “needs” of the poor regarding governance as: i) better service-delivery particularly in the areas of health and education, ii) reduction of leakage in targeted programmes, iii) access to justice, iv) regulatory support to the informal and un-organised sectors of the economy where a majority of the poor pursue their livelihoods, and, v) reduction of income erosion threats to the poor due to various forms of insecurity and improper application of power’ (4.29). It highlights a need for reformulating the decentralisation agenda to one of promoting local governance as a “political and institutional process which can contribute to the required scaling up of the rate of poverty reduction through more effective resource mobilization and enhanced development choices available at local level and better inclusion of all social groups in these choices” (5.441). 3.2 Donor landscape regarding CVA interventions Members of the evaluation team met with representatives from all the DAC partners involved in the Joint Evaluation except Norway. Belgian interests are channelled through World Solidarity Movement (Trade Union) and an interview was held with a representative of the Bangladesh Chapter. The current CVA interventions of the DAC partners are presented in C.5 (Annex C). Interviews were also held with UNDP and EU representatives. Other information on CVA interventions was gathered through an internet search. The current CVA interventions of other development partners are presented in Table C.8 (Annex C). It should be noted that some CVA initiatives are embedded in projects and programmes and are not easy to uncover. For example, the Education SWAp has provision to support School Management Committees and School Level Improvement Programme (SLIP) Committees which are intended to create conditions for greater community voice and enhanced accountability. Table 3.1 Top ten donors to Bangladesh DONOR (highlighted those involved in this study Gross ODA (2005-6 average US $) IDA 478 ADB 266 Japan 199 UK 193 IMF 124 EC 90 USA 81 Netherlands 64 Canada 54 Denmark 48 Source: OECD (www.oecd.org) The concept of citizens’ voice and accountability is not widely used as such, most donors refer to related concepts as good governance and empowerment. All the donors and lending organisations in Bangladesh currently have ‘governance’ as a strategic focus. The Development Banks have been able to establish large programmes of public sector reform under this agenda. The size of their programmes inevitably confers more clout in bringing about institutional change (see 13
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IV Relevant Primary and Secondary d
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II: Overall Assessment of Intervent
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Impact According to the 2007 Impact
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Model of change Assumptions Activit
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D.8. Bangladesh Sanjukta Sramic Fed
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Effectiveness BSSF provides 22 trai
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. Model of change Assumptions Activ
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D.9. Rupantar Grassroots Women’s
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Impact Phase 1 resulted in a cadre
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Figure 1. Rupantar CVA Model of Cha
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Table 2. Most significant change an
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D.10. Samata - Empowerment Through
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Lessons Learned Important lessons l
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Table 2. Most significant change an
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D.11. GTZ brokered dialogue within
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Sustainability GTZ feels that the f
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Project (Donor) Partners/ PIUs Inte
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Project (Donor) Partners/ PIUs Inte
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Annex F. Summary of Stakeholder Deb
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