Bangladesh

Rural areas in Bangladesh often lag behind the rest of the country in development indicators and MDG achievement. Less than two per cent of total public spending flows towards the delivery of local services, and local institutions have limited financial capacity and human resources, despite strong legal provisions, to discharge their responsibilities. Rural local governments, known in Bangladesh as Union Parishads (Ups), have been functioning as the lowest tier of administrative government units since the 1870s. From 2000 to 2006, UNDP and UNCDF supported the Local Government Division to implement the Sirajganj Local Governance Development Fund Project, a pilot project which applied innovative techniques to develop UP capacity for providing effective and efficient services. Based on the lessons learned from the project, in 2004 the Government of Bangladesh adopted a new policy, channelling direct unconditional block grants to all 4,498 Ups in Bangladesh under the Local Governance Support Project. The Learning and Innovation Component (LIC) is a joint UNDP and UNCDF project, part of the nation-wide LGSP. It seeks to promote poverty reduction and MDG achievement by building the basic service delivery capacities of Ups. LGSP-LIC is piloting second generation innovations in six districts, and is feeding the successes and knowledge upwards, for broader implementation through LGSP and national policy making. The Learning and Innovation Component piloting focuses on:

1. Increasing the financial resources available to Ups in equitable and appropriate ways
2. Improving and institutionalising effective and transparent public expenditure systems for Ups
3. Enhancing mechanisms of local accountability
4. Establishing more effective frameworks for capacity development
5. Enhancing policy development that is informed by lessons from on-the-ground experience.

Sirajganj Local Governance Support Project

SLGDP has been implemented since 1999 with the aim to provide improved, participatory local governance for socio-economic development and poverty alleviation in Sirajganj district through: (i) Delivery of sustainable basic infrastructure and services; (ii) Building capacity of local government bodies to plan, finance and manage basic development activities in a responsive and accountable manner and (iii) Drawing lessons on improved local government practices of wider relevance in Bangladesh.

The project has demonstrated the positive impact of devolved block grant funding on infrastructure and service delivery at the local level as well as performance improvement of Union Parishads in areas such planning, finance, resource mobilization and management. The positive learning from the Sirajganj-project will be replicated in the national Local Governance Support Project which is implemented from 2007.