1. MOOC
Citizen Engazement Project
Rakhi Barua
Bangladesh
Email:rakhi.barua@gmail.com

2. Citizen Engagement Project on
`Enhance Accountability and Promote Inclusion at local government institutions
to ensure improved local services for ALL’
will be led by Centre for Disability in Development (CDD), Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh

3. project name
Enhance Accountability and Promote Inclusion at local government
institutions to ensure improved local services for ALL
implemented by
In partnership with
Supported by

4. Objectives
Overall Objective:
“To reinforce governance, to promote accountability and inclusive policy-
implementation by local authorities to ensure that persons with disabilities
and other marginalized population in Bangladesh benefit from social services
and development outcomes”
Specific objective: Enhance understanding and capacity of local government
& public authorities on inclusive governance & development by improving
citizen engagement for effective implementation of more inclusive and
responsive social policies for persons with disabilities and discriminated
groups of society.

5. Existing problems
• communities especially women, poor, marginalized, persons with
disabilities have limited scope to participate in planning and budgeting,
• Downward accountability is weaker between UPs and local citizens
• Inaccessible environment including infrastructure, transport, make it
difficult for people with disabilities to access development services and
schemes
• People with disabilities lack capacity and confidence limiting their active
participation in local development process and accessing services
• Local service providing agencies are not well aware about persons with
disabilities, lack required capabilities to ensure inclusive planning,
allocation of budget, resources and create accessibility for people with
disabilities.

6. Target Audience…
• 1) 20 Union Parishods and 5 municipalities
• 2) Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development, and Cooperatives (MoLGRD&C)
• 3) National Institute of Local Government(NILG)
• 4)Ministry of Social Welfare
• 5) Horizontal Learning Platform(HLP) led by Local
Government Division, Bangladesh
• 6)Community people
• 7)Persons with Disabilities
• 8) Local and national media
• 9) Community

7. proposed strategies/approach
• Awareness , sensitization, mobilization with community, family members, service
providers
• Formation and strengthen of people’s groups/collectives
• Building capacity and capability of collectives of persons with disabilities along
with communities
• Identification of good practice through Horizontal Learning to scale up further
among peers
• Citizen engazment tools like community score cards, Social audit and public
hearing, participatory budgeting,
• Crowdsourcing though SMS, robocall voice, Mobile phone

8. Accessible house in rural area in Bangladesh built by UP
Court yard meeting of collectives

9. Information
Education
Material _A
Poster on
Budget
information.

10. Sticker on Disability friendly Tubewell and Latrine giving message for disability inclusive local
government

11. Challenges, Opportunity
• Challenge:
• To get citizen agreed to participate in the process, to contribute time.
• UP functionaries, government officials are not readily available
• Political biasness of UP functionaries
• Limited resource of UPs
• Lack of commitment of Local Government functionaries to be in compliance with policies and laws
• Opportunities
• World Bank’s Bangladesh Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) FY 2011-2014 is ‘Stronger Governance’, which aims to Enhance
Accountability and Promote Inclusion.
• the Perspective Plan of Bangladesh 2010-2021 reiterates that accelerating economic growth without paying attention to
the concepts of ‘inclusiveness’ and ‘sustainability’ holds no meaning for a country.
• . Existing Horizontal learning mechanism which, led by Local Government division will bring all UP peers, citizen in same
platform to review , assess themselves , learn each other’s good practices resulting in improve service delivery and scale
up/ replicate in other UPs.
• Just recently on 23rd February, 2015 we got government circular issued on Roles and responsibilities of Union parishad for
persons with disabilities.

12. Expected Changes:
• Increased capacity of local government authorities address disability
issues in every steps of development process to ensure greater inclusion of
persons with disability.
• Increased development outcome for persons with disabilities (available
information, social safety nets & entitlements, access to justice, education,
livelihood, water & sanitation, allocation of budget etc)
• Improved responsiveness and accountability of LAs and public institutions
to become more disability inclusive.
• Application of relevant laws and legislation, Rights & Protection Act of
persons with disabilities - 2013, Union Parishad Circular-February 2015

13. Accessible Health Center at Local Level
Meeting of Self-help Group at Union Parishad
Some Pictorial Illustration of Citizen Engazement and Inclusion result of Persons with disabilities

14. Accessible Union Parishad (Lowest tier of local
Government Unit of Bangladesh)
A persons with disability employed in a Union
Information Centre

15. Women with Disability involved in Cow
Rearing which is supported by Union
Parishad (UP)
Therapy Centre in a UP where persons with
disabilities getting therapeutic service

16. Results Seen…..
• Accessible Union Parishad building, Community Clinique etc
• Increased number of persons with disabilities getting benefits of
social safety nets.
• Regular Open Budget Meetings, Ward Savas held
• Empowered citizen
• Responsive Local Authorities.
• Employment opportunity being created.
• Disability inclusive schemes, project undertaken.
• Citizens are giving feedback in facebook, call centers

17. "Wherever we lift one soul from a life of poverty, we are defending
human rights.
And whenever we fail in this mission, we are failing human rights.“
Kofi Annan
United Nations Secretary-General
(January 1997 to December 2006)

18. Thank you!
Greetings from Bangladesh!