People report success with community-based public hearings, saying that their problems have been resolved

The Story was first published in The Dhaka Tribune click here to read the original publication.

Champa Rani Das, a woman in her sixties, affected by river erosion, lives in the Char-Vatpara village under Faridpur’s Alfadanga Upazila. She lives in the same house on the banks of Madhumati where her husband died of cholera a couple of years ago.

She, along with her daughter and grandchild who live with her had been facing a scarcity of clean, drinking water for many years. Not being solvent themselves, they asked local influential people to install a tube-well for the villagers but to no avail.

She then learned of the ‘Ward Shava’ or ‘Ward Meetings’ where community members could discuss their problems and find a resolution.

On November 11, 2020, Champa attended one such meeting presided over by Union Parishad Chairman SM Mizanur Rahman.

She told the meeting how there were no tube wells nearby as their relocated house was far from the main village and how her grandson was falling sick due to drinking polluted water.

The UP chairman committed to solving the issue within six months. However, Champa had to attend one more meeting a year later and last year a tube well was installed in front of her house.

“Ward Shava is an effective process where even the extremely poor can share their opinions,” Champa told Dhaka Tribune.

Champa’s problem is one of the many that were resolved through these public meetings that engage the community. 

In 2014, the government issued an order saying that all service-providing agencies to ensure transparency and accountability, must arrange public hearings.

On January 4, 2022, the Local Government Division by taking technical assistance from EALG project then issued another circular, saying that all Union Parishads must arrange such meetings twice a month.

Moreover, the wards have been ordered to call such public meetings at least once a year.

Public-centric Development

Since 2018, the Local Government Division (LGD) by getting technical and financial assistance from UNDP, Embassy of Switzerland and Embassy of Denmark has been assisting low performing 251 UPs and 18 UZPs to conduct public hearings and many other important programs under the Efficient and Accountable Local Governance (EALG) project.

People familiar with the project say that the scope to let people share their opinions opens the door for public-centric development.

According to EALG Faridpur District Facilitator Monir Hossain Mazumder, public hearings were facilitated in at least 30 UPs in the district last year amid the Covid pandemic where 2,150 community members participated.

The stakeholders identified some 149 problems among which 87 were solved instantly while 62 were noted down for further action, he told Dhaka Tribune.

“Public hearings are a must for UPs as per government direction because it is a very effective tool for rural development,” he said.

He added that anyone can join the meetings and ask questions or follow-up on initiatives taken during a previous discussion.

For example, a student of Chandra Government Primary School, during one such meeting said that the school toilets were unusable.

Not only was the problem solved in a couple of days, but the Union Parishad also built a library for the students at the UP-office complex named Bangabandhu library.

SM Mizanur Rahman, the Union Parishad Chairman of Pachuria, says that the meetings help find integrated development solutions.

“The meeting is held interactively as people can ask any question to make us accountable to them,” he said.  

We have delivered 18 tube-wells following local demands and constructed a couple of schemes on road construction last year, said Md. Billal Hossain Hanjala, Pachuria UP secretary.

Romesh Shaha, a local school teacher in Faridpur’s Bagat village says that he was once badly injured while going down a muddy road in 2019.

He says that once he complained at a meeting, a development scheme was undertaken and now the roads have brick soling.

“Villages are being transformed as locals can share their opinions,” says Local Government Division Additional Secretary Mustakim Billah Faruqui who also serves as the National Project Director of EALG project.

He added that the inputs help plan public-centric development which is a prerequisite to sustainable development.

Public hearings are yet to take off in all UPs

Despite the positive impacts, the concept of public hearings is yet to take off across all the UPs in the country.

Lack of efficiency of the public representative and scarcity of resources is one of the many reasons these hearings are not held at all UPs.

Moreover, the government agencies do not monitor the UPs to ensure that the government guideline is being followed.

 “It is very tough to monitor centrally. We depend on the local administration to monitor the activities of the local government bodies,” said Helal Uddin Ahmed, Senior Secretary of the Local Government Division.

“As lack of efficiency of the UPs is one of the main barriers, we decided to incorporate various skill development programs,” he added.

Mohammad Aslam Molla, Deputy Director of Local Government (DDLG) at Faridpur says that once some UPs have had some capacity building, they can act better than others.

“So, we need to take more initiatives to build their capacity in the future,” he said.

Azizul Haque Sarder, Capacity Development & Gender Officer, EALG Project, UNDP Bangladesh is of the view that the government should emphasize more on public hearings at LGIs level to ensue wider transparency and accountability for delivering public services.

He says that the hearings make the representatives accountable to people which is imperative for a civil society.