Report

Governance and Development in Bangladesh

Submitted to

Moha: Golam Rabbani

Module Director, Module 22

Submitted by

Md. Mahmudul Hoque

Roll: 406, Section D 54 Foundation Training Course
th

Bangladesh Public Administration Training Course (BPATC) Savar, Dhaka Date of Submission: October 9, 2013

Governance and Development in Bangladesh |

Table of Contents SL No 01 02 03 04 05 Heading Introduction Governance and Development: Key Concepts Governance and Development: The Correlation Governance in Bangladesh: weak or good? Development in Bangladesh: Contribution of Governance 06 07 08 09 The Challenges of Governance to Foster Development The Way Forward: Need for new strategies Conclusion Reference 05 06 07 07 Page No 03 03 04 04 05

Governance and Development in Bangladesh |

Introduction Bangladesh is comparatively a new born nation which before achieving the independence in 1971 had experienced exploitation from external rulers. Though the people of the country have fought against the British rule as well as the Pakistani dictators to snatch its freedom, it has failed to achieve its dreams even after 42 years since independence. Many believe that the continuous alteration of governance system (i.e democracy-dictatorship-democracy) is mainly responsible for this failure. After the restoration of democracy in 1991, the country became reenergized to materialize its development plan. (see Hussain, 2003) But due to be absence of good governance the democratic governments have failed not only to foresee the development issue but also to make strategic plans. A growing volume of available literatures suggests that lack of quality governance hinders growth and investment, and aggravates poverty and inequality. In fact, governance problem foils every effort to improve infrastructure, attract investment, and raise educational standards. (Roy, 2005) The light came through the perspective plan and vision 2021 which the present government endeavored to take the country toward a middle income country through effective governance and e-governance. This short article attempts to critically evaluate role of governance in development of Bangladesh as well as puts some light on several issues regarding their correlations. Governance and Development: Key Concepts Governance is not merely what the government does; rather it refers to the nature of relations between state and society. Governance also refers to the nature of rules that regulate the public realm the space where state and economic and societal actors interact to make decisions. (WB, 2006) In fact, the government is the main player in this process. It holds the control of driving forces in the society. Governance, thus comprises of policies, laws, interactions with different pressure groups and interest groups and participation of citizens in the decision making process of the government. Development; on the other hand about which M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, the Cabinet Secretary to the Government of Bangladesh in a lecture1 says, Development generally refers to the sustained, concerted actions of policy makers and communities that promote the standard of living and economic health of a specific area. It differs from economic growth. He also quotes
1

The Cabinet Secretary to the Government of Bangladesh delivered a lecture on governance and development before the participant of 54th Foundation Training Course in Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC) in July 2013 Governance and Development in Bangladesh |

from Economist Amartya Sen, economic growth is one aspect of the process of economic development. So, it is obvious that development deals with the improvement of the standard of live and the freedom of people. Governance and Development: The Correlation Undoubtedly, development of a country largely depends on its governing process and forms. Almost all researches conducted in this field this way or that find a positive correlation between effective governance and development. The thematic think piece published by UNDESA, UNDP, UNESCO, says:
What does it mean to promote good governance for human development? Much discussion about the definition of good governance has centred on what makes institutions and rules more effective and efficient, in order to achieve equity, transparency, participation, responsiveness, accountability, and the rule of law. These aspects are crucial for human development and the eradication of poverty since ineffective institutions usually result in the greatest harm to those who are poor and vulnerable. (UNDESA, UNDP, & UNESCO, 2012)

It shows how human development can be fostered through good governance. More significantly, the study conducted by Roy (2005) underscores the importance of certain governance dimensions to achieve higher development outcomes. Our results on the performance of Bangladesh for governance dimensions of political governance, institutional governance and ICT dimensions portray an unfavourable situation. This shows that the development of any developing country significantly depends on the effective and visionary governance. Governance in Bangladesh: weak or good? According to the literatures published by the World Bank, there are six main indicators of good governance. These indicators are (i) voice and accountability (ii) Political stability and absence of violence (iii) Government effectiveness (iv) Regulatory quality (v) Rule of law and (vi) Control of corruption. Though economist Akbar Ali Khan criticizes the validity of these indicators as they are being used to measure good governance for all nations in the world (Khan, 2010), they are quite useful. In Bangladesh, with the boom of media and the enactment of the Right to Information Act 2009, the voice of the people and the accountability of the government have increased. (Halim, June, 2013) But in other indicators Bangladesh has not been able to produce satisfactory score. Molla says that the present condition of good governance in Bangladesh is not satisfactory. (Molla, 2010)
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Overall, if we consider all the components of good governance altogether we may admit that the governance in Bangladesh is still weak. But at the same time, we should admit that the present government has paved the way to achieve good governance in near future. Development in Bangladesh: Contribution of Governance Bangladesh is one of the rare developing countries of the world that has sustained a steady growth rate as well as has performed very well to meet the Millennium Development Goals. Recently, economist Amartya Sen has also recognized Bangladeshs extra ordinary performance in social and human development. Though in Human Development Index (HDI) Bangladesh is still lagging well behind in 146 (see Human Development Report 2013 by UNDP), it has achieved some milestone successes in social development and women empowerment. This has been possible due to concerted effort of government and non-government organizations especially in rural development.

