UPGP Annual Report 2013

ANNUAL REPORT 2013

Union Parishad Governance Project (UPGP)

Empowered lives. Resilient nations.

European Union

ANNUAL REPORT 2013


European Union

Union Parishad Governance Project (UPGP)

June 2014

K M Mozammel Hoq

Additional Secretary, Local Govrnment Division (LGD) &

National Project Director, UPGP

Dr. Md. Sarwar Bari

Project Manager, UPGP

Ataul Gani Osmani

Communications Officer, UPGP

Annual Report 2013

Published in

Editorial Advisor

Editor

Prepared by

ANNUAL REPORT 2013


European Union

This publication is formal publication of Union Parishad Governance Project (UPGP). The document has been produced with the financial assistance of the contributing donors of the UPGP i.e. the European Union (EU), DANIDA, UNCDF and UNDP. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the supporting donors.

Table of ContentsMessage 04

List of Acronyms 05

Executive Summary 06

Key Results in 2013 07

Context 10

Key Progress 13

Output-1 15

Output-2 21

Output-3 24

IEC Materials and Knowledge Products 30

Media Clippings 32

Key Results 33

Lessons Learned 35

Way Foward 36

Annexure 37

04 | UPGP Annual Report 2013

Message from NPDIt gives me great satisfaction to see the achievements and highlights of the work of the Union Parishad Governance Project (UPGP) during 2013, in this Annual Report. This Report has captured succinctly the important details of the successes, challenges and lessons learned, during the second year of operations of this five-year project, and serves an important source of information for all stakeholders.

The early successes and momentum generated in key areas of work are a matter of pride for the project, and gives all of us immense pleasure. I expect the promising pilot interventions that have been initiated by the project to start delivering exciting results next year. The pace at which planned activities have taken place suggest that the project is well on track to reach the goals it has committed to meet by 2016.

One of the key achievements the project has made in 2013 is enhancement of democratic functioning and leadership in the Union Parishads (UPs). The trainings and backstopping support provided by UPGP has helped the UPs in ensuring more democratic accountability and civic engagement which, in turn, resulted in pro-poor and MDG-oriented planning and budgeting. And the striking effects of the efforts are significant improvement in the access and availability of the basic services to the community.

The UPGP, jointly with its sister-project, Upazila Governance Project (UZGP), has made a great contribution to create a platform and hear the voices of elected women representatives of local governments through forming Women Development Forums (WDFs) at Upazila and District levels. Through various activities and orientations among the local government functionaries, the project has helped the UPs to formulate more gender-responsive planning and budgeting which ultimately created a sense of empowerment and confidence in them.

In MDG-oriented Planning and Budgeting, we see significant success with most of the UPs having prepared the basic Five-Year Development Plan. These Plans have also provided a platform to fulfill the MDGs at local level. The project has established a performance based grant system, which incentivizes compliance with requirements of the UP Act as well as development results. The performance based grants delivered to the best performing UPs have helped them to deliver more pro-poor and MDG-oriented services to the people. The UPs are now able to manage their finance more efficiently and effectively due to capacity building support provided by the project.

One of the significant achievements the project has made in 2013 is contribution to the mobilization of more local revenues. Lion’s share of the increased revenue comes from the holding tax. Due to the various interventions including awareness raising campaign by the project, 25 per cent of the UPs have collected more holding tax than in 2012 while 39 per cent of the UPs have met more than 80 per cent of their targeted mobilization.

Significant progress has also made in Management Information System (MIS) and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Systems. An IT-enabled MIS pilot commenced in 100 UPs, while first phase of M&E System became operationalised after developing a UP M&E Strategy and tools. The quarterly Management Information System reports are being generated by all UPs across the selected seven districts, and reports are being channeled to the respective Heads of the Local Government offices at the districts as well as the project office in Dhaka.

The project has also supported the Local Government Division (LGD) in formulating four rules related to the Union Parishad.

While there is still much work to be done, these achievements augur well for the future planned interventions. The project’s efforts have already started paying off and I look to seeing scalable lessons and results in the years ahead.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank European Union, DANIDA, UNCDF and UNDP for their continued support and cooperation. I would also like to convey my most earnest appreciation to the members of the Project Steering Committee and Project Board for their invaluable advice on strategic issues and project implementation. I also congratulate my project colleagues those who have worked tirelessly in making the successes possible.

K M Mozammel HoqAdditional Secretary, LGD & National Project Director, UPGP

UPGP Annual Report 2013 | 05

LIST OF ACRONYMSADP Annual Development Plan AWP Annual Work Plan CBO Community-based Organization CEDAW United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women CSO Civil Society Organization DC Deputy Commissioner DDLG Deputy Director, Local Government DF District FacilitatorDLG Director, Local Government DPP Development Project Proposal DVF Divisional Facilitator EPBG Extended Performance Based GrantsEU European UnionFP Focal PersonLG Local Government LGD Local Government Division LGIs Local Government Institutions LGRD & C Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives LGSP Local Government Support Project LGSP-LIC Local Government Support Project-Learning and Innovation Component MDGs Millennium Development Goals M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MIE Monitoring, Inspection and Evaluation MIS Monitoring and Information System MoU Memorandum of Understanding NEX National ExecutionNILG National Institute of Local Government NGO Non-government Organization NPD National Project Director NWDP National Women Development Policy PAG Policy Advisory GroupPB Project Board PBG Performance Based GrantsPM Project Manager PMU Project Management Unit PSC Project Steering Committee SC Standing Committee UNCDF United Nations Capital Development Fund UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNO Upazila Nirbahi Officer UP Union Parishad UPGP Union Parishad Governance Project UZGP Upazila Governance Project UZP Upazila ParishadVAT Value Added Tax VAW Violence Against Women WDF Women Development ForumWS Ward Shava


EXECUTIVE SUMMARYAll components of the Union Parishad Governance Project (UPGP) became fully operational during 2013, which was the second year of the project. The project office was set up during the year, and functional linkages established between its national and seven (07) district offices, as well as the 564 Union Parishads (UPs) being supported by the project.

Notwithstanding the challenges posed by the turbulent political environment during the year, the planned activities made good progress and significant initial results were achieved in relation to the expected project outcome of “Strengthened capacities of local governments and other stakeholders to foster participatory local development service delivery for the MDGs.”

It is evident from the reported results for 2013, that the quality of democratic accountability at UPs is being transformed at a rapid pace. Increased democratic oversight, community inclusion and transparency in local governance were in evidence during the year, alongside major expansions in availability of basic services to achieve the MDGs, and steady progress towards sustainability with improved mobilization of local revenues. Grants amounting to US$1.72 million triggered and supported 1,567 investments to improve basic services, estimated to benefit 2.9 million persons.

Five secondary regulations were approved by the Government, to provide policy support to implement the UP Act 2009. The Baseline Study has been completed, providing benchmarks against which progress and contributions of the project can be systematically assessed. Studies on the implementation of Right to Information (RTI) as well as Citizen Perceptions are in progress.

The UPGP’s partnership with Upazila Governance Project (UZGP), operating at the sub-district level, played a significant role in strengthening service delivery in 138 UPs, which are located in the 14 Upazilas supported by UZGP grants. Integration and synergy were achieved in planning and supporting 27 service delivery investments across 20 UPs.

This partnership with UZGP also helped link 20 UPs with 14 Upazila level Women Development Forums (WDFs). The strategic partnership with Local Governance Support Programme II, allowed a standardized approach to performance assessment of all 564 UPs across Bangladesh by 1,375 auditors trained by the UPGP.

This partnership also made it possible to initiate coordinated planning and implementation of service delivery investments across 404 UPs, which utilized the grant assistance of $1.72 million from the UPGP.


KEY RESULTS IN 2013

20%

Democratic Accountability & Civic Engagement

UPs where Ward Shavas conducted regularly according to UP Act 2009

8%UPs where at least 6 key Standing Committees produced 2 monitoring reports per year

26%UPs which have at least 1 woman representative participating in WDF

64%UPs that shared annual budget in open session

4%UPs where monthly meeting conducted regularly

% of Progress 2013

Mobilize More Local Revenues to Support Development Expenditure in 2013

Collection of Holding Tax by UP increased from the previous year 25%

UPs collected more than 10% revenues in comparison with the previous year 57%

UPs that used more than 10% of own revenues for development expenditure 42%

UPs that have completed annual tax assessment 80%

25% UPs collected more Holding Tax than previous year.

