Strengthening Local Governance : Defining the Role of Upazila and Union Parishads
This note focuses on the rural sector. It takes as its starting point the premise that the Upazila and the Union Parishads can jointly form the backbone of a system of rural local governments in Bangladesh. The key interventions required are to str...
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| Format: | Corporate Governance Assessment (ROSC) |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
Washington, DC
2013
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/01/16259482/strengthening-local-governance-defining-role-upazila-union-parishads http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12400 |
| Summary: | This note focuses on the rural sector.
It takes as its starting point the premise that the Upazila
and the Union Parishads can jointly form the backbone of a
system of rural local governments in Bangladesh. The key
interventions required are to strengthen the Upazila as an
independent tier of government - especially relative to
national parliament - and to clarify the relationship
between the Upazilas and Union Parishads so that the two can
jointly work as one system of local government. In this
context, holding elections at Upazila level will be an
important step to take, but this action alone will not
result in a sustainable or effective system of local
governance. Upazilas require clarity on their functions and
their relations to Union Parishads, adequate untied
resources for which they can be held accountable and
appropriate checks and balances on their powers. There is a
broad social consensus for strengthening local governance in
Bangladesh. This is largely expressed as support for
strengthening the role of Upazila and Union Parishads,
through elections and greater political decentralization. |
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