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This book explores the impact of Bangladesh's Local Government Act of 2009 on the functioning of the local governments or Union Parishads (UP), with a particular emphasis on people’s participation and accountability. Throughout the chapters, the authors review the existing legal framework of UP and its relation to social accountability, examine how much of the social participation is spontaneous and how much is politically induced, question the success of the Citizen's Charter and Right to Information acts as mechanisms for social accountability, and present suggestions to remedy some of the problems facing people's participation and accountability in the UP. This book fills existing gaps in the discourse by adding new information to the literature on development research and legal reforms in Bangladesh, specifically in how those legal reforms have led to strengthening or weakening people's participation in local government. The target audience for this book are students and researchers in Asian studies , international development studies, and public administration, as well as practitioners working in the local governments discussed.
Government performance in the pursuit of development objectives is influenced by all the levels of government, and effective public sector management depends on the ability of the central government to harness the resources of lower levels of government. Local governments should be given elastic revenue sources, those that grow as the economy grows and that are not beyond their administrative capacity to collect. Personnel performance at the local level improves when one or more of the following elements is present: (a) well planned horizontal or vertical integration of personnel systems; (b) adequate compensation and incentives; (c) a determined effort to make officials accountable for their performance; (d) effective training of local officials. The division of responsibilities between levels of government needs to be carefully examined before a plan can be constructed for the improvement of local government. Some degree of continuing centralization is necessary, but level of government should be matched with suitability for particular functions. New institutional arrangements may be needed if local government is to be strengthened. A major obstacle to such reform is the absence of a holistic view that argues for integrating the efforts of all levels of government.
In many developing and middle-income countries, decentralization reforms are promoting changes in governance structures that are reshaping the relationship between local governments and citizens. The success of these decentralization reforms depends on the existence of sound public financial systems both at the central and local levels. This paper focuses on the role of budgeting as a critical tool in reform efforts, highlighting problems that might impede successful local government budget development and implementation. The attainment of effective local government accountability and transparency is not an end itself, but rather it represents the means to support better decision-making on national and local budgeting. Community based schemes for enhancing local government accountability need to combine legal, political, and administrative mechanisms with proactive community involvement. Of particular importance are the legal and budgetary instruments that require input from local community members on certain local government decisions and instruments that increase accessibility for the press or the general public at large to information on government activities.
This book presents new research results on the challenges of local politics in different European countries, including Germany, the Netherlands, the Nordic countries and Switzerland, together with theoretical considerations on the further development and strengthening of local self-government. It focuses on analyses of the most recent developments in local democracy and administration.
Local governments encounter many problems, and although there is not one panacea that works internationally, this book argues that there are mechanisms to improve local situations. By drawing on case studies from the developing world, the authors review best practices in good governance.