DHAKA: Formulation of a Local Government Legal Framework (LGLF) is needed to create a strong Local Government (LG) system in the country.
Speakers made the remarks at an International Seminar on Saturday (December 10).
The proposed LGLF will cover all the units and tiers irrespective of urban and rural, having clear guideline on the mode of formation, function, jurisdiction, taxation, finance, budget account, electoral process, and central-local and local-local relationship.
They made the suggestion at the first day of the two-day International Seminar titled “Towards Effective, Accountable and Inclusive Local Government Institutions (LGIs): Learning from South Asia and Beyond” held at Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) in Dhaka.
Three other Asian countries -India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines-are attending the seminar to share views and experiences of LG system of their countries, said a press release.
The representatives from Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA) of India, Sri Lanka Institute of Local Governance (SLILG) of Sri Lanka and Asian Institute of Developmental Studies, Inc. (AIDSI) of Philippines presented papers on existing LG system and good practices from their country perspectives.
The international seminar focused mainly, among other issues, on the making local governance truly accountable and inclusive with a view to better prepare them to contribute meaningfully to achieve the vision 2021.
The participants also laid emphasize on the need for increasing level of south-south cooperation as it will help setting out future agenda for the local governance based on the lessons learned from the experiences of these countries, and will eventually help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for Bangladesh and other countries.
Local Government Division (LGD), Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, with the support from National Institute of Local Government (NILG), Upazila Governance Project (UZGP) and Union Parishad Governance Project (UPGP), organized the seminar.
LGD Secretary Abdul Malek was present at the inaugural session as chief guest while UNDP Bangladesh Country Director Sudipto Mukerjee and, DANIDA Head of Cooperation Bangladesh Peter Bøgh Jensen as special guests.
Chaired by LGD Additional Secretary Jyotirmay Dutta, Director General of NILG and LGD Additional Secretary Iqramul Haque gave the welcome address.
Prepared by Professor Salahuddin M. Aminuzzaman of Dhaka University, the key note paper on “Key Challenges and Means to Make Effective, Accountable and Inclusive LGIs in Bangladesh” was read out by Dr. Mobasser Monem of DU.
While addressing, the LGD Secretary said that the improving service delivery by local governments is one of the main drivers of overall development of the country.
On the first day of the two-day seminar, three studies conducted by UZGP and UPGP, on local governance, decentralization, fiscal decentralization, local service delivery and empowerment of women, were presented in two business sessions.
At the closing session on Sunday (December 11), Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain will be present as chief guest while Ambassador of Switzerland to Bangladesh Christian Fotsch; UNDP Bangladesh Deputy Country Director, Nick Beresford and, EU Delegation Counselor and Governance Team Leader Anna Lixi, as special guests.
BDST: 1924 HRS, DEC 10, 2016
BD