In last five years the legislature has produced some landmark laws (for instance, the RTI 2009, ICT Act 2011) which have made the foundation of effective governance. On the other hand, the private sector, the civil society, the media, the pressure groups and the citizens have participated in the governing process to prepare the playground to foster economic growth.

In that regard, the development that has occurred so far in Bangladesh is due to the efforts of good governance and the institutional development through democratic process in last decade. It is worth mentioning that Bangladesh could have been more developed but it has failed to achieve that due to nothing but its weak governance.

The Challenges of Governance to Foster Development To ensure effective governance to foster the economic development in Bangladesh, it needs to address some issues immediately. These are the challenges: Judicial Reforms Creating strong and democratic institutions Combating corruption Decentralization of administration and authority
Governance and Development in Bangladesh |

Financial Management Increasing public sectors efficiency Project management and public procurement Regulation of private sector Poverty Reduction Women Empowerment Equity based distribution of resources Political stability Digitalization of public sector

The Way Forward: Need for new strategies To make the governance effective to foster the development in Bangladesh it needs a set of visionary policies and strategies. The perspective plan has shown the way where Bangladesh wants to reach. But to avoid missing the bus2 syndrome Bangladesh should take following strategies: I. II. Promotion of e-governance at all outlets Strengthening organizations III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. Effective utilization of Public Private Partnership Making the bureaucracy more effective and efficient by training and motivation Enhancing transparency and freedom of information Making the parliament effective and pro-active Consolidation of democratic institutions Strengthening the local government system Decentralization of services Efficiency in project management Strengthening election commission Paving the way for booming private sector and media the partnership between the government and non-government

Mohammad Zillur Rahman, former advisor of the Caretaker Government while conducting a session in BPATC talked about missing-the-bus syndrome. To him, if Bangladesh fails to become a middle income country by 2021 then that would be like missing the bus. Governance and Development in Bangladesh |

XIII. XIV. XV.

Facilitating the small and medium enterprises Taking pro poor policies Making strategic plan for near and far future

Conclusion The above discussion clarifies that governance plays the most important role to foster development in Bangladesh. The country has been deprived of desired development due to its weakness to make the governance system effective enough. It is quite obvious that the present government has facilitated the way to make governance more effective to materialize vision 2021. Probably the most important challenge for making the dream a reality is to hold the political stability. It requires a better political culture and will that would uphold the interest of the nation at the top. In addition, the materialization of abovementioned strategies would surely help to make the governance pro development. E-governance will be the key to success. In a word, Bangladesh needs a visionary and effective model of governance to achieve the development it dreams about.

Reference
Halim, S. (June, 2013). Right to Information: A Vehical to Good Governance in Bangladesh. Dhaka: The Daily Star. Hussain, A. (2003). Local Governance in Bangladesh: Emerging Role of Development Partners. Asian Affairs , 5-22. Khan, A. A. (2010). The Relevance of "Good Governance" Concept: Revisiting Goals, Agenda and Strategies. Dhaka: Brac University. Molla, A. H. (2010). Good Governance in Bangladesh: Role of Parliament. Rajshahi: Rajshahi University. Roy, D. K. (2005). Governance and Development: The Challenges for Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Development Studies Journal , 99-136. UNDESA, UNDP, & UNESCO. (2012). Governance and Development: Thematic Think Piece. New York: The United Nations. WB. (2006). GOVERNANCE, DEVELOPMENT AND AID EFFECTIVENESS: A QUICK GUIDE TO COMPLEX RELATIONSHIPS. Dhaka: The World Bank.

Governance and Development in Bangladesh |