Enhancing Community Participation at Local Development Projects in Bangladesh: Experience from Union Parishad Governance Project
Keywords:
Enhancement, community participation, local development projects, UPGP, Bangladesh
Abstract
The study aimed to develop an approach for effective community participation in local development projects. Researchers conducted a field study in Sunamgonj district, one of the most vulnerable areas in Bangladesh, and collected information from Union Parishads (UP) chairpersons and members, secretaries, committee members, and local beneficiaries through interviews, and FGDs using purposive sampling and analyzed them employing thematic analysis method. Study findings revealed that although UP is considered as a close- knit community-based organization in terms of the nature of development work and geographic location, yet inclusive decentralization and democratic environment have not been established at the local level institutions for enhancing a meaningful community participation at local level development projects due to outsider interferences, nepotism, lack of knowledge and information, top-down bureaucratic decisions, gender discrimination, and corruption. It is believed that the model of meaningful decentralized participation system would help to mobilize the comprehensive local development process.
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References
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16. Cooke, B., & Kothari, U. (2001). Participation: The new tyranny? : Zed books.
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21. Elias Sarker, A. (2006). The political economy of decentralized governance: an assessment of rural local government reforms in Bangladesh. International Journal of Public Administration, 29(13), 1285-1309.
22. Estomih Muro, J., & Namusonge, G. (2017). Governance Factors Affecting Community Participation In Public Development Projects In Meru District In Arusha In Tanzania.
23. Flick, U. (2014). An introduction to qualitative research (5th Ed.): Sage.
24. Futrell, R. (2003). Technical adversarialism and participatory collaboration in the US chemical weapons disposal program. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 28(4), 451-482.
25. González Rivas, M. (2014). Decentralization, community participation, and improvement of water access in Mexico. Community Development, 45(1), 2-16.
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29. Kala, D., & Bagri, S. (2018). Barriers to local community participation in tourism development: Evidence from mountainous state Uttarakhand, India. Tourism: An International Interdisciplinary Journal, 66(3), 318-333.
30. Kassen, M. (2021). Understanding decentralized civic engagement: Focus on peer-to-peer and blockchain-driven perspectives on e-participation. Technology in Society, 66, 101650.
31. Khanal, D. (2015). Gender and its relation with community Development and in context in Nepal.
32. Khatun, D. H. (2003). Integrating gender into World Bank financed transport programs: case study-Bangladesh Third Rural Infrastructure Development Project (RDP 21).
33. Khwaja, A. I. (2004). Is increasing community participation always a good thing? Journal of the european economic Association, 2(2-3), 427-436.
34. Mansuri, G., & Rao, V. (2012). Can participation be induced? Some evidence from developing countries. Some Evidence from Developing Countries (July 1, 2012). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper(6139).
35. Marshall, C., & Rossman, G. B. (2011). Managing, analyzing, and interpreting data. In C. Marshall & G. B. Rossman (Eds.), Designing Qualitative Research (5th ed., pp. 205-227): Sage.
36. Marzuki, A., Hay, I., & James, J. (2012). Public participation shortcomings in tourism planning: The case of the Langkawi Islands, Malaysia. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 20(4), 585-602.
37. Mbaiwa, J. E. (2005). The socio-cultural impacts of tourism development in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 2(3), 163-185.
38. Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2015). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. San Farncisco: John Wiley & Sons.
39. Mohammad, S. N. (2010). "Peoples Participation in Development Projects at Grass root Level: A Study on Alampur and Jagannathpur Union Parishad”. Masters Dissertation, NSUB, Bangladsh.
40. Montesanti, S. R., & Thurston, W. E. (2015). Mapping the role of structural and interpersonal violence in the lives of women: implications for public health interventions and policy. BMC women's health, 15(1), 1-13.
41. Mosse, D. (2001). 'People's knowledge', participation and patronage: operations and representations in rural development: Zed Books.
42. Mutie, B. M. (2022). Stakeholder participation in electoral process in Kenya. JKUAT-COETEC,
43. Neuman, W. L. (2014). Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (Pearson New International ed.). London: Pearson Education Limited.
44. Nilsen, P., Wallerstedt, B., Behm, L., & Ahlström, G. (2018). Towards evidence-based palliative care in nursing homes in Sweden: a qualitative study informed by the organizational readiness to change theory. Implementation Science, 13(1), 1.
45. Olum, Y. (2014). Decentralisation in developing countries: preconditions for successful implementation. Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance(15), 23-38.
46. Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Leech, N. L. (2007). Validity and qualitative research: An oxymoron? Quality & Quantity, 41(2), 233-249.
47. Owi, T. (2020). A governance framework for mitigating flood risks in Nigeria. (Doctoral Dissertation), University of Newcastle, Australia.