In 2012 average annual collection was Tk. 97,801 per UP and in 2013 it rose to Tk. 1,22,721

Improved Access and Availability of Basic Services to the Community

20%

10%71%

91%

10%

62%

77%

58%

64%

0%

UPs which initiated specific schemes to serve poor households

15%UPs which disclosed income and expenditurve report to public

6%UPs that have Citizen Charter

% of Progress 2013

Bas

elin

e

2013

Bas

elin

e

2013

Bas

elin

e

2013

Bas

elin

e

2013

UPs who have 5-year comprehensive development plan

Annual Tax Assessment 2012: 19% UPs2013: 80% UPs

2013 53%

33%Baseline

36%2013

28%Baseline

87%2013

61%Baseline

2013 77%

Baseline 13%

2013 93%

Baseline 89%


Peer To Peer Learning of UPs

Total 21 UPs participated in exchange visits for peer to peer learning.

It was to foster exchange of knowledge, experiences and good practices of UPs to enhance efficiency and improve governance in service delivery.

UP Chairmen, Members, Secretaries and UISC entrepreneurs participated in these 2-day learning visits.

At the end of the session, an individual action plan was prepared by the participating UPs on how the learning or good practices would be replicated and scaled up in their own areas.

Capacity Building: UP Training in Planning and Management

Some 545 UPs out of total 564 have received 2-day training in planning and management. A total of 7,809 persons received the training which is 96 per cent of the targeted participants.

The traning was mainly organized at Upazila level.

Main contents of the training were: organizational structure and functions of UP, Ward Shava and Standing Committee formation and functioning, preparation of 5-year development plan and annual plan, budgeting, implementation, monitoring, supervision as well as steps to enhance services by UPs.

Facilitators of the Training: DDLG, District Facilitators, District and Upazila level Government officials.

Fig-1: Participants in UP Training in Planning and Management

Backstopping Support to UP by DDLG and District Facilitator

1 Barguna 42 5 12 13 13 43 102

2 Brahmanbaria 100 24 11 13 17 65 65

3 Khulna 68 3 10 11 11 35 51

4 Kishorganj 108 15 8 14 6 43 40

5 Rangpur 76 1 14 11 7 33 43

6 Sirajganj 83 10 14 21 2 47 57

7 Sunamganj 87 9 14 11 8 42 48

Total 564 67 83 94 64 308 55

Total 307 UPs (55 per cent of the 564) were provided with backstopping support through regular communication and visits by the officials.

District Facilitator used this opportunity to work with the UPs to track completion of mandatory tasks, and carry out preparations required to implement work plans.

Backstopping assistance to UP has helped prepare MDG linked 5-year development plan, annual plan and budget.

Sl District Total Backstopping support to UP

UP Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total Total %

UISC Entrp.524

UP Chair512

1598Female Member

Male Member4651 529

UP Secretary

20 Chairmen, 20 Secretaries and 251 UP Members participated

Both best and poor performing 3 UPs included in same visit

Every UP prepared an action plan after the visit

DDLG, UNOs, Govt. Officials, DF also

participated


UP Performance Criteria and UPGP Grants No. of indicators usedNo. Performance Area Nationwide UPGP Assessment assessment

1 Planning & budgeting 3 7

2 Fiduciary aspects 5 8

3 Own source revenue mobilization 2 8

4 Monitoring, Oversight, Transparency

& Accountability 1 7

5 Implementation Performance

/MDG Targeting 0 5

6 Democratic Governance 1 6

Total 12 41

UPGP Grant 2013 District UP Amount (BDT.)

Brahmanbaria 71 19830123

Barguna 29 9679217

Kishoreganj 80 22447668

Khulna 48 17010531

Rangpur 54 20175053

Sirajganj 59 21158904

Sunamganj 63 23170275

Total 404 133471770


UP schemes by UPGP Grants

Roads & Culverts,

45% MDG Linked Schemes,

48%

Others

7%• 1375 Auditors were trained to complete the annual UP performance assessment

• Total 1556 schemes were planned by 404 UPs based on the UPGP grants.

• There are 27 co-financed schemes by UPGP and UZGP in 20 UPs.

• 2013 schemes: Roads & culverts-45%, Water & Sanitation-23%, School & sports-18%, Health services-5% and others-7%.

• 2.9 million people are directly benefitted by UPGP schemes in 2013.

UPGP Grants Flowchart 2013

Fiscal Transfer Steps

UPs

BrahmanbariaTk. 19830123 to 71 UPs bank accounts

BargunaTk. 9679217 to 29

UPs bank accounts

KishoreganjTk. 22447668 to 80 UPs bank accounts

KhulnaTk. 17010531 to 48 UPs bank accounts

RangpurTk. 20175053 to 54 UPs bank accounts

SirajganjTk. 21158904 to 59 UPs bank accounts

SunamganjTk. 23170275 to 63 UPs bank accounts

LGSP-II BBG to all 4547 UPs

LGSP-IIPBG to 75% of all

4547 UPsBased on 12 performance

indicators

UPGPEPBG to 70% of 564 UPs

in projectBased on 41 performance

indicators (including 12 indicators of PBG)

UNCDFBangladesh

UNCDFNewyork

LGDRequests

UP Annual audit & performance

assessment

UPGPTk.132.4 lac in Bank Account


CONTEXT

The UPGP is designed to work directly with four institutional platforms that form the core of local governance. They are: the Union Parishad, the Standing Committees of the Union Parishad, the Ward Shavas, and the Women Development Forums.4 Institutional

Platforms

The Government of Bangladesh has expressed strong commitment to strengthen local government and further decentralization. The National Rural Development Policy (NRDP) of the Government of Bangladesh stresses on developing a strong and accountable local government to effectively deliver services, and calls for Union Parishads to be empowered with additional resources, authority and training.

The Union Parishad Governance Project (UPGP) is part of the Programmatic Framework established by UNDP and UNCDF to support the Government of Bangladesh in the area of Local Governance reforms, in partnership with the European Union (EU) and the Government of Denmark. The UPGP is being implemented by the Local Government Division (LGD), in close alignment with its on-going Local Government Support Program-II (LGSP-II) that supports the entire complement of Union Parishads across the country. The LGSP-II and Upazila Governance Project (UZGP) have commenced implementation of programmed activities, while the UPGP has completed the preparatory technical and administrative steps, and commenced implementation of the main activities.

The UPGP builds on the earlier LGSP-LIC Programme, which demonstrated several successful innovations in participatory planning and management processes that have already been integrated into LGSP-II. UPGP’s activities are conceived to be implemented within the ambit Government’s LGSP-II, whereby it would facilitate a set of carefully planned innovations and improvements to further strengthen local governance, working in around 10 per cent of UPs. The activities of UPGP serve to pilot and demonstrate synergies between the Union Parishad and the Upazila, in line with the vision in the UP Act 2009, which envisage the UP as a development hub, with effective links to line agencies at the Upazila level.

The UPGP is designed to work directly with four institutional platforms that form the core of local governance. They are: the Union Parishad, the Standing Committees of the Union Parishad, the Ward Shavas, and the Women Development Forums (WDFs). In addition, the UPGP also envisages activities to facilitate active and effective engagement between the Union Parishad’s and the Upazila administration, as well as activities at the national level, with the Local Government Division, to address the policy support required at the Union Parishad level. These activities fall into six generic categories:

1. Support the four institutional mechanisms to effectively execute their mandate

2. Enhance the quality of interface of the four institutional mechanisms with communities

3. Strengthening and improving planning and financing mechanisms followed by UPs

4. Mechanisms to improve resource mobilization by UPs

5. Improving the capacities of relevant stakeholders

6. Developing knowledge and policy instruments to support the above

The UPGP was approved on December 15, 2011 when the Programme Document was signed by the representatives of the Government of Bangladesh and the implementing UN agencies. But the actual implementation of the project started after Development Project Proposal (DPP) was approved by Government in August 2012. The administrative and technical preparations to implement the project have been completed and the first set of performance based grants were delivered by the UPGP to the UPs in the 2nd quarter of 2013.

