Ppl and Institutions

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Living in the Coast Series 5

Living in the Coast

PEOPLE AND INSTITUTIONS


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Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh

Ministry of Water Resources

Water Resources Planning Organization (WARPO)

Living in the Coast


Mohiuddin Ahmad

September 2005

Program Development Office

Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan


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Living in the Coast


Date of publication

September 2005

Published by

PDO-ICZMP

Saimon Center (5th Floor)

House 4A, Road 22

Gulshan 1, Dhaka 1212

Bangladesh

Tel: (8802) 9892787, 8826614

Fax: (880-2) 8826614

E-mail: [email protected]

Web: www.iczmpbangladesh.org

Cover and layout

Rounakul Islam

PDO-ICZMP (Program Development Office for

Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan)

Water Resources Planning Organization (WARPO)

Ministry of Water Resources

Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh

PDO-ICZMP project is jointly financed by the governments of

Bangladesh, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom

ISBN: 984 8540 040


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PDO-ICZMP project has initiated a series

titled Living in the Coastto enhance

knowledge base on communities, issues,

processes and dynamics in the coastal zoneof Bangladesh. So far four documents have

been published on People and Livelihoods,

Problems, Opportunities and Challenges,

Measuring Quality of Life and

Urbanization. This document is fifth in the

series with focus on institutions.

Mohiuddin Ahmad has prepared the

document. WARPO and PDO

professionals reviewed the draft and gave

suggestions for improvement.


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PREFACE

The people have intricate relationship with institutions. The situation is perhaps

more complex at the local level. People are utilizing services provided by the

government, like, physical infrastructures, health and educational services, reliefand rehabilitation services for the destitute and extension services for farmers and

fishers. Accessing the services is often constrained by institutional bottlenecks. In

some sectors the institutions play a more facilitating role and in some other

spheres they have negative image. On an average, the role played by the

institutions is very important.

The goal of ICZM is to promote sustainable livelihoods of coastal communities

in harmony with nature. Livelihoods differ in different social, ecological and

institutional settings. One important task of the ICZMP project is to improve the

understanding of the micro level institutional arrangements in the coastal zone,

which the people face in their day-to-day life. This is essential for the

development of a meaningful coastal zone strategy. The underlying objective is

to find a mechanism that strengthens community capacity to enhance livelihoodsand thereby well-being of households.

From the outset attempt has been made by PDO-ICZMP to grasp a local level

perspective of institutions that influence life and livelihoods of the communities

living in vulnerable areas. Peoples point of view in this regard was largely

captured through a perception survey in 2002 (WP004). Three separate case

studies on local level institutional arrangements under project conditions were

done in 2003, one for KJDRP in Khulna-Jessore (WP013), one for CDSP in

Noakhali (WP019) and one for ECFC in Coxs Bazar (WP023). A review of

local institutional environment was done in the same year (WP018). A study on

the role and coverage of NGOs has been done in 2004 (WP022). Besides, there is

a large reservoir of documents that has touched upon the issue. The presentdocument is an attempt to synthesize some of the observations, findings and

experiences.

The core objective of this exercise is to understand and conceptualize

institutional environment as experienced by the coastal people in their everyday

life. The analysis is likely to broaden the discourse on institutional aspects from a

grassroots perspective under concrete realities of coastal Bangladesh.


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Living in the Coast People and Institutions

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CONTENTS

GLOSSARY .......................................................................................................... III

ACRONYMS..........................................................................................................IV

1 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................. 1Perspective....................................................................................................... 1Resource management..................................................................................... 1Access to resources.......................................................................................... 2Conceptual framework..................................................................................... 2Present context................................................................................................. 4

2 WORLD OF INSTITUTIONS............................................................................ 5Social capital.................................................................................................... 5Life in the periphery ........................................................................................6Domains......................................................................................................... 17

3 GOVERNANCE.............................................................................................. 19Enabling environment.................................................................................... 19Good governance ........................................................................................... 19Development administration.......................................................................... 19NGOs.............................................................................................................21Desire and despair.......................................................................................... 23Vision for local governance........................................................................... 25Perspective from below .................................................................................26Household well-being.................................................................................... 30Synthesis........................................................................................................ 31

4 CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................33

REFERENCES ..................................................................................................... 35


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GLOSSARYAndolon Movement

Aratder Commission agent, whole seller

Bagda Brackish water shrimp

Bari House, group of kinship-based households

Bawalee Tree feller in the forest

Bazaar Market place

Beel Perennial water body in the floodplain

Beri bundh Dyke

Borka Womens outfit for veil

Bundh Dyke

Denmohor Emolument

Gher Shrimp field

Ghush Bribe

Golda Freshwater prawn

Gram Sarkar Village governmentGuchhchhagram Cluster village

Gushti Kinship group

Imam One who leads prayer in the mosque

Kabinnama Contract for Muslim marriage

Kacha Earthen, shanty

Khas Undisposed government (land)

LG Local Government

Macha Bamboo-made platform inside the house

Mama Maternal uncle, patron

Masjid Mosque

Mastan MusclemanMawalee Honey collector

Mohajan Moneylender

Noubahini Navy

Para Neighborhood

Paribarik Adalat Family Court

Pona Fry (fish)

Porda Veil

Salish Traditional court for arbitration

Samaj Village or neighborhood based informal social institution

Samity Association, cooperative

Shutki Dry fishTaka Bangladesh currency


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Union Geographic-administrative unit under an upazila comprising

some villages

Union Parishad Local government at the union level

Upazila Geographic-administrative unit under a district comprising

several unions

Wapda Popular name for Bangladesh Water Development Board

(erstwhile Water and Power Development Authority)

ACRONYMS

BDR Bangladesh Rifles

BIDS Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies

BRDB Bangladesh Rural Development Board

CBA Collective Bargaining Agent

CBO Community-based Organization

CDSP Char Development and Settlement Project

DAE Department of Agriculture Extension

DCR Duplicate Carbon Receipt

DFID Department for International Development

DoF Department of Fisheries

ECFC Empowerment of Coastal Fisherfolk Community

EEZ Exclusive Economic Zone

FWA Family Welfare Assistant

ICZM Integrated Coastal Zone Management

KJDRP Khulna-Jessore Drainage Rehabilitation Project

LGED Local Government Engineering Department

NGO Non-government Organization

PDO-ICZMP Program Development Office-Integrated Coastal Zone

Management Plan

PDSCL Perception of Direct Stakeholders on Coastal Livelihoods

SMC School Management Committee

UNDCC Union Development Coordination Committee

UNO Upazila Nirbahi Officer (upazila executive officer)

UP Union Parishad

VDP Village Defense Police


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1 INTRODUCTION

Perspective

People mainly remain within their own community and learn to undertake thesame activities from their parents. Members of these communities become

disadvantaged and marginalized over time because of three main reasons:

there is a decline in the demand for their services;

they are faced with the problem of occupational mobility; and

the mainstream population also treats them as social outcast.

These communities are deprived of education, knowledge and know-how to

change their realities. These people are surviving at the margin mostly in

miserable situations, endure sub-human living conditions, ill health and high rate

of mortality, and are subject to social and physical insecurities (Planning

Commission, 2004).

There are two axioms. First, poverty is all encompassing. So it has to be reduced.

