Local govt representatives should be accountable to people: Minister

LGRD Minister Md Tazul Islam on Thursday said local government institutions need to be accountable to people by providing better services to the community and the local representatives should earn dignity by their work for people.

“Capacities of the local government institutions (LGIs) of Bangladesh, their accountability and transparency have increased to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 after the successful implementation of the 5-year-long “Efficient and Accountable Local Governance (EALG)” project. Good practices should be replicated,” he said.

The minister while speaking at an event titled “Stakeholders’ Conference on Local Governance: Progress, Learning and Way Forward” organised by the Local Government Division (LGD) of the ministry and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC).

Addressing the conference as a special guest, Sudipto Mukerjee, resident representative of UNDP Bangladesh, said EALG project has been working with the local government for the last five years to localise SDGs and build the capacity of union parishads and upazila parishads and provide policy support to the government for establishing effective local government systems, leaving no one behind.

He thanked Switzerland and Denmark for their support to implement the project and stressed the importance of continuing the support to the local government.

Nathalie Chuard, ambassador, Embassy of Switzerland said, “In relation to strengthening local governance in Bangladesh, we work with the government and development partners to ensure transparency, accountability, efficiency and inclusivity so that no one is left behind.”

“One of the key lessons we learned from EALG is that coordinated development planning and monitoring by the local government is crucial to ensure effective and optimum utilization of scarce resources and also avoid overlapping of activities,” she added.

Earlier, Md Mozammel Haque, programme analyst, UNDP Bangladesh, presented the keynote paper on EALG Project and its Key Achievements.

Among others, Mohammed Mezbah Uddin Chowdhury, secretary, Local Government Division, Shariful Hoque, project coordinator of the EALG Project, deputy director of local government from nine districts; chairmen and vice chairmen of upazila parishads and chairman of union parishads; and upazila nirbahi officers also spoke.

With support from the Embassy of Switzerland and Denmark, the EALG project of the Local Government Division and UNDP has been implemented in 251 UPs and 18 UZPs under nine districts.