While many of the key technical preparations like staff recruitment, staff training, procurement of equipment and logistics, etc. for project implementation have


Strengthened national capacity for effective policy review, monitoring, lesson

learning and capacity development of Local

Government Institutions for enhanced Local Governance

Strengthened Democratic Accountability of the Union Parishads through Citizen

Engagement

Output 1Innovations in Pro-Poor and MDG-Oriented Planning and

Financing of Service Delivery by Union Parishads

Output 2 Output 3

Project Outputs

been completed, while others like establishing the project office are making progress.

The detailed baseline survey has been completed. The framework and indicators for performance assessment of the UP’s has been prepared, and the training manual is prepared to support the auditors for assessing the performance of UP’s across the country.

The Operational Manual for UP has been formulated to support speedy roll out of support to UP’s. The M&E strategy, tools and guidelines to monitor the implementation of the planned activities has been completed and is in operation.

The project encountered serious challenge in maintaining the pace of implementation due to continuous political unrest in 2013 over the past few months. Due to continuous shutdowns, the mobility of project staff has reduced significantly hampering the smooth implementation of the project.

However, the project has adopted innovative ideas such as virtual communication through skype, movement over weekends, etc. to keep the project operationalized.

Objective and Purpose :

The overall objective of the UPGP is to strengthen capacities of local governments and other stakeholders to foster participatory local development service delivery for the MDGs.

The specific purpose in implementing the UPGP is to support the piloting and evaluation of innovations to improve the functional and institutional capacity, as well as the democratic accountability of Union Parishads, thereby increasing citizen involvement leading to more effective, efficient and accountable delivery of pro-poor infrastructure and services.


7Districts Barguna, Brahmanbaria, Khulna, Kishoreganj,

Rangpur, Sirajganj and Sunamganj.

District AreaUPGP/UZGP Districts

DINAJPUR

THAKURGAON

RANGPUR

NAOGAON

NAWABGANJ

RAJSHAHINATORE

BOGRA

SIRAJGANJ

PABNA

KUSHTIAMEHERPUR

CHUADANGAJHENAIDAH

MAGURAFARIDPUR

RAJBARI

NARAILJESSORE

SATKHIRA KHULNABAGERHAT

SUNDARBAN FORESTBARGUNA

NAWAKHALI

JHALAKATI

PIROJPUR BHOLA

BARISAL

GOPALGONJ

MADARIPUR SHARIATPUR

MUNSHIGANJ

MANIKGANJ

TANGAIL

DHAKANARAYANGANJ

NARSHINDIGAZIPUR

BRAHMANBARIA

BRAHMANBARIA

MOULVIBAZAR

SYLHETSUNAMGANJNETROKONA

MYMENSINGHJAMALPUR

SHERPUR

COMILLA

CHANDPUR

LAKSHMIPUR

NOAKHALI

FENI

KHAGRACHARI

KHAGRACHARIRANGAMATI

BANDARBAN

COXBBAZAR

PANCHGARH

NILPHAMARI LALMONIRHAT

KURIGRAM

GAIBANDHA

KISHOREGANJ

Project area:

The UPGP covers seven (07) districts, representing one in each of the seven (07) Divisions, in order to pilot equity initiatives in a priority pro-poor setting measured in terms of being the most off-track on the MDG targets, and to which UP managed local public service delivery contributes significantly. The seven (07) districts are Barguna, Brahmanbaria, Khulna, Kishoreganj, Rangpur, Sirajganj and Sunamganj. These are the same districts as its partner Upazila Governance Project (UZGP), but covers UPs in all Upazila of the districts with its Block Grant component, to facilitate synergies with the improved planning, financial management and revenue mobilization at UP level, including co-financing and coordination of UP and UZP activities.


KEY PROGRESSOverall progress profile:

The UPGP became operational during the last quarter of 2012.

UPGP is now fully operational with all institutional mechanisms at national and sub-national levels, staff, and implementation plans in place. The project management (NPD, FP and PM), Project Steering Committee, Project Board, Project Team and temporary office in UNDP Country Office are established. The first meetings of Project Steering Committee and Project Board have been completed, with participation of all relevant stakeholders. The key Govt. officials, Upazila Chairpersons and Vice-Chairpersons, Union Parishad Chairpersons and key officials, have been mobilized to implement the project. Given the early stage of action, the achievements during the period reflect initial steps towards the strategic results envisaged.

a. Strengthened Democratic

Accountability:

UPGP’s institutional stakeholders have a framework to facilitate capacity building on democratic accountability of Union Parishads. The achievement is reflected in terms of completion of the UPGP Operational Manual that covers all outputs and activities to be carried out at the Union Parishads. This framework guides 564 Union Parishads to implement key actions to strengthen democratic accountability. Secondly, specific capacity building and community engagement interventions to strengthen democracy and accountability have been identified, in form of 16 packages, being designed for implementation from 2013.

b. Innovations in Pro-Poor and

MDG-Oriented Planning and Financing

of Service Delivery:

The framework for performance based financing support to strengthen service delivery in the top performing 400 Union Parishads was established. The achievement is reflected in terms of completion of the Union Parishad Performance Assessment Manual that works around 41 performance indicators which incentivise Pro-Poor Planning and Democratic Accountability, while financing service delivery. Secondly, the process has become fully operational with around 1,800 Auditors trained and deployed to assess the performance of Union Parishads across the country.

c. Strengthened national capacity for

effective policy review and monitoring:

The framework of cooperation between key stakeholders supporting Union Parishads, namely LGD, UNDP, UNCDF and World Bank, was formally established providing the framework for cooperation and specifying areas of responsibility of different agencies. The achievement is reflected in terms of the Instrument of Cooperation being designed, reviewed and signed by all stakeholders.


2013 Progress against indicators:

Indicators Baseline Target 2013 Progress in 2013

% of 564 UPs with general UP meetings 89% 15% 93%

% of Ward Shavas that transact business according to UP Act-2009 33% 15% 87%

% of 564 UPs with at least 6 key standing committee producing at

least 2 monitoring reports per year 28% 15% 36%

% of basic services delivery schemes implemented for benefitting

poor in Unions 0% 0% 10%

% of 564 UP which have at least 1 women representative

participating in officially registered WDF at the Upazila level 61% 20% 85%

% of 564 UP which have citizen charter 58% - 64%

Indicators Baseline Target 2013 Progress in 2013

# of drafted legislative or regulatory instruments 6 Rules on UP 5 Rules based on UP Act in the gazette influenced by outcome of piloting activities by 0 Act-2009 in gazette by the Government the end of the project.

Existence of a National Framework for Local Government Capacity Development in place by 0 - - the end of the project.

Piloting of MIS for MIE Wing of LGD 0 Developed Project MIS Project Management Information System are operational, and information flows during the year

Prepared project M&E strategy & toolkit 0 Project M&E system in place

Project M&E System is developed and in practice.

Output-3: Strengthened national capacity for effective policy review, monitoring, lesson learning and

capacity development of LGIs for enhanced Local Governance

Output- 2: Innovations in Pro-Poor & MDG-Oriented Planning and Financing of Service Delivery by UP

Output-1: Strengthening Democratic Accountability of the Union Parishad through citizen engagement

Indicators Baseline Target 2013 Progress in 2013% of UPs completed comprehensive development plan (5-year plan) responding to MDGs and identified needs of local most vulnerable groups 71% 25% 91%

% of 564 UP that have collected >80% of planned revenues collection target - 25% 42%

% of 564 UP able to mobilize revenues in excess of 10% over the amount collected in the previous year - 25% 57%

Mean amount (Tk.) of holding tax collected 97801 - 122721 (Increased 25%)

% of 564 UP use 10% of Own Source Revenues on development or service delivery - 20% 42%

% of 564 UP discussed about budget in the open public meeting participated by people 87% - 77%


UP training on Planning and Management

In 2013, a 2-day non-residential training on Planning and Management was organized for 545 Union Parishads. A total of 7809 elected public representatives and officials have attended the training. The trainings were held mainly at Upazila level. Three UPs were covered in each batch and included 15 persons from each UP. The participants in the training were UP chairman, UP Secretary, all UP members and Union Information Service Center (UISC) entrepreneurs. Senior level government officials from district and upazila parishads facilitated

the training sessions. The main contents of the training sessions were organizational structure and functions of UP, Ward Shava, Standing Committee formation and functioning, preparation of 5-year developement plan and annual plan, budgeting, implementation, monitoring, supervision as well as steps to enhance service by UPs for the people. The UP rules were also discussed. At the training, every UP has prepared an action plan for three months; the main activities of the action plan were preparation of UP information book, budget, UP plan book, update different registers, annual tax assessment, etc.

