Donor support towards good governance in Bangladesh: a focus on people's participation and accountability

Abstract

International donors to Bangladesh have emphasized governance reform since the 1990s, on the basis that bad governance was siphoning away both domestic and foreign aid resources. While donor support towards good governance is encouraging, such support should be judged in the light of actual contributions to the promotion of good governance. This article examines a donor-funded project called the Participatory Rural Development Project (PRDP), which aims to promote good governance at the grassroots level. The article assesses the effectiveness of PRDP in promoting good governance, especially in bringing transparency and accountability to Bangladeshi Public Administration. The core finding is that the project achieved remarkable success, with a tangible impact in terms of promoting good governance at the local level. The paper analyzes the reasons for this success with the aim of providing indicators for other donors working in this area.

Keywords:

• donor support
• good governance
• participation
• accountability

Acknowledgement

The author is grateful to Robert D. Eldridge PhD, Osaka University, Niaz Ahmed Khan PhD, Dhaka University, and M. Emdadul Haq PhD, North South University for their assistance in preparing the manuscript. Financial support from the Japanese Government (Monbukagakusho) is also gratefully acknowledged.

Notes

1. Calculations have been made by the author.

2. The basic philosophy of Japan's participatory development approach is that people's participation in the development policies will help not only to achieve sustainable development, but also to promote democracy. It also argues that good governance supports wide people's participation in order to boost up peoples trust in their government. Therefore, participatory development and good governance are interrelated. That is why Japan has been supporting participatory development in Bangladesh since 1986. Apart from supporting the Participatory Rural Development Project, Japan also implemented two other projects in Bangladesh, namely (1) Local Development Coordination Programme (2003–2007), and (2) Participatory Integrated Rural Development Project in Ishwarganj (2004–2007) (Rahaman 2008, 301).

3. KRI International Corporation was established in 1995. It provides consultation services to the governments and implementing agencies in developing countries and donor agencies. The corporation has expertise on the three fields: economic and industrial development; education and human resource development; and regional and community development. For details, KRI International Corporate Profile at http://www.kri-inter.co.jp/english/profile/index.html (accessed February 18, 2010).

4. Information has been supplied by Md. Abdul Hamid, Research Associate, PRDP-2/JICA, Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB), Kalihati, Tangail.

5. Md. Abdul Hamid, Research Associate of PRDP-2 mentioned that in total 60 schemes were implemented.

6. Information has been supplied by Md. Abdul Hamid, Research Associate, PRDP-2, JICA, BRDB, Kalihati, Tangail.

7. Interview by author, 8 November 2007.