Secondly, the natural resource base supporting livelihoods is dwindling and

degrading. Hence this resource base needs conservation and sustainable

management. The linkage between poverty and conservation of the natural

resources is a mutually reinforcing process. Poverty perpetuates environmental

degradation as the poor are compelled to mine natural capital for survival

beyond the sustainable limit, and this leads to depletion and degradation of the

resource base and deterioration of the quality of life (Planning Commission,

2004). Any strategy for sustainable environmental management has to address

the core issue of alternative livelihoods, as the poor wont swallow conservation

messages in empty stomach. This is a challenge in a society with scanty

resources and casual approaches.

Resource management

There are too many issues, while resources are scarce. Every bit of resource, be it

money or idea or knowledge or technology or linkage or patronage, needs to be

utilized in a context of competing and often conflicting demand, in a manner that

optimizes its utility. In a situation where plans are ofad hoc nature designed in

accordance with availability of funds and short-term project objectives, it is

almost impossible to achieve the long-term goal of sustainability. In fact,

sustainability is something, which perhaps is not attainable, in a sense the society

confronts new issues and challenges once the old ones are resolved. One can only


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endeavor to identify and innovate good practices that would contribute to

enhancement of livelihoods. The constant search for a self-propelled mechanism

to attain this goal continues.

Conservation and sustainable management of critical ecosystems can only be

convincing and successful if the people, particularly the poor, can find alternative

livelihoods. The most contributing elements in a program toward attaining such adifficult goal is to believe in the people as vehicle of development and enhancing

their capacity to cope, as well as to overcome the barriers. This needs continuous

support from all endogenous and exogenous entities and processes. They together

constitute the institutional environment that either promotes or inhibits peoples

initiatives.

Access to resources

Discussion of resource management without addressing the access issue is

putting a cart before the horse. In the backdrop of increasing population, growing

urbanization, competing and conflicting demand for resources, ascendancy of the

market and the emerging tenets of globalization, norms and values corresponding

to the access issue have also undergone changes. Hence the need for a framework

and mechanism that takes into consideration such changes cannot be

exaggerated. Often it is attempted to analyze the issue and to suggest

interventions from a governance point of view that emanates from the

conventional notion of looking from above and treating the people as recipients.

The alternative notion is to view access not as a privilege but as a right that has

shrunk over time due to many factors. This calls for a conceptual framework that

views people as active participants and owners of the process that set in motion

their advancement.

Conceptual framework

People live on a set of assets. Using the assets, people undertake a series of

activities, which generate income (goods, services and cash). This line of

thinking focuses on the household as a decision-making unit. Members within a

household relate to each other in an intricate manner. The local environment

influences household attitudes, assets and activities. There is a local resource

base to which a household has access or not. Increasing opportunities refer to

both availability of and access to local resource base.

Access to local resource base, nevertheless, is influenced by several conditions

that include, among others, socio-cultural norms and values, power relations,

legal settings and administrative arrangements. While socio-cultural aspects are

the domains of the individuals and groups that evolve over the centuries, legal


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and administrative matters conventionally correspond to institutional framework

which functions under the aegis of the state and personified through the

government bureaucracy. These two are inter-related in a sense that they depend

on and/or contribute to each other. Together they define the context for

institutional environment that affects access to resources positively or negatively

in a given time.

Enabling institutional environment essentially corresponds to a setting, which

encourages participation of all stakeholders and stake losers to achieve the

desired goals in all stages of resource management, from design to

implementation. This notion transcends beyond a formal and hierarchical

structure with rigid delineation of tasks, and encompasses a multitude of factors

including attitude and value with respect to participation. How does it work? This

has been dealt with in the following chapters.

Government mainly deals with two areas: public administration anddevelopment. With the passage of time, the role of the government has

undergone significant changes and a host of other institutions have emerged to

cater the needs of the people. Development is no more an exclusive domain of

the public sector. Under changed circumstances, different formations belongingto the national government, local government, private sector and a wide range ofNGOs and civil society organizations have developed with competing and

complementary roles. Besides, there are formal and informal functional groups

and coalitions of the people at the bottom who are increasingly being

acknowledged as focus of all development efforts. This has replaced the earlier

notion that the people are mere recipients and objects of development services

and governance. All these social

and institutional entities,

however, operate under a nexus

of power relations and linkages,

which frames the overall

institutional environment.

The institutional environment

includes a set of conditions that

facilitates or impedes the

performance of certain

individuals or social groups and

thus affect positively or

negatively livelihoods of the people. If institutional arrangements work well,

people tend to believe that good governance prevails (see Box 1).

This is invariably linked to the wider aspect of how resources are managed and

how access to these resources is regulated. The functioning of this framework is

Box 1: Good governance

Good governance is defined as harmony

between performance of the state and aspiration

of the society. And the gap between these two is

the absence of good governance. Lack of good

governance produces disparity, injustice,

deprivation and lawlessness in the society in

general and for the poor in particular. In order

to attain a higher rate of poverty reduction there

is no escape from ensuring good governance.

Planning Commission, 2004.


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the consequence, as well as reflection, of certain processes. These processes

either accelerate the pace of enhancement, or hold back the development process.

Any change in these processes will change the institutional environment and will

thereby affect the livelihoods of the people and vice versa.

Present context

Creating an enabling institutional environment is believed to be instrumental for

all stakeholders involved in the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)

process. More specifically these include: (i) the organizations with their

mandates, capacities and capabilities; (ii) arrangements and procedures for such

issues as: communication and coordination; financing; monitoring and

evaluation; and (iii) tools that enable and support ICZM. These relate to all levels

of government including local government and to all functions of management:

policymaking, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

The coastal zone of Bangladesh1 is disadvantaged in many respects. The

vulnerability of the people is often amplified because of physical conditions and

isolation. Density of local government institutions (UP), growth centers and

NGOs is lower in the exposed coast than other parts of the country (PDO-

ICZMP, 2003a). All these factors contribute to accessing services negatively.

Local level institutional arrangements had always been a gray area. The

government and corporate attitude has undergone significant change in recent

years as the need for a bottom-up and participatory approach with meaningful

partnership is increasingly being acknowledged in government policy documents

and pursued in development initiatives.

In order to conceptualize issues of governance at the local level and to evolve a

workable mechanism to steer the process of development for those who matters,

it is indeed necessary to have a deeper understanding of the issues and processes

at the ground level. The key words are: local level, institution, participation and

well-being.

1Coastal zone of Bangladesh includes 19 districts facing the sea and the estuary and the EEZ. Thedistricts are Bagerhat, Barguna, Barisal, Bhola, Chandpur, Chittagong, Coxs Bazar, Feni,Gopalganj, Jessore, Jhalokati, Khulna, Lokkhipur, Narail, Noakhali, Patuakhali, Pirojpur, Satkhira

and Shariatpur


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2 WORLD OF INSTITUTIONS

Social capital

Institutional possessions upon which people draw in pursuit of their livelihood

objectives broadly constitute social capital. These are developed through:

networks and connections, either vertical (patron/client) or horizontal

(between individuals with shared or competing interests) that increase

peoples trust and ability to work together and expand their access to

wider institutions, such as political or civic bodies;

membership of formalized groups or traditional social entities, which

often entails adherence to

mutually-agreed or

commonly accepted rules,

norms and sanctions; and

relationship or trust,

reciprocity and exchange

that facilitate cooperation,

reduce transaction cost and

provide the basis for

informal safety nets.