Output-1: Strengthening Democratic Accountability of the Union Parishad through

Citizen Engagement

This result was envisaged to emerge from a set of activities to improve the operation of governance structures and accountability systems in processes within Union Parishads, with a focus on four institutional platforms, which are the Union Parishad, the Standing Committees of the Union Parishad, the Ward Shavas, and the Women Development Forums. To achieve the result a number of activities have been done in 2013. The activities were: Coaching and backstopping support to UP Chairs, Secretaries and Members for roles and responsibilities defined by UP Act 2009, Training on Planning and Management for UP, Peer to Peer learning visit for UP, Training of WDF members and meeting of WDF and awareness activities on Ward Shavas, Standing Committees, Downward Accountability, etc.


District UpazilaUP UP

ChairMale

Memberfemale

MemberUP

SecretaryUISCEntrp. Male female Total

Participants in Training Participants in Training

BBaria 9 81 76 642 233 80 75 867 242 1109

Barguna 6 42 42 371 116 38 40 481 133 614

Kishoreganj 13 108 102 929 310 106 108 1225 326 1551

Khulna 9 68 65 593 205 65 70 782 205 987

Rangpur 8 76 71 672 225 73 75 889 227 1116

Sirajganj 9 83 76 715 244 82 82 951 248 1199

Sunamganj 11 87 80 729 256 82 74 954 267 1221

Annual Total 65 545 512 4651 1598 529 524 6149 1660 7809

Out of planned 564 UPs, training for 19 UPs of Brahmanbaria distric have been shifted to next quarter. Overall 96% of the targeted participants participated in the training. 33 UP Chairs (6% of target), 291 members (4%), and 16 UP Secretary (3%) did not attend in the training.

District UP UP Chair UP Member Secretary Others Total

Brahmanbaria 3 3 36 3 6 48

Barguna 3 3 36 3 9 51

Kishoreganj 3 3 35 2 6 46

Khulna 0 0 0 0 0 0

Rangpur 3 2 36 3 9 50

Sirajganj 6 6 72 6 16 100

Sunamganj 3 3 36 3 4 49

Annual Total 21 20 251 20 50 344

Peer to Peer Learning Visit

The main objective of the peer-to peer learning visit was to further foster exchange of knowledge, experiences and good practice and enhance efficiency of Union Parishad governance and service delivery mechanism towards beneficiaries. UP Chairman, Member, Secretary and UISC entrepreneurs participated in the learning visit. It was a 2-day event and in most cases the visits were organized in LGSP-LIC districts. The UP representatives got the chance to know first-hand about the good practices and the process, how the achievements have been done, who were the catalysts and expedite the learning. After observation the visitors sat with the host UP representatives and government officials. It was a reflection session in cross learning environment.

At the end, an individual action plan was prepared by every UP on how the learning and the good practices would be replicated and scaled up in their own areas.


Workshop on Women Development Forum (WDF)

UPGP and UZGP have jointly facilitated several workshops and the formation of WDF in selected 65 Upazilas. The respective Upazila Parishad and District Administration have jointly organised the workshop. The district facilitators of UPGP and UZGP facilitated sessions, formation of WDFs, and preparation of reports and resolutions. The objectives of the Women Development Forum (WDF) are to create a platform for elected female representatives, networking and monitoring, strengthen intra LGIs linkage between UP and UZP and pursue advocacy on women issues within LGI and respective Parishads. In most of the workshops, the active participation was ensured. A total of 65 Upazila-level WDFs have been formed successfully in 2013. A total of 645 elected female members have been involved in WDF and among them 555 are from UPs. The main aim of forming the forums is to enhance the capacity of the elected women representatives in Union Parishads (UPs), Upazila Parisahads (UZPs) and Municipalities. The forums will also play a significant role in learning and sharing of their knowledge and experience and act as

a pressure group in solving their problems. Through this formation process, elected women at Union and Upazila level are more aware about their roles and responsibilities. The UPGP, in association with UZGP, has trained a total of 1,717 WDF members in 63 batches on Gender Concept, Gender issues at LGIs, Gender responsive planning and budgeting, networking and resource mobilization, women empowerment, etc.

Awareness Activity at Union level

To enable the Union Parishad elected representatives and government officials to implement strategic activities in its interface with the community, with special emphasis on the thematic areas specified in the UPGP documents, the UPGP has provided support to each of 564 UPs to organize awareness campaign like rally, miking, mass gathering, cultural event, pot show, folk song, drama, sports/quiz/debate competition. The events were selected considering local culture and customs and covered all Wards of the Union Parishad.


Backstopping support to UPs

District Facilitators were engaged in coaching through in-person visit to UPs and sharing information using SKYPE, discussion, meetings with selected Union Parishads during this quarter. These meetings often involved all UP members and officials from selected UPs, and provided them with insights into the various areas where assistance from the LGSP and UPGP would come in. Tools are being designed to set in place systematic review and backstopping by District Facilitators, in their interface with Union Parishads.

General Awareness Raising Activity at UP level

District# UP

covered# of Issues

covered# of Ward covered Name of Issues

Type of event [song, drama,

meeting, rally etc…]

Brahmanbaria 100 2 900 Meeting, Song, cultural program 1.Holding tax mobilization 2. Ward Shava

Barguna 42 3 all Miking, Rally, Folk Song & Meeting Tax, Ward Shava, Standing Committee, Child Marriage

• UP resource mobilization • Ward shava strengthening • Standing committee activation • UP monthly meeting • Peoples participation in UP activity

Khulna 0 0 0 0 0

Holding Ward Shava

Tax Fair/UP Tax mobilization Meeting with UP Standing Committee

Standing committee, Wardshava, Tax collection

1. Ward Shava’s roles & functions

2. Standing committee’s roles and functions 3. Disclosure of information regarding UP resources, tax collection, use of fund, etc. 4. Revenue raising campaigns including awareness raising and citizen oversight 5. Awareness building campaigning at ward level for paying tax 6. Awareness building campaigning at ward level for birth and death registration 7. Awareness building campaigning at ward level on different social issue like dowry, child marriage, health, hygiene and sanitation, violence against women, etc.

Kishoreganj 90 3 810 Drama (poter Golpa), Discussionprogram, Meeting, Tax fair

Rangpur 76 03 684 Meeting, Drama, Rally, Festoon

Sirajganj 83 3 747 Meeting, Rally

Sunamganj 87 7 783Meeting, DiscussionMass gathering, MikingBoard and wall painting


DistrictSl. No. of Union Parishads # UP # UP% %

UP visited during quarter Participants in Training

1. Barguna 42 12 29 7 17

2. Brahmanbaria 100 11 11 0 0

3. Khulna 68 10 15 1 1

4. Kishorganj 108 8 7 2 2

5. Rangpur 76 14 18 2 3

6. Sirajganj 83 14 17 1 1

7. Sunamganj 87 14 16 2 2

Total 564 83 15 15 3

Establish Digital Communication with

UNOs and UPs

District Facilitators have taken an effort to establish email communication with UNOs and UPs. In the mean time almost all districts have experienced success in this regard. DFs now share documents like

GOs, training materials, module and official letters to UNO as well as UISC (for UP) through email. Most of the UP Secretaries are now interested to use email and a number of them have already opened a new account for their UP. Some UP Secretaries are now acquainted with SKYPE communication.

