Issues and Challenges of Local Government

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Issues and Challenges of Local Government
Capacity Building Bangladesh Experiences
Professor Salahuddin M. Aminuzzaman,
PhDDepartment of Public Administration
University of Dhakasaminuzzaman_at_yahoo.com Pape
r presented to International Conference on
Challenges of Governance in South Asia,
Kathmandu, Nepal December 15-16, 2008
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Context
Decentralization is one of the recent
development fads. It is a high priority Donor
Agenda for reforms. (Leading agents are WB, ADB,
UNCDF and DFID). Ideological base is still not
sure but it is argued that decentralization is
generally motivated by political
imperatives. But it has a sound basis in the
economic rational of the allocation of resources
and the responsiveness of policy making,
strengthening grass root democracy. It is also
seen as a more effective means to tackle poverty.
Unfortunately empirical evidences are yet to be
convincing.
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Context
Major Constraints Conceptual clarity is yet to
be cleared (What to Decentralize? At what level
and at what cost and benefit.) Political aspects
of decentralization has been ignored Difficulty
of matching autonomy, authority and
accountability Insufficient capacity at the
designated level of decentralization. Decentraliz
ation as function also depends on the nature of
State.
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Context
Some observations from Bangladesh Decentralizatio
n to enhance Local Governance in Bangladesh has
always been top-down and being mastermind by
Dictatorial rulers!!! Demand side for
Decentralization was hardly been there except
few donor supported NGOs and Civil Society raised
the issue. Paradoxically in spite of high
Constitutional commitment, Decentralization never
got place in high priority reform agenda. Some
form of in-built resistance from the political
parties and Members of parliament
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The fundamental argument of my paper is that
Decentralization needs political, cultural,
managerial and institutional preparedness. For
that matter Capacity building at the local level
is one of the prime considerations for
decentralization. Capacity building also enhances
the demand side of decentralization. Without
such capacity building decentralization could
be more of rhetoric and may even further weaken
local level governance and politics.
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Recent developments in Bangladesh
Decentralization is one of the recent policy
focuses of Govt of Bangladesh. LGSP is one of
such policies

• LGSP is mounting a campaign to strengthen the
  process of decentralization by strengthening the
  Union Parishad (UP).
• (A typical Union Parishad in Bangladesh consists
  of 19 villages and 13 Mouzas. A population of 21
  thousand lives on 8.2 thousand acres of land with
  3900 households)

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Decentralization needs three Fs

• Functions (with assigned authority)
• Finance
• Functionaries (with authority, competence and
  skill)
• LGSP has primarily focused only on Finance
• Bangladesh experiences of decentralization as a
  Local Capacity building scheme grossly missed two
  other elements.

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One of the most important and serious challenge
of recent decentralization move in Bangladesh is
capacity building in shortest possible time with
quality and minimum cost. In the light of the
decentralization scheme (LGSP) of the GoB, The
paper presents two alternative schemes for such
capacity building approach
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• Institutional Profile of UP
• UP as a local Government institutions has its
  origin in the period of British rule originated
  by the Chawkidari Panchayet Act of 1870.
• UPs lack credibility and image.
• Institutional and management capacity of the UPs
  is very poor.
• A significant portion (85) of UP officials
  (Chairman, Members and Secretary) have not
  received any training.
• Female members of UP are still playing a
  symbolic and ornamental role.
• UPs have a very weak financial and resource base.
  

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• Institutional profile of UP....
• Planning of UP projects is not participatory and
  fails to address the dire needs of the poor and
  disadvantaged.
• There is no scope for effective community
  participation in planning process.
• Some of the assigned functions are far beyond the
  legal, managerial and financial capacity of the
  UP.

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• Capacity needs of the UP
• Critical areas of concern for capacity building
  of the age old institution are (Aminuzzaman,
  2006)
• Skills related to community mobilization and
  social mapping
• Revenue mobilization and collection (fiscal
  regulations, taxes, duties, user fees, revenue
  collection )
• Budget management (financial reports and audit,
  Procurement procedures)
• Project design and management (participative
  planning project implementation and
  supervision)
• Inclusive strategic planning
• Institutional innovation for service delivery,
• Monitoring and reporting system.

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• Supply Side of Capacity building
• Present supply side of LG Capacity building is
  far too limited. Roughly up 10 of the demand
  side could be addressed by National Institute of
  Local Government (NILG), the sole training
  institution for the Local Government bodies.
• Features of Alternative Capacity Building
  Service providers
• 15 national NGOs and 2 international NGO have
  been involved in imparting training to the Local
  bodies through the funding support from different
  donor agencies. NGO expertise are
• Management of Social development activities and
  Salish (Alternative Dispute Resolution) are the
  other common elements of training of the NGOs.
• Womens right and human rights.
• Technical aspects like project design and
  management, participative planning, social
  monitoring, resource management/ budgeting,
  office management, did not get adequate priority
  in the NGO training packages.
• NGOs are heavily dependent on external resource
  speakers/ trainers.