Access to and linkage with

institutions are social capital from a

household perspective. People draw

strength from certain institutions that

are in close proximity of their

existence and are accessible. Many

of these are membershiporganizations. According to a PDO-

ICZMP survey, respondents

indicated several of them (see Table

1).

Among social capitals are various

formal and informal associations and

coalitions from which an individual or a household derives certain benefit,

privilege or power. This may not be an exhaustive list. However, marriage is

considered an important asset among all socio-economic strata, while poorer

households consider living juda or niribili (nuclear family) as an asset. Relief

Table 1: Social capital

Household status Social capital

Poor NGO

Marriage

Relation with neighbors

Nuclear family

Samity

Relief

Leadership

Medium Marriage

NGO

Samity

Training

Nuclear family

Club

CBA

Rich Marriage

Samity NGO

Relation with neighbors

Local committee

Union Parishad

Political party

Source: PDO-ICZMP, 2002


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(dole) is vital for the poor. The rich considers membership with Union Parishad

(UP) and political party as asset.

Ownership of or access to social capital by households broadly determines their

capability, scope and survival strategy. Together these resources provide a

household with an enabling environment on which its members operate. For

example, dowry related problems are one of the main reasons for worsening ofwomens social capital, while for men, discontinuation of membership of NGO-

group or samity is a major disinvestment. Marriage of son or daughter and

related matrimonial connections are perceived as a way of improving social

capital (PDO-ICZMP, 2002).

In the coastal zone of Bangladesh, people live in a complex network of

institutions that influence their lives and livelihoods. Some are endemic and some

are induced from above. Some are regulatory in nature and some are service

providers. Some can be ignored and some cannot be. A host of such institutionscan be revealed from life in the periphery.

Life in the periphery

As soon as a farmer or a fisher or a day laborer or an artisan, female or male,

walks out of the home, s/he interacts with or confronts institutions of variousmagnitude and shade. People feel them even when they stay at home. Institutions

do not necessarily exist according to their liking. People have to face them, deal

with them and play around them. Grassroots understandings and experiences

around these institutions are indeed diverse. These may be exposed from

following life stories based on in-depth interview.2

2

For details, see Perceptions of Direct Stakeholders on Coastal Livelihoods, PDO-ICZMP, 2002


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Women are to follow the norms ofporda (veil) that often create

social seclusion and reduce social mobility. An age-old

perception is that borka is an outfit that protects women from

degeneration. Traditional social norms constitute a powerfulinstitutional domain in a micro setting.

Mohajan is a private moneylender who lends money, though at

exorbitant rate of interest, but also gives an image of a benefactor

to the clientele he serves.Mohajan is an institution that combines

the roles of a landowner, a financier, a creditor and a patron.

Aratder is a dominant actor in the local market. He connects the

buyer and the seller, negotiates price of a commodity and

maintains stock for speculative purpose. He maintains backward

(producer/retailer) and forward (buyer from the city, other areas)

linkage. Often the aratdarand the mohajan are the same person

and the localbazaar rotates round him.

Rabeya (Moheshkhali)

We do not have a radio or any other means to know weather forecast.Government should supply radio to the villagers. We have to go a

long distance to see the flag, which is the only signal we can seeabout weather. I have to wear borka (womens outfit covering bodyand face) many times to go and see the flag, as other male membersof the family leave in the early morning for work and return in theevening.

With assistance from the government we built a new house fourmonths after the 1991 cyclone. My eldest son took the mainresponsibility for all arrangements to start a new life. He became amarine fisher like his father. He is with a big group of 50 memberswith a big boat. They all work for a mohajan (proprietor, owner ofboat and gear) and stay for a long period in the sea. It is a regularsource of income for my family though my present husband has a dryfish business from the beginning. He is involved in fish drying andselling shutki (dry fish) in the local bazaar(market) or to the aratder(wholesaler).


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Shanoda (Noakhali)

I have seven daughters, five are married, two are school going. One studies

in class III and another in class II, and a son has dropped out after class VI.

He now works with his father in fishing.

I never went to school because my father died when I was a child. Mymother raised us with much hardship. We were two brothers and two sisters.

My mother is still alive

Our Union Parishad Chairman rehabilitated us in this Guchchhagram(cluster village). I came to this Guchchhagram along with eight families of

my gushti (kinship group). I got a plot of homestead, which was registered in

my name, and a tin-roof house.

I have been a member of samity (cooperative society) and my wife is a

member of another womens group. We have saved taka 12,000. But this

money is lying with a NGO. We wanted to withdraw this money but the

NGO is not giving our money back. We do not know the reasons.

There is a school in almost all neighborhoods. The

government runs some and some are privately operated.

Government schools are accessible to all.

The government from time to time rehabilitates landless

households in cluster villages. Union Parishad (UP) usually

nominates candidates for settlement.

Villagers belong to particulargushti (kinship groups). Often

dwellings evolve or are arranged in a village following

kinship lineage. Kinship is seemingly a traditional informalinstitution, but often very influential and irrefutable.

Many women are member ofsamity or NGO-sponsored

groups, and so also their husbands. These groups deliver

certain services to respective members and are perceived as

patrons in a local context.

Non-government organizations, popularly known as NGO,

operate in many villages. They are involved in social

mobilization among poor women and men, encourage

people to save money (often the NGO keeps the money) and

provide credit and other services.


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Krishna (Khulna city)

I got a work through a contractor in a sea-fish processing

factory. I thought my new work would fetch a higher income, a

regular income, a fulltime job and other job benefits. But it is awork on a daily basis: no work, no pay. I go to work early

morning and work till the evening. I work very hard, but wage

is not enough. The contractor decides rate of payment. There is

no work if there is not enough supply of fish to the factory. My

work depends on the wish of the contractor. If he does not want

me, I do not have work and income on that day. I go to work at

6 o clock in the morning and continue till 6 in the evening.

Many days I work without lunch.

In a private sector factory (manufacturingor processing enterprise), many workers

are employed casually, on a day-to-day

basis. There is no formal service rule for

them.

Between the employer and the worker

stands a contractor or a broker who

decides the fate of the worker.


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Hospital or a health center is a much-covetedinstitution. People have high expectations and

mixed experiences. People visit the hospital and

are often denied of services.

Red Crescent Society is a quasi-government

institution involved in disaster management. It

has a regular program on cyclone preparedness.

Nurul Huq (Moheshkhali)

We go to the government hospital but we are to pay the doctor, 40

taka each time. He writes prescription only. He never gives medicine.

If I say, I am poor, I do not have money or I have only 15 taka, then

he says, Take a part of the prescription, buy only that part of the

prescribed medicines, and die. I do not understand why the people donot protest this. Because, the doctors are paid by the government. But

this doctor is taking money from us.

I had stock ofshutki worth 200,000 taka in which a mohajan invested

56,000 taka. The rest I borrowed. The tornado of 1997 ruined the total

stock. I became almost mad because of this heavy loss. My house was

blown away, and I got nothing of my house back. Our life was saved,

because we took shelter in upazila office. The Red Crescent Society

made us aware about the cyclone signal. If it is Signal No. 5, the Red

Crescent hoists the flag and they also make announcements using

loudspeakers. Their staff visits each house and asks the people to go to

the cyclone shelter and other safe places. People go to cyclone shelter

and to upazila buildings. We take our family members, cattle and

chicken to safe places. We keep valuable things underground. If there

is foodstuff at home we take it with us when we go to a safe place.