Backstopping support to UPs

Sitanagar Rishi Para was a neglected village of Ward No 9 of Suhilpur Union Parishad (UP) under Sadar Upazila in Brahmanbaria District. There were about 550 families in the village and more than 90 per cent people of the village had been living on leather work and shoe-shining. There was no road communication between Sadar Upazila and the Sitanagar Village. River transport, boat in particular, was the only means of communication between Sadar Upazila and Sitanagar, as the village was surrounded by the river. The Char-like village remained cut-off from all other parts of the UP and the member of development agencies could not come to the village for any development activities. Consequently, the people of the village, mostly poor, were deprived of all kinds of facilities like sources of drinking water, sanitary latrines, drainage system, etc. and had been suffering from various health hazards like skin diseases, malaria, and diarrhoea.

Sympathising with the sufferings of the poor villagers, Bashudev Rishi, one of the community leaders, raised the issue at the Ward Shava meeting and the villagers overwhelmingly supported him. At the meeting, in presence of the UP Chairman and male and female members of the Ward, the villagers elaborately discussed about their problems and sent a priority list to the Standing Committee on Rural Infrastructure Development and Maintenance of UP with the demand of installation of four Tube-Wells and four Sanitary latrines for smooth supply of pure drinking

water and sanitation. After discussing and taking the issues into consideration, it was recommended to the Standing Committee on Planning to take the schemes. The Standing Committee on Planning, after scrutinizing the schemes, forwarded it to the UP Monthly Meeting for its decision. The UP, at its Monthly meeting approved the decision of implementing the schemes with Extended Performance-Based Grants (EPBG) of Union Parishad Governance Project (UPGP). Within four months, the schemes were implemented properly as per specifications and instructions and now the people of the village are getting the benefits from the schemes.

“We are really happy and grateful to both UP and UPGP. Without the funds from UPGP, it was impossible to implement the schemes which ease the sufferings of the people at a greater extent. Now the villagers are getting pure drinking water and proper sanitation which directly goes to the MDGs,” said Bashudev, the community leader.

Expressing his utmost gratitude to the UPGP for funding the schemes, the UP Chairman Md. Azizur Rahman said, “We were trying for long to take some schemes for Sitanar Rishi Para (village). But, due to fund constraint, we could not do so. Now this time, The UPGP grants came to us as a blessing and we utilized it properly and effectively. The poor villagers of Rishi Para are now getting benefits from the schemes.”


Case Study

UPGP helps providing safe water, proper sanitation to Sitanagar Rishi Para

The audit teams that were trained consisted of audit managers, auditors, and performance assessors. The breakdown of the participants in terms of roles, as well as types of training attended, is mentioned in the figures.

Three training packages were developed and conducted:

a. Basic Training for Audit teams covering financial audit, basic performance assessment (12 indicators) and overview of environmental safeguards and compliance

b. Advanced Performance Assessment Training ( 41 indicators)

c. Safeguards and Compliance Assessment Training

No. of Auditors

1210

Assessors

99 Managers/

66Supervisors

Total

1375

Extended Performance Based Grants

(EPBG)

In 2013, a total of 404 Union Parishads have been awarded for UPGP Performance Based Grants. Based on a comprehensive system of Performance Assessment with 41 indicators total amount of USD 1.72 million was disbursed as grants. The UPs are implementing schemes to improve availability of basic services with the help of grants. It has triggered actions whereby 20 per cent of UPs covered by UPGP completed comprehensive development plans responding to MDG and identified needs of local most

vulnerable groups, 10 per cent of UPs implemented basic services delivery schemes benefitting poor households in the UP area and 20 per cent of UPs disclosed specified key information, to the community. This reflects the high priority attached by the UPs, to compliance and performance of mandatory functions and services, pro-poor planning and democratic accountability of UPs.

Training to UP Auditors

The UPGP thereafter trained 1375 personnel from audit companies to carry out UP performance assessment across the country. This large scale training emerged from the sharing of roles defined in the Instrument of Cooperation between the Government, UNCDF, UNDP and World Bank, which mandated the LGSP II to recruit the auditors and UPGP to conduct the training. Given this cooperation, the training addressed three areas: Financial Audit of

Union Parishads, Performance Assessment of Union Parishads and Environmental Safeguards and Compliance of Union Parishads.

The audit teams working in UPGP districts received Advanced Training on Performance Assessment, while those to work in the sample Unions for Safeguards and Compliance Assessment received the special training on Environmental Safeguards and Compliance Assessment.

Output- 2: Innovations in Pro-Poor and MDG-oriented Planning and Financing of Service

Delivery by UPs

This result was envisaged to emerge from a set of activities that empower UPs to exercise their mandate in planning and delivery of services, thereby contributing more effectively to the achievement of MDGs through revenue mobilization, strategic local development planning, focus on equity and improved financial management. To achieve the result a number of activities were performed under this output. The activities were training of auditors, performance audit of UP, provide performance based grants to UPs and awareness activity on local resource mobilization.


District# UP

covered# of Issues

covered# of Ward covered Name of Issues

Type of event [song, drama,

meeting, rally etc…]

BrahmanbariaBarguna 7 3 63 Rally, Folk song & Rally Own Resource Mobilization, Tax collectionKishoreganj 4 1 36 Tax fair, Drama, Discussion and Tax awareness, Revenue generation, meeting information about tax payer and defaulter sharing/dissemination etc

Khulna 0 0 0 0 0

Rangpur 6 1 54 Tax Fair, Rally, Drama, Meeting Aware the mass people to timely pay their Holding Tax

Sirajganj 2 3 18 Drama Tax, Assessment, Tax collection, Tax Management

Sunamganj 8 3 72 Meeting, Discussion, Tax fair, Miking Awareness raising and Resource Board & wall painting Etc. Mobilization

Awareness Activity on Resource Mobilization at UP level

Open and Participatory Budget

The activity was not direct intervention of UPGP. But the project assisted and supported UPs to prepare annual budget in a participatory manner. UPGP team assisted the UPs to understand the relationship between Ward Shava, Standing Committees and UP body in developing the plan and budget. The DFs also

followed up the issues on prioritization from wards shava, scheme collection and prioritization, resource integration, standing committee meetings, UDCC meeting and develop budget. The MIS shows that 77 per cent UPs in the project area organized open budget sharing meeting in this year.


Case Study

A joint effort by the local government institution and the community people can make a difference. And the people of Ward No 3 of Guzadia Union under Karimganj Upazila, KIshoreganj district and the elected public representatives, once again, set a glaring example by jointly solving the problems of their own.

The Public Private Partnership (PPP) for constructing a road at Ward No 3 of Guzadia Union under Karimganj Upazila can be a great lesson and source of inspiration for replication by other Union Parishads (UPs) in Bangladesh.

The people of Ward No 3 have been suffering for a long time due to the hard-to-walk muddy road, which connects the village to the other parts of the Union. Rainfall during the rainy season used to make the road almost inaccessible and the people started to avoid the road, which ultimately had hindered economic opportunities and access to better health, education and business.

As the Union Parishad (UP), by its own, failed to manage the fund to repair the road, the community people raised the issue at the Ward Shava meeting and demanded to the UP members to immediately repair the 1.25 kilometre road.

Considering the suffering of the people, the UP member of Ward No 3, Md. Enamul Haq Bakul, floated the idea of Public Private Partnership (PPP), which he originally learned from a two-day training provided by Union Parishad Governance Project (UPGP) on Planning and Management, for constructing the road. The community people, unanimously, agreed with his idea and assured him of providing support from their part.

The Ward Shava sent the proposal to Standing Committee on Rural Infrastructure Development and Maintenance of UP with the demand of repairing the road through PPP and the committee recommended it to the Standing Committee on Planning for its consideration. The Standing Committee on Planning, after scrutinizing the scheme, forwarded it to the UP Monthly Meeting for its decision. The UP, at its Monthly meeting, approved the decision of repairing the road through PPP. Within three months, the scheme was implemented properly as per specifications and instructions and now the people of the village are getting the benefits from it.