48. Panday, P. K. (2011). Local government system in Bangladesh: How far is it decentralised? Lex Localis-Journal of Local Self-Government, 9(3).
49. Panday, P. K. (2019). Public participation in local governments in Bangladesh: experience, challenges and the future. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration, 41(2), 85-96.
50. Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. Thousand Oaks.Cal: Sage.
51. Pless, N. M., & Appel, J. (2012). In pursuit of dignity and social justice: Changing lives through 100% inclusion—How Gram Vikas fosters sustainable rural development. Journal of Business Ethics, 111, 389-411.
52. Ram, U., Strohschein, L., & Gaur, K. (2014). Gender socialization: Differences between male and female youth in India and associations with mental health. International Journal of Population Research, 2014.
53. Rigon, A. (2014). Building local governance: Participation and elite capture in slum‐upgrading in Kenya. Development and Change, 45(2), 257-283.
54. Samah, A. A., & Aref, F. (2009). People’s participation in community development: A case study in a planned village settlement in Malaysia. World Rural Observations, 1(2), 45-54.
55. Seddiky, M., Giggins, H., & Gajendran, T. (2021). Non-DRR NGOs strategies for livelihood development in the coastal communities of Bangladesh: a case study. Natural Hazards, 1-21.
56. Seddiky, M. A., Giggins, H., & Gajendran, T. (2020). International principles of disaster risk reduction informing NGOs strategies for community based DRR mainstreaming: The Bangladesh context. International journal of disaster risk reduction, 48, 101580.
57. Sips, K., Craps, M., & Dewulf, A. (2013). Local participation in complex technological projects as bridging between different communities. Knowledge Management for Development Journal, 9(3), 95-115.
58. Taniguchi, H., & Hossain, G. (2007). Local governance and poverty reduction in Bangladesh-Asia Pacific Research Center, Kobe Gakuin University, Japan.
59. Tosun, C. (2000). Limits to community participation in the tourism development process in developing countries. Tourism Management, 21(6), 613-633.
60. Vadeveloo, T., & Singaravelloo, K. (2013). Local government and community development. International Journal of Business, Economics and Law, 2(2), 54-59.
61. van der Hoeven, M., Kruger, A., & Greeff, M. (2012). Differences in health care seeking behaviour between rural and urban communities in South Africa. International journal for equity in health, 11(1), 1-9.
62. Waheduzzaman, W., & As-Saber, S. (2015). Community participation and local governance in Bangladesh. Australian Journal of Political Science, 50(1), 128-147.
63. Wahyuni, D. (2012). The research design maze: Understanding paradigms, cases, methods and methodologies. Journal of applied management accounting research, 10(1), 69-80.
64. Wasilwa, C., & Wasilwa, F. (2015). Effect of community participation on sustainability of community based development projects in Kenya. Retrieved on March, 8, 2017.
65. Waweru, R. (2015). Factors which promote community participation in the community driven development approach. International Journal of Humanities & Social Science Studies, 6959(13), 2349-6959.
66. WHO. (2002). Community participation in local health and sustainable development: approaches and techniques: World Health Organization. Regional Office for Europe.
67. Willis, K. (2006). Interviewing. Doing development research, 144-152.
68. Wodajo, D., Yiadom, K., & Asfaw, M. (2014). Improving People's Participation in Local Development Project: A Case of Urban Local Government in Oromia-Ethiopia. Develoing Country Studies, 4(8), 9-17.
2. Ackatia-Armah, N. M., Addy, N. A., Ghosh, S., & Dubé, L. (2016). Fostering reflective trust between mothers and community health nurses to improve the effectiveness of health and nutrition efforts: An ethnographic study in Ghana, West Africa. Social Science & Medicine, 158, 96-104.
3. Ahmed, T. (2011). Planning Situations in the Union Parishad of Bangladesh and Outline of A Planning Guideline. The Local Government Support Programme-Local Innovation Component (LGSP-LIC), 9.
4. Ahmmed, M. F., Ahmmed, M. F., & Singh, L. (2007). State of the rural Manipuris in Bangladesh: Ethnic Community Development Organization.
5. Akter, S., & Mamun, M. M. H. (2018). Original Paper Analysis of the Link between Central Government and Local Government in Bangladesh: A Case Study of Union Parishad. Urban Studies and Public Administration, 1(1), 1-12.
6. Alvarez, M. L. (2013). From unheard screams to powerful voices: A case study of women’s political empowerment in the philippines. Paper presented at the 12th National Convention on statistics.
7. Ansoms, A. (2013). Negotiating on poverty: A participatory poverty assessment simulation game. Simulation & Gaming, 44(4), 586-601.
8. Asaduzzaman, M. (2008). Governance in practice: Decentralization and people's participation in the local development of Bangladesh: Tampere University Press.