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Customs and traditions often influence choice ofoccupation and social mobility. In many areas, a

dominant perception is that women should not

work outside the home.

Family is a core institution where wife and

husband jointly take decision. Nature and extent of

participation and involvement in decision-making

may vary from family to family.

Sabekunnahar (Chakaria)

We are many in the family. So my husband has to work as a day laborer.But he never allows me to do work as laborer. I am always busy for

housework and looking after children. Though we are not rich but we have a

social status. As a Muslim woman, we cannot go out even with borka. Myhusband, until my sons grew up, was the only earning member of the family.

As a result we had problems of providing sufficient food for all. We give

priority to rice and vegetables or shutki. We do not buy meat or fish, as we

are poor.

I do not know how to read and write. But I learned to put signature. I am a

member of a NGO and I have 1,500 taka savings. I took loan from the NGO

thrice. Once I bought a sewing machine for my son and he now works as a

tailor. Next time I used the loan for salt farming. Recently I used the loan for

rice cultivation. My husband spends money for all purposes and I never

spend cash for myself. But my husband always discusses with me and he

tells me in details how he spends money.


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Saleha (Chittagong city)

When I was 16, I was wedded to a rich fisherman. But I noticed that he wants to

marry again and again. He had his first wife with many children. I had a son too.Though I was his wife but I had to stay with my parents and I had to work for

them. He was reluctant to provide expenses for my son and I was upset with

him. So I wanted divorce and filed a case against him in the paribarik adalat

(family court). He went to a village leader who arranged a salish (arbitration).

The verdict was that I would get 20,000 taka as denmohor(emolument), though

an amount of 60,000 taka was written in the kabinnama (contract document for

Muslim marriage). I sacrificed bulk of the money in order to have custody of my

son. Because he gave me the condition, If you want son, I will pay you only

20,000 taka, and if you want all the money then you will not get son. So I have

a feeling that I bought my son from him at 40,000 taka. I also put a condition

that he would never come to claim my son and he agreed. My son is 12 yearsold and he (former husband) never came to see him (son). I used the money to

arrange wedding of my two sisters. I also spent some money for my son and

brother as well.

Marriage is a traditional institution through which a family gets

legal entity, as well as social recognition. Registration of

marriage is mandatory and both the parties (wife and husband)

are to agree on a set of rights and obligations enunciated in thekabinnama.

Paribarik adalat is a legal arrangement where a woman can seek

justice in matters within the family that deprive her of legitimate

rights and entitlements. This arrangement has helped the

judiciary to reach doorsteps of the people.

Salish is also a sort of a traditional court. However, it is very

local, often based in the bari (conglomerate of several

households belonging to a kinship group), or in the para(neighborhood), or in the village, or within the gushti. Local

leaders resolve disputes amicably before they go out of control.


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Habibur (Chittagong city)

I need at least 100 taka per day for food for my

family. My two children go to the school. I have to

spend 500 taka for childrens education and another

200 taka per month for paper and pen. I earn 4,000

taka per month. I get bonus twice a year, each time

2,500 taka. I am a permanent employee in a textile

mill. If the government pay scale is implemented in

our mill, my monthly salary would have been higher.

The union has been trying to negotiate with the

owners, through andolan (movement), but they arenot yet successful. The union leaders are working

against the laborers, because they are getting salary

as per the government pay scale. There are 1,100

permanent and 600 casual laborers in this mill. My

wife is a casual laborer in this mill. She earns 1,500-

2,000 taka a month.

Workers often join a labor union to negotiate

or bargain with the management authority. At

the enterprise-level union, there is a collective

bargaining agent (CBA), which represents

workers interests. Sometimes CBA leaders

covertly work for the management against the

interest of the workers.


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Sayera (Lokkhipur)We have borrowed 13,000 taka from Krishi

Bank. During flood, our house was inundated

and there was no work. So my husband had to

take loan. We actually survived with this

money immediately after flood. We did not

get any support from the government or any

other agency.

Krishi Bank is a specialized financial

institution in the public sector that mainly

provides credit to farmers. It has branches

all over the country.

Government is the ultimate institution

people depend on. It is often perceived as

something abstract, something distant.


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Dulal Gazi (Kalapara)

We are not allowed to catch fish in the river for three months, April to

June. This is a Government law. If anybody catches fish during this

period, police will take away his net. But some do fishing during this

time, because they have other ways. If you pay 50 taka to police, youhave no problem.

I did not receive any help from the government in the past and I do not

expect any. People have lost confidence. If government allocates 10

taka for me, it will be lost on the way before reaching me. Rather it is a

big loss for the government if it allocates something for me. So, I dont

want any help from the government.

There is a fishing law banning catch of certain

fish species below a minimum size. This law has

been enacted for the purpose of conservation of

open water fish resources and for sustainable

harvest of fish. Poor fishers in some areassometimes suffer because of this law, as they do

not have any alternative source of gainful

employment.

Police is the principal law-enforcing agency in

the country. Unlawful activities are sometimes

performed by a section of the people in

conjunction with a section of the policemen.


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Abdus Sattar (Shyamnagar)

We do not have borshar panir bonna (monsoon flood). The Wapda bundh (BWDB dyke)

protects us from flood. But if there is a big flood, then it cannot protect us. Usually there

is no flood in this area. If there is heavy rain, then there is flood inside the bundh. Flood

caused by breach in the dyke is very dangerous. It comes all on a sudden and takes awayeverything.Bundh has benefited the rich. They can make chingri gher(shrimp field). But

the poor are not benefited from the bundh. There is no agriculture and the poor cannot

sell labor. Chingri gherrequires less labor.

My house is on khas land (government land). This plot is allotted in my mamas

(maternal uncle) name. But I have to give money for DCR (paper for lease) once in every

five years. I am living on this plot for last 20 years.

I collect honey from Sundarban. Chaitra-Baishakh (mid-March to Mid-May) is the best

season for honey collection. I can earn 60-70 taka per day. We 8-9 persons in a group go

to the forest with a boat, which we hire from a mohajan. Mohajan gives us capital, say

20,000 taka. We are to sell honey to the mohajan. If the market price of honey is 3,000

taka per maund, we are to sell it for 2,000 taka. Every time we go to the forest, we risk

our life. We pay ghush (bribe) to the forester every time we go. Otherwise they threaten

us to arrest. Since we pay ghush, we cut tree and sell it in the market. It would be a great

help if the government protects us from the torture of the forester. We have to pay 200-

300 taka every time to BDR. Ghush o debo, abar nao o khali anbo, ta hoi na (since we

pay bribe, we cannot return with empty boat). We must cut tree to manage money to pay

the forester and the BDR, and for ourselves too. Sometimes the dacoits snatch everything

from us. I was victimized more than hundred times in my life. But I have to go to the

forest, because honey collection is my main source of income.

BWDB (erstwhile WAPDA) is a mandated agency for flood control

and drainage. It has a network of defensive dikes to protect land from

saline intrusion, as well as monsoon flood.