The total cost for constructing the road was Tk. 2,51,000. The residents paid Tk. 30,000 as holding tax, the rich people contributed Tk. 200,000 and the rest of the money equivalent to Tk. 21,000 was paid through the physical labour of the poor people. The residents of Ward No. 3 were happy and took proud for their effort. The UP initiative is unique and an example for other UPs.

“We don’t have any worry now. The road brings a ray of hope to the people of the communities. It brings rickshaw, van, tempo and other vehicles to take the students to schools, farmers to markets and sick people to hospitals,” said Rahmat Ali, 60, a poor farmer from the village.

The new road connects a number of villages in the UP to markets, hospitals, administrative centres, enabling the rural poor to avail better economic opportunities and access to better health, education and business. The smoother road has not only reduced travel time and cost for the villagers, it is helping the farmers to carry more goods and products to sell in the local markets.


Public Private Partnership: Engaging The People

Orientation Workshop on M&E Strategy and Tools:

A two-day "Orientation Workshop on M&E Strategy and Tools" was organized at Bangladesh Institute of Administration & Management (BIAM) auditorium in Dhaka on 27-28 March.

The objective of the workshop was to orient the project staff about Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) and Management Information System (MIS) of the project.

A total of 25 participants including UPGP project staff and officials from LGD MIE wing took part in the workshop. Staff from Local Govenance (LG) Cluster of

UNDP through Skype virtually participated in this M&E workshop due to hartal on those days.

As per feedback getting from participants the “UPGP M&E Guideline” has been finalized and sent to district offices. The District team e.g. DDLG, District Facilitator, Project Assistant could use the monitoring tools regularly to track the progress and quality of the project intervention. And centrally the monitoring findings will be compiled and prepared quarterly monitoring findings for further dissemination.

Output-3: Strengthened national capacity for effective policy review, monitoring, lesson

learning and capacity development of Local Government Institutions for enhanced Local

Governance

Result 3 is common to UZGP and UPGP. The two projects are jointly supporting the development of the policy framework and institutions supporting Local Governance. In 2013 under this output the activities were workshop on project M&E system and MIS, District level M&E review workshop, District level MIS workshop, Joint Monitoring visit, Quarterly Progress Review Meeting of UP Secretary.


MIS Piloting Workshop

UPGP has designed a UP Management Information System (MIS) and piloting it in 100 UPs in Brahmanbaria district. After piloting the MIS would be scaled up and implemented country wide.

UPGP organized a day-long workshop on “Accounting and MIS Piloting Programme” at Deputy Commissioner’s Office, Brahmanbria, on 22 September with a view to make the relevant government officials and Local Government Institutions (LGIs) aware of MIS Piloting Programme initiated by the project. The UPGP is going to initiate the “Accounting and MIS Piloting Programme” in Brahmanbaria district aimed at ensuring effective flow of information from UP level to central level which will, in turn, ensure financial accountability and transparency of UPs.

Participants at the workshop also made a set of recommendations including establishing monitoring framework at Upazila level, easy MIS tools for its smooth implementation at UP level, establishing linkage with line agencies for better services, deploying immediately seven line departments at UP levels and more training and manpower at UP level to implement the system smoothly and effectively.

MIS Training for UP Secretary & Entrepreneur

During 2013, UPGP has provided a two-day training to 196 Union Parishad (UP) Secretaries and Union Information and Service Centre (UISC) entrepreneurs on Management Information System (MIS) in Brahmanbaria district.

Through the distric-level training, the UP secretaries and UISC entrepreneurs were capacitated on the use and maintenance of integrated accounting software and MIS of UPs. The training has also improved their basic skills and knowledge on computer.

At the training, details of the accounting and MIS pilot programme were demonstrated. These will help ensure financial accountability and transparency of UPs through establishing an effective flow of information from UP to central level. It is expected that through the training, the capacity of UPs to deliver the services to communities will be improved further.

M&E Workshop at District level

To develop an effective M&E system for Union Parishads, the UPGP is working with MIE-wing of LGD. In this process UPGP has organized two M&E workshops each in Brahmanbaria, Rangpur and Sirajganj district. Participants at the workshops stressed the need for more active participation of the people in monitoring the UP functions to make local government institutions (LGI) more democratic, transparent and accountable. They also emphasized the need for making the UP monitoring formats easier and simpler, validating the authenticity of reports provided by UPs through physical visits, hanging the relevant reports on the notice boards at Upazila or Union Parishads and provide on job training to UP secretaries.

The participants recommended more involvement of the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) in Block Grants Coordination Committee (BGCC) meeting. Director General (DG), Monitoring, Inspection and Evaluation (MIE) Wing, LGD, Respective Deputy Commissioner (DC), DDLG, UNOs, Chairman and Vice-Chairman of Upazila Parishads, UP Chairman, Representatives from District level Govt. departments and representatives from civil cociety organisations attended the workshop. Participants shared their views and recommendations for further improvement of LGI monitoring system.


ParticipantsDistrict

# District Officer # Upazila Officer # Upazila Parishad Rep # UP Representative Others Total


Rangpur 13 5 6 8 6 38

Sirajganj 9 9 9 9 10 46

Annual Total 41 23 16 31 16 127

ParticipantsDistrict # UP visited # Scheme visited

# District level Officer # Upazila level Officer Others Total


Barguna 4 8 5 5 4 14

Kishoreganj 4 4 8 8 4 20

Khulna 2 1 3 6 2 11

Rangpur 4 7 9 12 2 23

Sirajganj 4 4 10 8 4 22

Sunamganj 2 4 6 4 2 12

Annual Total 22 32 57 50 19 126

Joint Monitoring Visit

Monitoring of the project activities is a key activity to ensure timely and effective implementation of the project plans. The joint monitoring process is initiated to establish as a mechanism for local stakeholders and line Ministries to jointly review progress in agreed annual undertakings and recommendations. This joint monitoring is one of the major activities to track, measure and review the changes taking place at the Union level.

The specific objectives of the event were: to facilitate the collaboration and coordination among District and Upazila administration and Union Parishad, to assess the implementation of various project interventions and capacity improvement taking place at Union Parishads and to assess the progress of Institutional mechanisms and functionality of UP, Citizen Engagement in UP, UP Planning and Financial Mechanism, and UP Capacity for Resource Mobilization and Utilization.

During July to September 2013, a total of five joint monitoring visits were held with participation of government high officials including DG of MIE Wing, LGD. Representatives from LGIs and Civil Society Organisations like Upazila chairman, Vice-chair, UP chair, Journalists and local elites also took part in the joint visits.

They visited the LGSP and UPGP schemes and activities on the grond, took a look at UP Registers, interviewed beneficiaries and discussed with mass people. After completion of the UP visits, the team returned at the UP and sat together in a reflection session under the leadership of DDLG where all team members shared their findings. UP Chairman and Secretaries also participated in the session. Based on the visit findings, an action plan for respective UP was also developed.

M&E Workshop at District level


Project Baseline Study

The UPGP Baseline Study is completed and the final report has been published. Equal samples of 188 UPs each have been selected through random sampling both from the Project and control area. A total 3,760 Households (HHs) were covered under the household level survey, and 564 intensive interviews and 47 FGDs conducted for qualitative information.

The main objective of the study was to generate a set of benchmark data that would help to monitor and measure the success of UPGP. The major areas which were investigated during the Baseline Survey are: Enhanced local development role of UPs; Strengthened Ward Shava and inclusive decision making for local development; Strengthened

Standing Committees; Women Development Forums; Active Citizenship and Downward Accountability; Enhanced Planning and Financial management by Union Parishads; and Own Revenue Mobilization.

The Study used both Quantitative Household level Beneficiary Survey and also Qualitative In-depth Investigations. The Study areas included seven project districts (Kishoreganj, Brahmanbaria, Sunamganj, Sirajganj, Khulna, Barguna and Rangpur) and seven non-project districts of seven (07) divisions of Bangladesh (Netrokana, Chandpur, Moulavibazar, Natore, Bagerhat, Patuakhali, and Gaibandha). Non project districts were selected close to the project districts considering overall comparability.