9. Asaduzzaman, M. (2011). Innovation in local governance: Decentralization and citizen participation in Bangladesh. In Innovative Trends in Public Governance in Asia (pp. 220-233): IOS Press.
10. Botes, L., & Van Rensburg, D. (2000). Community participation in development: nine plagues and twelve commandments. Community Development Journal, 35(1), 41-58.
11. Castleberry, A., & Nolen, A. (2018). Thematic analysis of qualitative research data: Is it as easy as it sounds? Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, 10(6), 807-815.
12. Chambers, R. (1994). Participatory rural appraisal (PRA): Analysis of experience. World development, 22(9), 1253-1268.
13. Chhetri, D. P. (2013). People’s participation in development. Sikkim in perspective. International Journal of Innovative Research and Development, 2(5), 1476-1497.
14. Chowdhury, S., & Panday, P. K. (2018). Strengthening local governance in Bangladesh. Springer international publishing, 5(2), 169-181.
15. Cleaver, F. (2001). Institutions, agency and the limitations of participatory approaches to development. Participation: The new tyranny?, 36-55.
16. Cooke, B., & Kothari, U. (2001). Participation: The new tyranny? : Zed books.
17. Cornwall, A. (2008). Unpacking ‘Participation’: models, meanings and practices. Community Development Journal, 43(3), 269-283.
18. Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (3rd ed.): Sage publications.
19. Davids, I. (2012). Participatory development in South Africa: A development management perspective.
20. Ebenstein, A. (2010). The “missing girls” of China and the unintended consequences of the one child policy. Journal of Human resources, 45(1), 87-115.
21. Elias Sarker, A. (2006). The political economy of decentralized governance: an assessment of rural local government reforms in Bangladesh. International Journal of Public Administration, 29(13), 1285-1309.
22. Estomih Muro, J., & Namusonge, G. (2017). Governance Factors Affecting Community Participation In Public Development Projects In Meru District In Arusha In Tanzania.
23. Flick, U. (2014). An introduction to qualitative research (5th Ed.): Sage.
24. Futrell, R. (2003). Technical adversarialism and participatory collaboration in the US chemical weapons disposal program. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 28(4), 451-482.
25. González Rivas, M. (2014). Decentralization, community participation, and improvement of water access in Mexico. Community Development, 45(1), 2-16.
26. Inkoom, D. K. B. (2011). Ghana's Decentralization: Two decades and still crawling? Development, 54(3), 393-399.
27. Islam, A., & Biswas, T. (2014). Health system in Bangladesh: challenges and opportunities. American Journal of Health Research, 2(6), 366-374.
28. Jacob, T., & Bernard, C. (2013). Exploring the politics of local participation in rural development projects: small dams rehabilitation project in Zimbabwe. Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences, 14(2), 74-88.
29. Kala, D., & Bagri, S. (2018). Barriers to local community participation in tourism development: Evidence from mountainous state Uttarakhand, India. Tourism: An International Interdisciplinary Journal, 66(3), 318-333.
30. Kassen, M. (2021). Understanding decentralized civic engagement: Focus on peer-to-peer and blockchain-driven perspectives on e-participation. Technology in Society, 66, 101650.
31. Khanal, D. (2015). Gender and its relation with community Development and in context in Nepal.
32. Khatun, D. H. (2003). Integrating gender into World Bank financed transport programs: case study-Bangladesh Third Rural Infrastructure Development Project (RDP 21).
33. Khwaja, A. I. (2004). Is increasing community participation always a good thing? Journal of the european economic Association, 2(2-3), 427-436.
34. Mansuri, G., & Rao, V. (2012). Can participation be induced? Some evidence from developing countries. Some Evidence from Developing Countries (July 1, 2012). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper(6139).
35. Marshall, C., & Rossman, G. B. (2011). Managing, analyzing, and interpreting data. In C. Marshall & G. B. Rossman (Eds.), Designing Qualitative Research (5th ed., pp. 205-227): Sage.
36. Marzuki, A., Hay, I., & James, J. (2012). Public participation shortcomings in tourism planning: The case of the Langkawi Islands, Malaysia. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 20(4), 585-602.
37. Mbaiwa, J. E. (2005). The socio-cultural impacts of tourism development in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 2(3), 163-185.
38. Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2015). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. San Farncisco: John Wiley & Sons.
39. Mohammad, S. N. (2010). "Peoples Participation in Development Projects at Grass root Level: A Study on Alampur and Jagannathpur Union Parishad”. Masters Dissertation, NSUB, Bangladsh.
40. Montesanti, S. R., & Thurston, W. E. (2015). Mapping the role of structural and interpersonal violence in the lives of women: implications for public health interventions and policy. BMC women's health, 15(1), 1-13.
41. Mosse, D. (2001). 'People's knowledge', participation and patronage: operations and representations in rural development: Zed Books.