Khas land is an important public resource, which is leased out to

individual farmers on a temporary basis by the Union Bhumi Office

(erstwhile Tahsil office). A farmer has to pay a certain amount of lease

money and receives a paper (DCR) entitling him/her to use the land.

People around forests, particularly adjoining Sundarban, collect forest

resources for their livelihood. The honey collectors, locally known as

mawalee, do it legally by obtaining permit from the Forest

Department. Sometimes forest guards harass them. Sometimes

mawalees unlawfully encroach in the forest. Payment of kickback is a

common practice.

BDR is a law-enforcing agency particularly in border areas. They are

very much visible in some parts of Sundarban.Bawalees (wood cutters)

and mawalees (honey collectors) deal with a section of BDR personnel

in the same manner as that of the forest guards.


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Domains

Members of a household interact with, submit to and served by multifarious

institutions or social formations as outlined in the preceding section. These are of

different types based on their nature and purpose. The nature and extent of

relationship with these depend on the local context, need and convenience.

Institutions experienced and perceived in a micro setting are summarized inTable 2. This is mere an indicative list and does not necessarily exhaustive.

Table 2: Households world of institutions

Nature Purpose Type Example

Public Krishi BankOwnership Service

Private Micro-credit NGO

Legislative Fisheries

Department

Authority Sanction

Social norm Porda

Customary SalishTemporal Legal framework

Contemporary Paribarik Adalat

Personified ContractorComposition Employment

Collective Labor Union

Concrete Union ParishadIdentity Governance

Abstract Government

Autonomous SamityMembership Security

Induced Political Party

Neighborhood SamajBelongingness Well-being

Kinship Gushti

All these institutions may be grouped into three broad domains (see Figure 1).The corresponding domains are: community, market and state.

Community

Community level institutions are those, which directly deal with households and

individuals within households. Institutions are obviously very local, traditional

and are often based on broad social consensus. Many of these are of informal

nature, but are not necessarily less authoritative. Some are essentially a set of

norms and values that has evolved over centuries. Among these is marriage,

family, tradition,porda, salish, samaj, gushti, etc.


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18

Market

Market institutions obviously follow the norms of the market, be it of crops or

craft products, or labor or services. Market institutions cater the need of both the

groups, people with surplus or deficit, producer or consumer, employer or

worker. Typical market institutions in a micro setting are bank, aratdar,

contractor, bazaar, micro-credit NGO, etc.

Figure 1: Households world of institutions

State

Institutions that are embodied in the state or offshoot of the state are perceived as

exogenous formations from a grassroots perspective. Among these are service

providers, regulatory bodies and law-enforcing agencies. A major point of

departure of many institutions in this category is their role in development.

These institutions operate through a command structure with a chain of

operational points connecting from the macro to the micro level. Visible among

them are Forest Department, Police Department, BDR, Fisheries Department,

Paribarik Adalat, Union Parishad, Union Bhumi Office, etc. The notion of the

overall Government exists at the top in abstraction.

HOUSEHOLD

MARKET

Aratdar

ContractorBazaar

Credit NGOMohajan

STATE

Hospital

Forest Department

Krishi Bank

Police

BDR

Fishing law

Paribarik Adalat

Union Parishad

Union Bhumi Office

Government

COMMUNITY

MarriageFamilyPordaSalishGushtiSamajSamityCBAClubSchool


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3 GOVERNANCE

Enabling environment

One major reason and manifestation of poverty is limited access to public

services. There are a number of government agencies for service delivery atvarious tiers of local government (district, upazila and union). But in the absence

of effective clientele organizations, the delivery structure had remained

somewhat inaccessible and inefficient. In particular, this system did not reach the

poor and the disadvantaged in all cases (Planning Commission, 1998). Benefit of

expenditures in social sectors generally trickles down to the poor people but since

the level of expenditure is not high, benefit is limited. An enabling institutional

environment for enhancement of livelihoods of the poor therefore necessitates a

reorientation of these organizations with a pro-poor functional approach.

An enabling institutional environment thus essentially envisages a need-based

approach and a broad social consensus, which together make it functional and

enduring. Institutions include norms and values, rules and organizations, both

formal and informal, which influence human behavior in a particular setting. Ifinstitutions are discriminatory, authoritarian and unjust, they do not work. Large

sections of people feel alienated if institutions do not cater their needs and

aspirations.

Good governance

Good governance is considered to be a sine qua non for development (Planning

Commission, 2004). The issue of governance has seldom been addressed in

conventional development literature, though fruits of development are often lost

due to lack of Good governance. This is manifested through corruption,

harassment, humiliation and deliberate wastage of time, lack of respect for

common people, unfriendly attitude, negligence to duties, faulty land record andland administration system leading to perpetual land-related disputes, plundering

of government-sponsored relief and stipend-related assistance, nepotism,

violence against women and children, terrorism and extortion. Women continue

to face entrenched barriers and insecurities in deepening their gains achieved insocial and economic fronts. Governance weaknesses stand in the way of

acceleration in the growth process (ibid).

Development administration

An overview of the existing planning and implementation process in the locallevel shows that though it is meant for the people, the people are seldom visible.


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20

A major weakness in the process is lack of public participation, which is in-built

in public institutions dealing with development projects. The government is

aware of this fact as it admits in a document (see Box 2).

The local level units of line ministries/departments have both the mandate and

the authority to steer the process of development at the local level. This has never

been a smooth process. There are problems inherent in the institutional structureand mechanism through which the government operates, as well as there are

constraints that emanate from the overall social context. The main constraints as

envisaged by the government are outlined below.

Although village is the basic

geographic unit in Bangladesh

and constitutes the bottom-most

entity for identification of

development needs in rural

areas, there is hardly anyeffective development

organization in it. Frequently, it

is held that an average village inBangladesh is too small to be

regarded as a formalorganizational unit. On the other

hand, without such an

organization, the villagers,

particularly the rural poor, find it

difficult to effectively

participate in the development

process.

There are a number of

government agencies for service

delivery at various tiers of local

government. But in the absence

of effective clientele

organizations, the delivery

structure remains rather inaccessible and inefficient. In particular, this system

does not reach the poor and the disadvantaged in most cases.

Various efforts to organize the people at the grassroots level through local

government bodies also did not succeed. In the absence of a democratically

elected government, these bodies are used to serve political interest of the

power in the central government. As a result, local government bodies in

Bangladesh are an extended arm of the Ministry of Local Government and

Box 2: Institutions: for what, for

whom

In most cases, rural institutions were

developed as extension of government

bureaucracy rather than peoples

organization with lack of awareness and

information on the part of the poor.

The institutions, largely, were

controlled by the rich/influential classes

without much provision to protect the

interests of weaker sections of the

community.

In most of these institutions,

peoples participation and control were

lacking resulting in a failure to provide

forum for collective decision-making.

The major objectives of such

institutions were seen as

distribution/utilizing resources injected from outside rather than mobilizing local

resources.

(Planning Commission, 1991)


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21

Rural Development and Co-operative and, as such, they could not grow on

their own. In particular, they remained heavily dependent on the government

for their resources and initiatives.

The government personnel who were sent to the rural areas to work for the

poor, largely proved to be inadequately motivated for participatory local

level development (for various reasons such as inadequate training, incentivestructure, logistics, colonial legacy, etc.).