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• Assessment of Capacity building
  ApproachIndependent studies recognized that
  most of the training programs of the NILG are
  mere academic, routine, repetitive and devoid of
  changing reality (UNDP, 2006, Aminuzzaman, 2007)
  
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• On the supply side, given the institutional and
  other practical limitations of NILG, two
  alternative options can be explored
• Approach A Capacity building service through
  NGOs
• Approach B Capacity building service through
  Upazila Resource Team (URT)

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• Approach A Capacity building service through
  NGOs A number of NGOs are expected to be
  providing the capacity building service to the
  primary level beneficiaries i.e. UP Chair,
  Members, Secretary and the members of Project
  Implementation Committee (PIC).
• Approach B - Capacity building service through
  Upazila Resource Team (URT)
• Under this approach, a Upazila Resource Team
  (URT) could be formed in each Upazila. The UNO
  will act as the Coordinator of the URT. Each
  Upazila has as many as 25 to 28 Professional
  cadre officials representing various line
  ministry and are all placed in one complex.
• In both Approaches, the members of the training
  team (i.e. URT members and the trainers of the
  NGO) will be given a short but intensive TOT by
  the NILG.

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• Preferences of potential training recipients
• As many as 250 UP officials (Chairman, Members
  and Secretaries) have been interviewed during
  this study. 60.58 of the UP officials preferred
  the NGOs as the potential capacity building
  agent.
• Reasons for such preferences as identified by the
  UP officials are
• a. NGO trainers are friendly and approachable
• b. Trainers are realistic and down to earth
• c. Trainers tend to respect the trainees
• d. NGOs make the training session more enjoyable
  by using various interesting approaches
• e. NGOs provide good travel and other allowances
• f. NGO programs usually have exposure visit

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• On the other hand, 31.56 of UP officials have
  opted for the Approach B (URT model), while 7.86
  are unsure about any of the approaches.
• Reasons for such preferences are
• a. Upazila based officers are knowledgeable and
  experts
• b. This will boost their self confidence and
  prestige
• c. This will create a bridge between the UP and
  Upazila based officers and trainers
• d. Upazila based officer will have an opportunity
  to understand and learn problems related to UP
• e. It will also minimize the gap of
  understanding between the UP officials and
  Upazila administration.

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• Financial implication
• However, from the cost estimation of both
  approaches, it is observed that Approach B, i.e.
  URT is financially much more cost effective. The
  variation of cost between the two approaches is
  significant (i.e.66).

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• Assessment of the Approaches by NILG Experts
• The NILG professionals based on personal
  experiences and observations noted that the NGOs
  in general have some in-built limitations. Such
  as
• A. NGO training programs are generally run by
  make shift trainers.
• B. Trainers tend to take too idealist position
  in analyzing the administrative and governance
  issues and tend to ignore the political reality.
• C. NGOs are neither accountable to the UP nor to
  the Upazila administration, thus it would be
  difficult to ensure monitoring and quality
  control.

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• Assessment of the Approaches by NILG Experts
• NILG experts have shown their preference for
  Approach B, i.e., the URT model on the following
  counts
• This model could draw the professional
  experiences and competences of the GoB field
  level staff
• Higher chances of sustainability it is cost
  effective, and easy to monitor and follow up
• The URT members are more directly and
  functionally linked to the ultimate beneficiaries
  and thereby can communicate with them more
  freely.
• This approach will also enhance the capacity and
  understanding of the URT members to adapt and
  adopt their role, responsibility and
  institutional links with the UP.

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• Recommendations
• Considering the recently accumulated experiences,
  cost effectiveness, sustainability, appreciating
  the immediate demand for the training, and
  advantage of short lead time for launching the
  capacity building programme,
• Government may opt for Approach B i.e. using the
  URT model.
• However, it is difficult to completely discard
  the potential and advantage of the Approach A
  only on cost ground.
• It is therefore recommended that on an
  experimental basis a selected number of NGOs be
  given the capacity building responsibilities on a
  pilot/ experimental basis to test the comparative
  advantage, efficiency and impact.

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• Conclusions
• Need for a clear Decentralization Policy (in the
  light and spirit of the Constitution) which
  demands Political Will
• Political decentralization is also a necessary
  condition
• Continuous updating and improvement of curriculum
  and training modules is needed. (TNA and
  diagnostic assessments)
• Training modules need to be developed with the
  active participation of the local governments.
  (in some cases tailor made)
• Exposure visits to best practices and peer
  learning should be introduced/ encouraged.
• Use of indigenous knowledge can play an important
  role in managing local affairs/ governance issues.

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Thank You