Strong local government
Traditional mindset of UP chairman must
be changed
Dr. Badiul Alam Majumdar
The election of the Union Parishad (UP), the only on-going local
government body of our country, was completed with much fanfare in early
this year. In this election nearly 55,000 local representatives,
including about 13,000 women, were elected by the people at the
grassroots. These leaders have already taken office and the question
that is now in the minds of many what is next?
The Union Parishad is a very important institution in our country in
that it can play a critical role in institutionalising democracy,
achieving good governance and fostering socio-economic development.
Democratic norms and practices at the grassroots can provide a solid
foundation for democracy at the national level. As a strong base is
needed for a building to stand on, similarly a vibrant democratic system
is required to make the democracy function effectively at the higher
echelon.
Good governance requires, among other things, effective people's
participation as well as transparency and accountability in the process
of governance. Only at the grassroots democratic governance can
transition from the "representative" type to a "participatory" variety,
reflecting greater participation of the people. Similarly, transparency
and accountability can best be practiced
at the lower echelon.
Democratic governance is vital
for development. As Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen has
written, "Democracy is not only the goal of development, it is also the
primary means of development." Strong and effective democratic
government, especially participatory government at the local level is
critically important for the soci-economic resurgence of a country like
Bangladesh. People in our country face many challenges on a daily basis
and these challenges cannot be solved by the government alone or anyone
else for that matter. It will require that the people facing the
problems take the primary responsibility for their solution. Most
problems are locally created and can and must also be solved locally, at
their roots, by awakening and mobilising people, utilising local
resources and local leadership, and planning from the bottom. Elected
representatives of local democratic institutions can be the change
agents in this process and can foment a social movement for this
purpose. The "people's planning" carried out by Panchayati raj
institutions in Kerala, India is an excellent example of such a
bottom-up planning process.
In 1992, the SAARC Independent Commission on Poverty Alleviation pointed
out that the traditional, top-down, service delivery paradigm of
development could never be effective in reducing poverty in South Asia.
The depth and complexity of poverty in South Asia and the enormous
numbers of people affected are too vast. The only pathway to poverty
eradication, the Commission asserted, is to catalyse a process of
self-reliant development, built primarily on the talent, ingenuity and
resources of the people themselves. This can only be materialised by
vibrant democratic local government institutions.
Our Hon'able Prime Minister in her inaugural speech to the nation after
getting re-elected in October 2001, alluded to a similar development
strategy. She asserted that government's main responsibility is to
create an enabling environment, while the people have to take the
responsibility to achieve progress and prosperity themselves. This
obviously calls for a new, people-centered development approach.
The recent UP election, in which nearly 55,000 new representatives were
elected, offers a great opportunity to put into practice such a
people-centered development paradigm. This will require changing their
long entrenched mindset - mindset of depending on the national
government for resources and directions. This will also require a new
realisation that the so-called "poor" people are not "problems," but
they are the "solutions" of poverty and "keys" to their own development.
In other words, the realisation must be that if the poor are mobilised,
their creativity unleashed and opportunities created for them, they can
become the principal authors of their own future.
In spite of the vast potentials to contribute to institutionalising
democracy, achieving good governance and promoting socio-economic
development, the roles of UP representatives are at present largely
confined to a few traditional, mundane activities. These activities
include building infrastructure, dispensing justice and distributing
relief materials. They have in essence been working as "agents" of the
national government and depending on its favour and largesse. However,
these traditional roles can easily be performed by low level
functionaries, for they do not require "leading" people awakening,
unleashing and mobilising them.
If we are to take advantage of the enormous potentials created by the
recent election to solve many of our problems, we must without delay
initiate a radical decentralisation programme to give the newly elected
representatives the necessary responsibilities, powers and resources.
History teaches that more closer the power and resources to the people,
greater transparency and accountability are achieved in their
utilisation and more benefits do they accrue to the people. Along with
the decentralisation initiative, there must also be an effort to prepare
the elected local leaders for the tasks ahead. This will require getting
them, on a priority basis, out of their traditional mindset regarding
their roles and responsibilities. This obviously calls for transforming
their present roles and enhancing their skills and leadership, requiring
appropriate training and empowerment.
In order to fully utilise the leadership of the newly elected UP leaders
to move the country ahead, they need two types of training. They first
need the so-called statutory training the training that will inform them
of their powers, responsibilities and the rules governing their
activities, as laid out in statues, government circulars and guidelines.
Fortunately, the government has already implemented such a training
programme.
The newly elected leaders must also be given transformational training
training which will change their mindset and transform their roles in
addition to the informational or statutory training. Such training will
help them come out of their present state of "thinking within the box"
about their roles, confined primarily to infrastructure building and
providing a few traditional and rudimentary services. In other words, a
successful transformational training, with an appropriate follow-up
mechanism in place, will enable the elected representatives to become
catalysts in awakening their constituents to the vision for a better
future and mobilising them for action for bringing about measurable
improvements in their quality of life rather than merely performing a
service delivery role.
With the transformation of their mindset and their roles, the UP
representatives would be able to contribute to solving the challenges
that people face with respect to quality of education, health awareness,
safe water, hooliganism, drug abuse, environmental degradation, women's
repression, dowry, child marriage, unplanned birth, and even creating
self-employment. For, most of these challenges are created locally and
must also be solved locally. When people are mobilised, they work in
unison and there are changes in their habits and attitudes, many of
these challenges get solved without external financial support. For
example, when people come together and work shoulder to shoulder, a form
of "social capital" is created, which can be utilised for setting up
educational institutions, health centers and even for organising joint
income earning projects. Likewise when people are mobilised, they can
take united stand and foment a social movement against serious social
ills such as hooliganism, toll-collection, corruption and repression of
women.
If we are to take advantage of the tremendous possibilities created as a
result of the recent UP election, immediate steps should be taken to
arrange training for changing the mindset of the elected leaders, which
will transform their traditional roles. I hope the government will
forthwith make the necessary arrangements for such training and involve
those in the non-government sectors with the requisite skills, expertise
and experience.
Dr. Badiul Alam Majumdar, Global Vice President and Country
Director, The Hunger Project-Bangladesh.
