Bangladesh - Belgium

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Citizens’ Voice and Accountability Evaluation – Bangladesh Country Case Study The BNP introduced a new security force in 2004 comprising ‘hand –picked’ members of the police and army known as the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). This force has widespread public support (BRAC 2006) but donors and human rights activists have expressed concern with the undemocratic means to curb crime. The RAB are accused of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and torture 52 C.3. Social and political landscape Exercising voice through franchise The US State Department website notes ‘despite serious problems related to a dysfunctional political system, weak governance and pervasive corruption, Bangladesh remains one of the few democracies in the Muslim world. Bangladeshis regard democracy as an important legacy of their bloody war for independence and vote in large numbers. Despite an enlightened Constitution (1972) which made provision for direct participation in constituting local bodies, this ideology has not always been promoted by successive administrations. Elections have not been held at regular intervals and have been boycotted or criticised for lack of fairness. Table C.5. Overview of Elections Year of election No of contesting parties % of eligible population voting 1973 14 55.6 1979 29 51.29 1986 28 66.31 1988 8 51.81 1991 75 55.45 1996 (Feb) 41 26.54 1996 (June 81 74.96 2001 54 75.59 Ex National Election Commission website www.ecs.gov.bd Although candidates are legally not supposed to spend more than US$8000 on their election campaign, they use a variety of financial incentives to secure votes. People’s participation Despite (or perhaps because of?) the poor electoral discipline and its ineffectiveness in promoting democracy, other democratic spaces of civil society voice have emerged in recent times. Think tanks, independent research bodies, development and advocacy organisations and the media are increasingly playing a role in checking the excesses of the ruling elite. However, the main channel for participation has been rallies, ‘gheroas’ (lock-ins of officials by the public), strikes and ‘hartals’ (days of non-cooperation). Social movements and unions have used all these forms of protest effectively. At local government level, the UP Ordinance makes provision for citizens to be co-opted to various standing committees, tender committees but the Deputy Commissioner has the authority to endorse membership. Thus, if these appointments are made at all they have traditionally been made on political bases. 52 2007 statistics indicate that RAB had made over 17.000 arrests of (so-called) terrorists or leaders of banned political groups and killed 397 in ‘exchanges of fire’ (RAB website. 2007) 74
Citizens’ Voice and Accountability Evaluation – Bangladesh Country Case Study UP regulation requires them to publicly display their budget, accounts, audit reports and information on major decisions of UP meetings, particularly with regard to development activities. This rarely happens, partly through reluctance on the side of the UP to share but also because the public is unaware of this provision. Participation at village and union level has been supported by the efforts of NGOs and some Government departments, notably the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), the Department for Social Welfare and Department of Agricultural Extension supported by development assistance. The adoption of participatory consultative planning approaches have been particularly widespread and have become an accepted norm over the last decade although they generally require some form of external facilitation. Most processes actively seek to include the opinions of women and marginalised. The definition of ‘marginalised’ has evolved and expanded over the last decade. For example, the latest project concept papers describing current Rural Development Programmes of LGED in addition to minimum quotas of women to be included in participatory processes throughout the project cycle, also specifically require inclusion of persons with disabilities and the opinions of school children. Despite these efforts at inclusion, poverty and risk aversion further limit the participation of those living in poverty or otherwise excluded 53 . Increasingly, civil society groups or NGO supported community groups have taken the initiative to encourage UPs to engage with them thorough open dialogue meetings and open budget meetings. This has included providing training, orientation and guidelines to UPs to fill the gap in training provision by the National Institute of Local Government due to resource constraints. Women’s political participation As in other countries, Bangladeshi women face social, economic and institutional barriers to decision making in the household, community and at every level through to national level. They have fewer channels for political representation, to influence policy or to hold the state to account. For many poor women the first exposure to behaving as a ‘citizen’ rather than being trapped in patron-client relationships has been as a member of a NGO group or informal labour group. These forums have provided opportunities for self identity, collective action and redressing of collective injustice. Although the Constitution of Bangladesh as well as numerous legislative provisions and the Government’s commitment to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) uphold the principles of gender equality and forbid discrimination against women, there are many challenges to making this a reality. The following table identifies the current challenges to women’s political participation. Table C.6. Challenges for women’s political participation Provision/issue Voting rights Challenges Women leaders and party workers engage in the task of mobilizing and canvassing voters, particularly women, for their party candidates. By making special arrangements such as separate election booths for women, and females presiding as polling officers, the turnout rate of women voters 53 Mahmud (2004) further lists poverty, power inequalities, fear of exclusion through dissent, low self esteem invisibility and dominance of party politics as constraints to active citizenship and participation by people living in poverty see Mahmud, S (2004). “Citizen Participation in the Health sector in Rural Bangladesh, Perceptions and Reality”, IDS Bulletin 35 (2) New Democratic Spaces 75
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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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