42. Mutie, B. M. (2022). Stakeholder participation in electoral process in Kenya. JKUAT-COETEC,
43. Neuman, W. L. (2014). Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (Pearson New International ed.). London: Pearson Education Limited.
44. Nilsen, P., Wallerstedt, B., Behm, L., & Ahlström, G. (2018). Towards evidence-based palliative care in nursing homes in Sweden: a qualitative study informed by the organizational readiness to change theory. Implementation Science, 13(1), 1.
45. Olum, Y. (2014). Decentralisation in developing countries: preconditions for successful implementation. Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance(15), 23-38.
46. Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Leech, N. L. (2007). Validity and qualitative research: An oxymoron? Quality & Quantity, 41(2), 233-249.
47. Owi, T. (2020). A governance framework for mitigating flood risks in Nigeria. (Doctoral Dissertation), University of Newcastle, Australia.
48. Panday, P. K. (2011). Local government system in Bangladesh: How far is it decentralised? Lex Localis-Journal of Local Self-Government, 9(3).
49. Panday, P. K. (2019). Public participation in local governments in Bangladesh: experience, challenges and the future. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration, 41(2), 85-96.
50. Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. Thousand Oaks.Cal: Sage.
51. Pless, N. M., & Appel, J. (2012). In pursuit of dignity and social justice: Changing lives through 100% inclusion—How Gram Vikas fosters sustainable rural development. Journal of Business Ethics, 111, 389-411.
52. Ram, U., Strohschein, L., & Gaur, K. (2014). Gender socialization: Differences between male and female youth in India and associations with mental health. International Journal of Population Research, 2014.
53. Rigon, A. (2014). Building local governance: Participation and elite capture in slum‐upgrading in Kenya. Development and Change, 45(2), 257-283.
54. Samah, A. A., & Aref, F. (2009). People’s participation in community development: A case study in a planned village settlement in Malaysia. World Rural Observations, 1(2), 45-54.
55. Seddiky, M., Giggins, H., & Gajendran, T. (2021). Non-DRR NGOs strategies for livelihood development in the coastal communities of Bangladesh: a case study. Natural Hazards, 1-21.
56. Seddiky, M. A., Giggins, H., & Gajendran, T. (2020). International principles of disaster risk reduction informing NGOs strategies for community based DRR mainstreaming: The Bangladesh context. International journal of disaster risk reduction, 48, 101580.
57. Sips, K., Craps, M., & Dewulf, A. (2013). Local participation in complex technological projects as bridging between different communities. Knowledge Management for Development Journal, 9(3), 95-115.
58. Taniguchi, H., & Hossain, G. (2007). Local governance and poverty reduction in Bangladesh-Asia Pacific Research Center, Kobe Gakuin University, Japan.
59. Tosun, C. (2000). Limits to community participation in the tourism development process in developing countries. Tourism Management, 21(6), 613-633.
60. Vadeveloo, T., & Singaravelloo, K. (2013). Local government and community development. International Journal of Business, Economics and Law, 2(2), 54-59.
61. van der Hoeven, M., Kruger, A., & Greeff, M. (2012). Differences in health care seeking behaviour between rural and urban communities in South Africa. International journal for equity in health, 11(1), 1-9.
62. Waheduzzaman, W., & As-Saber, S. (2015). Community participation and local governance in Bangladesh. Australian Journal of Political Science, 50(1), 128-147.
63. Wahyuni, D. (2012). The research design maze: Understanding paradigms, cases, methods and methodologies. Journal of applied management accounting research, 10(1), 69-80.
64. Wasilwa, C., & Wasilwa, F. (2015). Effect of community participation on sustainability of community based development projects in Kenya. Retrieved on March, 8, 2017.
65. Waweru, R. (2015). Factors which promote community participation in the community driven development approach. International Journal of Humanities & Social Science Studies, 6959(13), 2349-6959.
66. WHO. (2002). Community participation in local health and sustainable development: approaches and techniques: World Health Organization. Regional Office for Europe.
67. Willis, K. (2006). Interviewing. Doing development research, 144-152.
68. Wodajo, D., Yiadom, K., & Asfaw, M. (2014). Improving People's Participation in Local Development Project: A Case of Urban Local Government in Oromia-Ethiopia. Develoing Country Studies, 4(8), 9-17.
Published
2024-04-11
How to Cite
Ara, E., Seddiky, M. A., Basit, A., & Khanam, R. (2024). Enhancing Community Participation at Local Development Projects in Bangladesh: Experience from Union Parishad Governance Project. European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 28, 218. Retrieved from https://eujournal.org/index.php/esj/article/view/18022
Section
ESI Preprints
Copyright (c) 2024 Esmat Ara, Md. Assraf Seddiky, Abdul Basit, Ruba Khanam
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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