The understanding of the decision makers of the need for and effectiveness

of participatory local level planning was rather poor. Most development

planners thought that such participation was unnecessary mainly because of

ignorance and illiteracy of the poor. The usual emphasis was on the need

for educating the poor before they could effectively participate. For the

intervening period, therefore, the preference was for a top down decision-

making process (Planning Commission, 1998).

NGOs

NGOs are the most organized civil society organizations that operate almost inevery nook and corner. Their main thrusts are advocacy, social mobilization,

human development and poverty alleviation. They mostly work with a target

group approach, addressing most of their programs to the poor and women. There

is a wide range of CBOs operating at the grass roots level. Among these are

landless groups, womens groups, farmers cooperatives, fishers cooperatives,

etc., that are organized at a micro level. These are mostly village-based. In the

development literature, these are often termed as NGO groups, which is

indicative of their respective promoter. In that sense, CBOs in most cases are

extended arm of the NGOs.

The banking system expanded in the rural areas quite rapidly in the 1970s and

1980s. Yet heavy dependence of the rural poor on the informal sector

moneylenders who charge high interest rates has continued strangulating their

creative potential to contribute more to the national growth (Planning

Commission, 1998). During this period, NGOs have emerged as a major source

of micro credit that overwhelmed other community development programs in

many respects.

NGOs also function as advocacy groups, and mainly in an ad hoc manner. People

often view NGOs as alternative service providers. But everything with NGOs

does not necessarily glitter. However, people have mixed feelings about them

(see Box 3).


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22

There seems to exist a widespread opinion that NGOs play a more efficient and

effective role as partner in

the social and economic

development. Recognizing

the deficiency of public

delivery system, NGOs

have been promoted as analternative institution for

delivery of social services

(Planning Commission,

2004). However, it is far

from clear how far such

partnerships should go and

how they should be

structured. Experiences are

limited to project-oriented

cooperation, where NGOs

deliver services under a

contract and the keyquestion remains: how to

incorporate NGOs in

partnerships that go beyond

project implementation.

The following are few

general observations that

may be taken into account

while further exploring

such partnerships.

NGOs are a fact of life

in Bangladeshs socio-

economic development

and a widely accepted

vehicle to channel

donor contributions to grassroots development processes. Their focus on

social and environmental issues rather gives them the status of action

groups than representatives of the public in general. In other words, they are

fundamentally not democratic in the sense of being accountable to a general

electorate.

NGOs have slowly changed their working scope and working areas. From

organized philanthropy they now provide alternatives to government

services, such as primary education and public healthcare. They are

Box 3: People and NGOs

I do not know how to read and write. But I learned

to put signature. I am a member of a NGO and I have

1500 taka savings. I took loan from the NGO thrice.

Once I bought a sewing machine for my son and he nowworks as a tailor. Next time I used their loan for salt

farming. Recently I invested the loan for rice

cultivation.

If cyclone occurs again, Allah banchabe (God will

help us). NGO and Government must help us. Otherwise

there will be kiamat (doomsday) and we all will die. But

if there is scope, we shall try to survive. We shall take

shelter in the neighboring buildings built by a NGO. We

will not go to the cyclone shelter that is located one and

a half kilometer far from our village.

I have 15 katha land that was mortgage out when

my husband was sick. I became member of two NGOs. Itook loan from both NGOs to get back my land. Then I

started shrimp culture in my own land. It was

profitable. But bad kismat (fate) runs after me. My 12

year old son had TB. After prolonged treatment he was

cured. Then the same affected younger daughter. So I

had to spend a lot of money for their treatment. I sold

all shrimp from my farm. As a result I had no income

except day labor. But I had to repay the loan. Both the

NGOs became wild to get their money back within the

given time. They did not agree to extend time for me

though I was in trouble. Finally I had to mortgage out

the land again and repaid the loan. After that I lost

interest to continue membership with any NGO. Theyare not friends of the people.

(PDO-ICZMP, 2002)


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23

27

0 0

33

11

20

9

48

10 6

15

27

3

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Imple

mentation

Targeting

Infosh

aring

Tech

&fina

ncial

assist

ance

Training

Gene

rals

uppo

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Othe

rResponden

tsfavoringcooperation(%)

NGO UP

increasingly being acknowledged as service providers. This shift was

basically need-based and not guided by the government.

Center for Applied Policy Research interviewed 347 villagers in 20 unions. The

survey looked into the collaboration between the UPs and NGOs. UP officials

would like to share in using the resources mobilized by NGOs, while NGOs want

more help from UP officials in implementing their projects (The World Bank,2002). Nonetheless, there is considerable space for mutually satisfying

cooperation (see Figure 2).

Figure 2 Perception on UP-NGO cooperation

Desire and despair

People are in dire need of certain amenities and services. Some services they

desire to make life a bit more comfortable, and some are needed for defense

against anomalies. Though the government is more of an outlying entity from a

plebeian point of view, it is omnipresent in peoples imagination. People tend to

perceive the government as something they can depend on. At the same time, it is

also true that people are troubled, or are disenchanted, or are skeptical because of

lack of and/or denial of service and security. Desire, expectation, anguish and

despair, as expressed in the PDSCL survey are recapitulated below (PDO-

ICZMP, 2002).


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24

The government should build more cyclone shelters in our area.

Government must build one warehouse in our market, so that we can

store shutki.

Government must protect us from the forester mastan.

Government should install more deep tube wells.

If there is a source then I shall borrow money to buy land.

Government should set up mills and factories in our area to create jobs

for our children.

I never went to a hospital, because I am a poor man.

Goriber jonne kono sarker nai (there is no Government for the poor). If

the MP allocates wheat for us, his local men just eat it; they never give it

to us. There is a pond for common use, but it is not deep. We demanded

for the re-excavation, but until now nothing happened.

We do not have a radio or any other means to know weather forecast.

Government should supply radio to the villagers.

I wish the government should allocate land in my name so that my

children can live on that.

Government should bring sweet water back so that we can grow crop.

Nothing grows due to salinity. Government should close down the gher.

Then sweet water will flow into the area. We shall also be able to grow

crops, trees and vegetables. We shall have more work.

Government can protect us from dacoits by providing the noubahini

(navy). If they patrol, it would be enough for security. Then the bawalee

would be able to go to the forest for honey collection without any fear.


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Vision for local governance

Development of local

government in Bangladesh

brings in the concept of

devolution vis--vis

deconcentraiton of decision-making power into sharp

focus. Under a system of

decentralization based on

deconcentration, the central

government retains the

decision-making powers; only

some responsibilities for

implementation of the central

decisions are given to the local

authorities. In contrast, under a

system of decentralization that

is based on devolution, it is thedecision making power that

is handed over to the local

government institutions by the

central government.

Devolution establishes

reciprocal and mutually

benefiting relationships

between central and local

government implying that the

local governments are not

subordinate administrative

units but exclusive authorities

in their areas to be able to

interact reciprocally with other

units of government in the

political system of which they

are integral parts. In this

context, the government

sketched out a radical vision

for a participatory, effective

and meaningful mechanism for

local governance (see Box 4).