ParticipantsDistrict # of Meeting held

# UP Secretary # UP Chair (if any) Total

Brahmanbaria 2 95 82 177

Barguna 1 40 0 40

Kishoreganj 2 106 0 106

Khulna 1 63 0 63

Rangpur 1 75 0 75

Sirajganj 2 81 0 81

Sunamganj 1 84 0 84

Annual Total 10 544 82 626

Quarterly Coordination Meeting of UP

Secretaries

A day-long meeting for UP Secretary in each of seven (07) Districts were organized to increase coordination among the UPs, to gear up the harmonious development in the UPs which ultimately helped the UPs to be more democratic, transparent and accountable local government institution (LGI).

At the meetings, participants emphasised on to take more initiatives to increase common understanding between UP Chairman and UP Secretary for smooth implementation of the development activities taken by the UP.


At the beginning of the Union Parishad Governance

Project (UPGP), the Rangpur District Administration

was facing problem in communicating with the

project stakeholders i.e. government officials at

District, Upazila and Union Parishad level, media and

civil society through hard copy letter and or phone.

The process of communication was time-consuming

as well as expensive. Moreover, it was found that while

somebody gets the documents, some others don’t.

To solve the problem, the UPGP, Rangpur District, with

the approval of district administration, purchased a

business solution from Grameen Phone (SMS

package) and entered the required information of

project stakeholders (name, designation, department,

mobile number) of 76 UPs under the district into the

software of the package in order to reduce the

communication gap and ensure a easy and quick

communication. The UPGP clustered the stakeholders

in the software as homogenous group.

Now the project can communicate with all of its

stakeholders regarding any meeting, training,

workshop, information and message through SMS

and can reach them within a minute.

Through the initiative, the communication gap

among the stakeholders has been reduced

significantly and information was disseminated

quickly and properly with minimum cost.


Case Study

SMS package:

IEC MATERIALS AND KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTS




MEDIA CLIPPINGS

Given the wide range of work envisaged in the UPGP, the work this year reflected a multi-stage approach. In keeping with the step by step approach, the focus in 2012 was on establishing the implementation platform, followed by the focus on the Union Parishad members and Women members in 2013. During 2014, the focus will be on the next tier, namely Standing Committees, and innovations for social mobilization and engagement in local governance to be scaled up in 2015. This multi-stage approach has allowed for building capacities at a particular level which then acts as a strong platform to thereafter support the work with the next tier.

The democratic functioning and leadership provided by the UPs made significant advances during the year. The democratic leadership is provided through UP Council meetings which are to be conducted every month. About 87 per cent of the UPs regularly

conducted Monthly meetings throughout the year. The main platform for the UP to engage with the community is Ward Shava, which is to be conducted in each of the nine (09) Wards of a UP. Significant results were achieved in this area, with 53 per cent UPs conducting two Ward Shavas in all nine (09) Wards of the UPs. The UP is supported by 13 Standing Committees, of which six have been identified by UPGP as critical for development. The six critical Standing Committees were operational in 29 per cent of the UPs, and 36 per cent of the six Standing Committees produced the mandated monitoring reports. The UPGP, along with UZGP, promoted the establishment of WDFs as a platform for elected women representatives of local governments. WDFs were established in 65 Upazilas in which women representatives from 484 UPs supported by UPGP became members.


KEY RESULTS

The improved working of the UP and the scale at which citizen engagement has taken place during 2013 has been very encouraging. The synergy generated by bringing together capacity building, backstopping and grant financing, is in evidence from the intensity with which democratic leadership and citizen engagement have improved during 2013.

The role of Performance Based Grants in reinforcing the commitment of UPs to diligently comply with norms and procedures, and to increase their focus on MDGs and social sector investment. This qualitative improvement is an important impact of the UPGP, as the thousands of schemes that have been implemented with the grants and helped improve the availability of services to the 2.9 million beneficiaries.

The initial steps towards establishing comprehensive development plans at the UPs were taken up during the year. One of the top priorities of UPGP has been to facilitate long term planning by UPs with a pro-poor and MDG orientation. Among the UPs supported by UPGP, 92 per cent have prepared Five-Year Development Plan. The project has established a Performance Based Grant system, which incentivizes compliance with requirements of the UP Act as well as development results. Performance Based Grants were delivered to the best performing 404 UPs, which amounted to $1.72 million. These resources were utilized for 1,567 service improvement interventions, of which more than 20 per cent were oriented towards the MDGs. The capacity building support contributed to better financial management by UPs. Revenue mobilization by the UPs through holding taxes has also improved, with average revenue mobilization increasing by 25 per cent, and 39 per cent UPs meeting over 80 per cent of the targeted mobilization.

The Monitoring and Evalution (M&E) Strategy and tools were designed, Baseline Survey completed, and the first phase of the M&E system operational. The M&E and MIS reports for the four quarters of 2013 were generated. The IT-enabled MIS pilot commenced in 2013 in 100 UPs, and provided the platform for a next generation MIS. While the next generation governance pilots are being rolled out, and the National Framework for Local Government Capacity Development being designed, significant progress has been achieved in relation to the MIS and M&E systems. The quarterly MIS reports are being generated by all UPs across the seven (07) districts, and reports being channeled to the respective DDLG offices as well as the UPGP office in Dhaka.

Leveraging the partnerships with LGSP-II and UZGP has helped the Joint Programme (JP) to widen and deepen its impact. The breadth of impact that this partnership has made across the country, in relation to Performance Based Grants and MDG oriented investments has been accompanied by diligence in complying with norms and procedures. On the other hand, the partnership with UZGP has facilitated deeper collaboration between the two tiers of local government, and important results in empowering women representatives.


LESSONS LEARNEDThe rapid progress of UPs towards some of the targets set by UPGP, affirms the importance and value of aligning capacity development with a sound policy platform. It builds on the innovations and policy work carried out by LGSP-LIC, and the UP Act, thereby leveraging strong commitment to meeting mandatory requirements and activities, such as conducting monthly meetings, and two Ward Shavas per Ward. Alongside, it raises the challenge of adding capacities to utilize these good efforts by the UPs to produce development results such as MDG linked plans, greater inclusion of poor in planning and targeting service delivery investments, and addressing gender in development.

Large scale capacity building, particularly with the large number of Standing Committee members, poses a challenge. It is evident that conventional training approaches would not be cost effective in this context. It has become evident that local resource persons,

such as Secretaries of the UPs, who have a large role to play in local governance, will need to be empowered and capacitated to work with the Standing Committees, so that they are able to carry out their assigned tasks.

The conventional practice of UPs is to apply a large portion of the annual grants to roads, culverts, and the like. The experience with performance based grants, and the importance that expenditure on social and MDG oriented investments has provided important lessons for the UP leadership to more holistically explore and address the development priorities. While such a shift in emphasis has not been across the board, the dissemination of findings from the performance assessment, and the manner in which the investments in social and MDG oriented investments led to securing larger grants, is expected to accelerate and better target investments towards critical and pro-poor services.


WAY FORWARDIn keeping with the multi-stage approach the wide

range of work being taken up in the UPGP, the focus in

2012 was on establishing the implementation

platform, followed by the focus on the Union Parishad

members and Women members in 2013. During 2014,

the main focus will be on the next tier, namely

Standing Committees, widening the local revenue

base, and improving revenue mobilization and

building the platform for the focus of 2015, which will

be innovations for social mobilization and

engagement in local governance. This multi-stage

approach is enabling the project to build capacities at

a particular level that acts as a strong platform to

support the work with the next tier.

The core of work in 2014 relates to the continuing

activities that include UP backstopping by District

Facilitators (DFs) and performance grants. The second

part of the work in 2014 will be around tasks initiated

but not completed during 2013, due to mobility

constraints experienced in the second half of 2013.

This includes completion of the Planning and

Management training for 174 UPs, roll out of the MIS

and Accounting Pilot to 46 UPs, and initiation of the

Financial Management Training. The third part of

activities during 2014 reflects the priorities

mentioned earlier, namely Standing Committees,

targeting of development expenditure and services to

serve the poor, widening the local revenue base, and

improving revenue mobilization, and building the

platform for the focus of 2015, which will be

innovations for social mobilization and engagement

in local governance.