Box 4: Devolution not deconcentration

Genuine devolution must vest in various

tiers/spheres of local government clearly following

delineated administrative, judicial, financial and

developmental roles as envisaged in Article 59 ofthe Constitution. Such devolution will not only

contribute to good governance through rational

sharing of powers and responsibilities between the

central government and the local government

bodies, but also lead to greater success in the

management of development programs/projects

and better delivery of services through more

efficient discharge of respective functions.

Moreover, peoples vote will be seen to be bearing

fruits and democracy will be seen to be

functioning at the doorsteps of the voters when

they will witness that the representatives elected

by them to the various tiers of local governmentare in fact contribution to the enlistment of their

lot. Needless to say, such visibility is very vital for

democratic culture to take desirably deep roots.

Local level participatory planning, therefore, will

start with building a mechanism where people, at

large, specially in the vast expanse of the rural

areas, will provide inputs to the planning process

of the country; and people at the grassroots level,

through conscientization, consultation and

participation, will get the scope to determine the

local needs and priorities and integrate them into

an overall planning exercise of the country

through their elected local bodies.

Local government bodies, therefore, will be vested

with roles and responsibilities with particular

focus on (a) how these institutions can be made

participatory so that they will enable the people in

the local areas to provide inputs for planning; and

(b) how through a process of bottom up planning

the development programs/projects of various

tiers of local government as well as of the central

government will be integrated.

(Planning Commission, 1998).


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The role of the central government is increasingly being perceived as a promoter

and catalyst of development at the local level. The art of the development

promoter thus demands the highest form of consciousness for it involves the

balance of the polarities of intervention into peoples lives on the one hand, and

respect for the integrity and freedom of these same people on the other. The

promoter is involved not primarily with product delivery but with process

facilitation (BRDB, 2000).

Perspective from below

The very connotation of governance is power and authority and, as a colonial

legacy, it is top-down. In contrast, the concept of good governance is being

promoted with undertones of a bottom-up, decentralized and participatory

arrangement. How the people feel, perceive and comprehend issues and act

locally is to be taken into cognizance in understanding the local perspective on

governance. Based on a stakeholder consultation in a remote coastal union, some

observations and lessons have been drawn.3 Among the participants were

Chairman and Members of the UP, members of CBOs, field level staff of

government service agencies and members of different professional groupsincluding farmers, fishers, teachers, traders and so forth. They discussed issues in

six thematic groups. Their deliberations are cited below as down to earth

testimony.

Partnership, transparency and accountability

The UP Chairman has been vocal about reasonable share of the budget. If you

talk about partnership, you need to enhance budgetary allocation for UP (UPChairman). Presently annual tax of taka 30 is levied for a house with c.i. sheet

roof. Many people do not pay tax.

Common people have different perceptions. One view is: We do not have any

knowledge of the UP budget. Whatever amount is allocated, the Chairman and

the Members bhag korey nei (appropriate it among themselves).

Family Welfare Assistant (FWA) is a para-professional of the Ministry of Health

& Family Welfare based in the union. She is also not happy with the state of

affairs. There is no union level meeting with us. Sometimes Chairman

discusses about my work. But when they have meeting, they ask me to leave.

They discuss among themselves. Keo tader bhalo paina (nobody is happy with

them).

3 A series of stakeholder consultations were organized by BIDS under a contract from WARPO toexplore ideas on local level institutional arrangements for ICZM. Findings are based on one such

consultation held in May 2005 at Dokkhin Bedkashi union of Koyra upazila in Khulna.


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Enabling bureaucracy and capacity building of LG

A woman UP Member said, There are 13 Standing Committees. We do not

know in which committees we are. There is no delineation of tasks. Some

Chairman is fair. They distribute tasks. Some does not. I am the Shabhapoti

(chairperson) of the committee for listing candidates for bidhoba bhata

(allowance for widow) and Shaha-shabhapoti (co-chairperson) for that of theboyoshko bhata (allowance for the old). But the lists were prepared and

submitted without my knowledge. Then I informed the UNO and got the lists

cancelled.

If there is training, women can culture fish in derelict tanks with the help of

Matsya Bibhag (DoF), Jubo Unnayan (Youth Development Department) and

NGO. Aquaculture is a predominant livelihood here. But we do not get any

service from the Department of Fisheries.

We have aMohila (women) Members Forum. We have monthly meetings. We

meet on 18th

of each month. UNO helps us. We also get support from NGOs.

We need awareness on legal aspects.

One participant commented, Ashot kaj bandha korte hobey (corruption is to be

stopped). Upazila Fisheries Officer should sit at UP office at least once a week.

There is a Krishi Bank. Loan cannot be obtained without bribe. Besides, the

process of getting loan is a long one.

Police harassment is rampant Forest guards put up false cases of deer hunting

and logging against innocent people. None should be arrested without the

consent of UP.

Wapdas quality of work is low. They work in the wrong season (monsoon).

This is waste of resource.

Participants identified some limitations of UP. These are:

lack of fund;

UP members are not efficient; and

women Members do not get resource.

Disaster management

One farmer observed, Coastal zone is a zone of recurrent disasters. So disaster

management is a key issue for the coastal people. Bank erosion is a major

concern. We expect protection by Wapda. Protection from erosion is

responsibility of Wapda and NGOs. When there is a disaster, NGOs are more

visible. They work more. They are more people-oriented.


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Main problems are identified as:

bank erosion;

lack of adequate cyclone shelter;

lack of awareness about disaster;

lack of proper cyclone warning; and

lack of security.

We do not have any confidence in samabay samity (cooperative society). They

run away with our money. Government has to take initiative and NGOs have to

collaborate, commented a member of a CBO.

For disaster management, participants identified the following institutions as

important and relevant:

Wapda (BWDB)

NGO

Union Parishad

masjid(Imam); and

gram police (VDP).

UP and service agencies, particularly Wapda, should meet regularly. They

should have monthly meetings, was the suggestion from all participants.

Farmer

Farmer participants expressed specific concerns and suggested

recommendations. These are as follows.

For a small farmer, agriculture is more profitable. For a large farmer, bagda

(brackish water shrimp) culture is more profitable. Small farmers are oftenintimidated by large farmers to culture shrimp. Shrimp culture should be banned,

or ghers should be under strict government guideline.

To discourage bagda culture, bagda farmers should be taxed. There is a need for

poribesh kar(environmental tax).

We should go for integrated farming system including food, fruit and fodder.

Farmers, with recommendation from UP, should get credit from the bank.

Many women do not have property right. They cannot inherit land. There should

be common law for all women.


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Accountability ofWapda in maintenance ofberi bund(embankment) should be

ensured.

Those who destroy natural resources should be brought to book. Salary of Forest

Guard should be enhanced so that they protect the forest and do not sell tree

illegally.

Fisher

Participants addressing the issue of fishing (including shrimp culture) suggested

the following.

There is lack of service from Department of Fisheries. Everybody cultures

shrimp. There is need for more inlets and outlets for saline water.

People hardly get credit from bank. There is no bank branch in the union. Local

moneylenders charge high interest. Monthly interest rate is ten percent.

Ninety percent people buy pona (fry) from the hatchery. Virus affects shrimp.

Most of the pona is normal (virus-affected). We want rogmukto (virus-free)

pona.

We have no knowledge of any Block Supervisor working in the union. He

doesnt come to us. We dont know where is his office.

Integrated rice-shrimp-vegetables should be promoted. Golda (freshwater prawn)

should be promoted instead ofbagda.

Participation and coordination

Participants had been able to articulate an institutional structure for addressing

local issues and concerns. They emphasized the need for rejuvenating a Union

Development Coordination Committee, as well as introducing a monitoring

committee. Recommendations are summarized below.

A union level planning and monitoring mechanism is undeniably an imperative.

There should be a todaroki (supervision) committee to monitor activities ofservice agencies. The committee should be constituted with the UP Chairman,

UP Members and some members of the elite. The elite is defined as

knowledgeable persons, such as, teacher, social worker, member of cooperative

society and member of Gram Sarkar. The committee is to meet once a month.

Main tasks of the committee would be:

supervision of road maintenance and roadside plantation; and

monitoring of the functioning of schools, as many students and teachers

are found absent and the SMC (School Monitoring Committee) is not

active.


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There is lack of coordination. There are conflicts between different agencies. The

conflicts are:

DoF versus DAE;

UP versus NGO; and

Forest Department versus UP.

As a consequence, development is hampered; agriculture and fish production is

low; salinity is increasing; land fertility is decreasing; and natural beauty is lost.

There should be a Union Development Coordination Committee (UNDCC).4

The

committee should have 30 members. Composition of the committee should be:

UP Chairman (1);

UP (13);

Education/teacher (3);

DAE (1);

DoF (1);

LGED (1);

Gram Sarkar (1);

Ansar/VDP (1);

Health (1);

NGO (2);

Cooperative (2);

Club (1); and

Elite (2).

The empowerment of elected representatives is of vital importance.

Household well-being

Vulnerability corresponds to the capacity to cope with phenomena beyond

control. At the household level, the coping capacity largely depends on the asset

base including social capital, that is, enabling institutional environment in terms

of favorable cultural norms and efficacy of service provider institutions, and the

state of governance. The poor are more vulnerable, as their access to resource

4

This has been attempted in few areas by the government under project condition.


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Figure 3: Household well-being

Income

Enabling environment

Wellbeing frontierA

B

O

Y

X

providers is weak. If their social capital improves, their coping capacity in terms

of resilience would increase.

Households have an array of institutional linkages at their disposal that

determines their overall status in a particular point of time. This status changes

with a change in the households endowment of social capital. Sometimes they

feel good when such linkages improve, and sometimes they are in a state ofdismay when these worsen. In their life cycle, people have some good time that

reflects their state ofenhancement, and there are bad periods which indicate a

state ofdeterioration. Such a state of enhancement or deterioration is directly

related with accumulation or loss of linkages.

The level of the well-being of

households, thus, has direct

correlation with these phenomena.

The well-being frontier of ahousehold puffs up with increasing

income (purchasing power) and

enabling environment in terms of

enhancement in social capital (goodgovernance). Reverse developmentincreases the vulnerability of a

household. This has been shown with

the help of a two-dimensional

diagram (Figure 3). The well-being

frontier (A or B) is the locus of points,

each of which represents a combination of income and enabling environment A

change in the two determinants of household well-being (enabling environment

and income) moves the well-being frontier in upward (B) or downward (A)

direction.

Improvement in enabling environment in terms social capital is a necessary

condition for enhancement of peoples livelihoods. This necessitates a change in

the mind-set of the people (often personified in institutions) and effectiveness of

service proving organizations.

Synthesis

UP is the lowest level local government institution, which is the nucleus of local

governance. A UNDCC is an extended local government that can plan and

facilitate development functions including planning, implementation, monitoring

and conflict resolution. Service providing agencies, both government and non-

government, need to have operational linkage, as well as accountability to the


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local government. Good governance at the local level presumes higher allocation

of resources, as well as enhancement of capacity.

The National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction identifies and

acknowledges Excessive central government control over the local government

institutions as a major constraint to good governance. Some of the important

recommendations to ensure good governance are: enhancing transparency, accountability and efficiency of the public

offices;

encouraging peoples involvement in the design and implementation of

development activities;

emphasizing womens participation and empowerment; and

lessening central government control on local institutions (Planning

Commission. 2004).

The crux of the problem is to promote community-driven development. This can

be divided into following practice areas:

Enabling institutional environment: Development of policy and

institutional reforms oriented toward increased participation in decision-making and control of resources by communities through elected and

functional local governments.

Participatory local governance: Elected local government makes

decision on planning, implementation, operation and maintenance in

partnership with all stakeholders in the community.

Community control and management of investment funds:

Community groups make decisions on planning, implementation,

monitoring and maintenance, and also manage investment funds.

While UP is the nucleus, there are other actors, such as, NGO, CBO and, not the

least, the market. Informal institutions and social norms also yield considerable

impact. The relationship between these varied actors are a potential entry point

for change. It is not just a question of who does what, but, what is needed is,

building on institutional synergies and maximizing the value added by particular

actors (Thornton, 2002).


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4 CONCLUSION

In Bangladesh, it appears that the state is weak in its engagement in service

delivery. The central government remains strong, vis-a-vis the local government,

in decision-making and resource control (Planning Commission, 2004). People

want a strong government in terms of services it delivers. Most of the people are

poor and they want a government that can make resources available at an

affordable cost.

The next important question is where the government should be located. It is now

being widely agreed that people should be empowered at the local level to plan

and manage their own affairs. At the higher level (i.e. the central level), the role

of the government can be rationalized in terms of its facilitating role and the

central government (in whatever form one conceives) need not be the central

focus in the chain of governance. The central focus on local government and

community management based on the principle of stakeholder participation is

increasingly becoming a dominant vocabulary in official literature. The central

government is deemed as a catalyst to create an enabling environment wherelocal level stakeholders can play their role without any stumbling block.

In the art of governance, the notion ofauthority has increasingly being replacedby the concept ofparticipation. Peoples participation has become a buzzword.

Its connotation goes beyond consultation process, and it also incorporates within

its domain the role in decision-making in all stages of an intervention that affect

livelihoods. Here the key word is partnership that steers the wheel of progress.

This partnership evolves through meaningful interaction and convergence of

interests. Such partnership requires a facilitating mechanism that would ensure

critical balance among different stakeholders.

It is also important to note that there are different interest groups or

stakeholders with competing and conflicting objectives and strategies. In thecontext of enabling institutional environment, conflict management and

consensusbuilding are two critical areas that need special attention.

Participatory development embodies collective effort by the people who are the

beneficiaries of development. In a well-defined framework the people pool their

efforts and whatever other resources they decide to bring together to attain the

objectives they set for themselves. Participation is an active process through

which stakeholders influence development initiatives and take action that is

stimulated by their own thinking and deliberation, and over which they can exert

effective control. Participation, thus, may be viewed as the exercise of peoples

power in thinking and acting and, thereby, realizing the essence of democracy in

conformity with the constitutional dictum that all power belong to the people.


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This is the cornerstone of enabling environment for local governance that

facilitates participation and contributes to enhancement of livelihoods.

At the bottom, the Union Parishadwith all its limitations has historically evolved

as a representative forum for all stakeholders. People have high expectations, as

well as concerns, about its modus operandy, mandate, authority and functioning.

With necessary forward and backward linkages and through broadening themandate, its scope and efficacy can be multiplied manifold. This also fits in the

governments current policy of decentralization and democratization.


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