The next year will also be the period when the

mainstreaming of the project-focused MIS will

commence. This will entail the scaling up of the use of

IT enabled accounting and MIS by UPs supported by

the UPGP, and commencing the transition to

web-based platform that can be accessed by the MIE

wing of the LGD. Alongside, UPGP will roll out

multi-stakeholder field reviews.

The project will also be involved in key policy studies,

for exploring the scope of UPs in a unified

comprehensive local governance framework, and the

options for functional assignments to the UP level.

Ongoing studies on effectiveness of the Right to

Information (RTI) at the local government level, and

Citizen Perception on local governance and service

delivery, are expected to be completed in 2014.


ANNEXUREFinancial Summary of UPGP (Jan-Dec 2013)


Outputs Budget (USD) Expenditure (USD)

Burn rate (%)

554,917 667,678 120%

3,492,733 2,183,065 63%

269,927 133,164 49%

Output 4: Effective Project Management 767,142 720,128 94%

Total

5,084,719

3,704,035

73%

Budget and delivery status as of 31 December 2013 (Jan-Dec 2013)

Output 1: Strengthened Democratic Accountability of the Union Parishad through citizen engagement

Output 2: Innovations in Pro-poor and MDG-oriented Planning and Financing of Service Delivery by UP

Output 3: Strengthened National capacity for effective policy review, monitoring, lesson learning and capacity development of local government institutions for enhanced Local Governance

ANNEXURESummary Report On UPGP’s Performance Based Grants For 2012-13

Introduction

The UPGP operates across seven (07) districts covering 564 UPs, and provides Performance Based Grants (PBGs) to around 400 selected UPs each year. The PBGs provided by UPGP are based on a set of 41 performance indicators. The first set of grants was provided in 2012-13 to 404 UPs; during 2013-14, a set of 410 UPs have been identified to disburse PBGs.

Overall profile of Grants provided by UPGP

The overall funds available for making grants to UP has been set in the UPGP Project Document, which is US$ 6.88 million. This amount has been made available for allocation in equal installments over four fiscal years (corresponding to fiscal years of the Govt. of Bangladesh) commencing from 2012-13, and stands at $1.72 million for 2013-14. Annual allocations to districts based on a formula that takes into account number of UPs in the district, population of the district and geographical area of the district.

Grant allocation to districts

The funds available for grants were assigned to the seven (07) districts based on the following criteria:

a. 30 per cent funds allocated, on the basis of the particular district’s share of number of UPs from the total number of UPs in the seven (07) districts

b. 35 per cent of the funds allocated based on the particular district’s share of population from the total population in the seven (07) districts

c. 35 per cent of the funds allocated based on the particular district’s share of area from the total area in the seven (07) districts

The allocation for 2013 -14 is given below in Table 1

Table 1: District Wise allocation of UPGP Grant for 2013-14

Sl. Division District No.of Upazila

No. Union Parishad

Population (District)

Total area (Km Square)

Annual allocation(BD Taka)

1 Dhaka Kishoreganj 13 108 2,911,907 2483.94 22,454,520

2 Chittagong Brahmanbaria 9 100 2,840,498 1827.88 19,840,158

3 Sylhet Sunamganj 11 87 2,467,968 3675.23 23,156,126

4 Rajshahi Sirajganj 9 83 3,097,489 2472.12 21,149,064

5 Khulna Khulna 9 68 2,318,527 2,118 17,003,723

6 Barisal Barguna 6 42 892,781 1526.21 9,678,211

7 Rangpur Rangpur 8 76 2,881,086 2330.28 19,673,968

Total 7 65 564 17410256 16433.75 132,955,770


Approach For Grant Allocation To Union Parishads

The allocations to the Union Parishads from the allocations to districts, were made using a four-stage approach.

a. First, the performance assessment of all UPs covered by UPGP was carried out, covering the minimum conditions and 41 performance indicators.

b. Next, the Union Parishads that complied with the minimum conditions were separately listed and ranked, by scores from the performance assessment. In keeping with the principle of selecting the top 400 UPs from the 564 UPs, the same proportion (70.9 per cent) of highest ranked UPs, were selected for allocation of performance based grants.

c. Thereafter, the allocation to the district was converted into initial assignments for each of the selected UPs using the same formula that was applied for distributing the overall allocation among the districts, with 30 per cent based on equal share, 35 per cent based on population, and 35 per cent based on area.

d. In the fourth stage, the UP wise allocations were revised on the basis of weightage emerging from the scores secured in the performance assessment.

Minimum Conditions Compliance

In the assessment of minimum conditions, two of the three conditions were applied, namely:

a. Satisfactory audit report

b. Evidence of participatory planning (from the UPGP MIS)

The third minimum condition, namely timely submission of annual financial report, was not applied, since most of the UPs were not aware of its criticality, and this norm had not been strictly enforced by the Government during the period.

The UPs which failed to meet the two Minimum Conditions are given below in Table 2.

No. District Upazila Union Parishad Non-compliant MC

1. Brahmanbaria Ashugunj Araisada Satisfactory audit

2. Brahmanbaria Ashugunj Tarua Satisfactory audit

3. Brahmanbaria Kosba Mehari Satisfactory audit

4. Brahmanbaria Kosba Bodair Satisfactory audit

5. Brahmanbaria Nabinagar Kaitola (South) Satisfactory audit

6. Khulna Botiaghata Surkhali Satisfactory audit

7. Khulna Pakigacha Showldana Participatory Planning

8. Khulna Koyra Uttar Bedakshi Participatory Planning

9. Rangpur Gangachara Alambiditer Satisfactory audit

10. Rangpur Pirganj Borodurga Satisfactory audit

11. Sirajgunj Roygunj Pangasi Participatory Planning

12. Sunamgunj Sunamgunj Sadar Lakshmanshree Participatory Planning


The grant allocations to eligible UPs per district is given below in Table 3.

Table 3: Distribution of UPs eligible for allocation across districts

The details of Union Parishad wise allocation is provided in Annexes 1 to 7.

Summary of UPGP supported schemes: 2013

Sl. Division District No.of Upazila

No. Union Parishad

No. Union Parishad eligible for grants

Annual allocation (BD Taka)

1 Dhaka Kishoreganj 13 108 78 22,454,520

2 Chittagong Brahmanbaria 9 100 70 19,840,158

3 Sylhet Sunamganj 11 87 61 23,156,126

4 Rajshahi Sirajganj 9 83 63 21,149,064

5 Khulna Khulna 9 68 48 17,003,723

6 Barisal Barguna 6 42 33 9,678,211

7 Rangpur Rangpur 8 76 57 19,673,968

Total 7 65 564 410 132,955,770

No. Type of scheme No. of Schemes Budget: BD Taka

1 Agriculture 20 2,110,736

2 Brick Road construction 137 9,910,035

3 Bridge & Culvert 106 8,799,297

4 Community Clinic 30 2,152,711

5 Drain 62 5,254,574

6 School equipment 105 13,458,654

7 Health 18 2,384,270

8 Human Resource Development 5 188,653

9 Market development 3 311,500

10 Mud road construction 30 2,513,420

11 Mud road reconstruction 93 8,252,790

12 Others 53 4,148,569

13 Pitch Road Construction 62 6,817,957

14 School building construction 52 6,124,726

15 Water & Sanitation 158 14,113,932

16 Sports & Culture 15 650,500

17 Women Development 1 120,080

Sectoral Summary of UPGP supported schemes: 2013

No. Sector No. of Schemes Budget: BDT Avg. Budget % of schemes

1 Agriculture 20 2,110,736 105,537 2%

2 Roads & Culverts 428 36,293,499 84,798 45%

3 Water, Sanitation & Drainage 220 19,368,506 88,039 23%

4 Health services 48 4,536,981 94,520 5%

5 Schools & Sports 172 20,233,880 117,639 18%

6 Others 62 4,768,802 76,916 7%

Total 950 87,312,404 91,908 100%


Documents

UPGP Annual Report 2013