Suchergebnisse

The issue of governance and good governance has gained importance among practitioners of public administration, international aid agencies (IAA) and the OECD countries, due to rapid economic growth, remarkable breakthroughs in information technology, and as the role of third sector in poverty alleviation in the developing countries has emerged. Decentralized local governance and people s participation are two of the major policy concerns regarding governance and good governance. It is widely argued that decentralization ensures people s participation, promotes political education and training, equal and efficient distribution of resources, trustworthy relationship among various actors of central and local governance and enhances responsiveness of the central government for citizen s demands and priorities. It has been widely accepted that poor governance and week institutions have constituted significant constraints on administrative, economic and political development since the independence of Bangladesh. Hence, decentralization and people s participation have been the political rhetoric of almost all successive regimes in Bangladesh. However, recent experiences show that these two important issues were actually not promoted by any successive government in Bangladesh since the independence. Given this background, the aim of this research, is to find out the threats and challenges of decentralization and people s participation in Bangladesh. The research has been conducted as an empirical study. Methods and techniques of qualitative research have been used to collect primary data for the study. These have included case study method, formal and informal questionnaires, participatory rural appraisal (PRA), local cultural appraisal (LCA), chain and purposeful approach (snowball approach) and participant observation. In addition, a considerable size of data and information has been gathered from various secondary sources. Governance, good governance, decentralization and people s participation constitute the key concepts of this study and they have been extensively clarified and analyzed through reviewing contemporary literatures ranging from neo-classical writers to political economists. Critical overview of decentralization policy and people s participation in Bangladesh in general is presented from historical perspective. The grassroots level reality of decentralization and people s participation is presented through analyzing data from the case studies, interviews and PRA sessions. The role of local government institutions (public, private and non-profit) are also presented in a comparative manner. This study has identified two different factors that reveal the existing threats and challenges for decentralization and people s participation in Bangladesh. These are classified as independent factors and dependent factors. Political intervention and bureaucratic resistance are considered as independent factors. Corruption, weak institutional framework, lack of resources, coordination and adequate knowledge are identified as the dependent factors. This study states that the dependent factors can not be eliminated unless and until the independent factors are effectively removed. The major findings of this research are: a) despite frequent reform measures, the policy of decentralization and people s participation is still entrapped around the discourse of governance as merely an illusionary vision, due to strong political and bureaucratic intervention; b) formal, informal and background (invisible) actors seriously jeopardize even the theoretical application of people s participation; c) as a result, corruption has swelled and expanded into every sector of the country; d) although the contemporary non-profit and private institutions are structurally weaker than the public institutions, functionally they are stronger; and e) strong public institutions can not work properly given their various malfunctioning practices whereas weak institutional structures (NGOs) are able to work effectively due to their good practices. Based on these findings, the study suggests that a partnership based form of local governance system would work for the future decentralization and people s participation in Bangladesh. ; The issue of governance and good governance has gained importance among practitioners of public administration, international aid agencies (IAA) and the OECD countries, due to rapid economic growth, remarkable breakthroughs in information technology, and as the role of third sector in poverty alleviation in the developing countries has emerged. Decentralized local governance and people s participation are two of the major policy concerns regarding governance and good governance. It is widely argued that decentralization ensures people s participation, promotes political education and training, equal and efficient distribution of resources, trustworthy relationship among various actors of central and local governance and enhances responsiveness of the central government for citizen s demands and priorities. It has been widely accepted that poor governance and week institutions have constituted significant constraints on administrative, economic and political development since the independence of Bangladesh. Hence, decentralization and people s participation have been the political rhetoric of almost all successive regimes in Bangladesh. However, recent experiences show that these two important issues were actually not promoted by any successive government in Bangladesh since the independence. Given this background, the aim of this research, is to find out the threats and challenges of decentralization and people s participation in Bangladesh. The research has been conducted as an empirical study. Methods and techniques of qualitative research have been used to collect primary data for the study. These have included case study method, formal and informal questionnaires, participatory rural appraisal (PRA), local cultural appraisal (LCA), chain and purposeful approach (snowball approach) and participant observation. In addition, a considerable size of data and information has been gathered from various secondary sources. Governance, good governance, decentralization and people s participation constitute the key concepts of this study and they have been extensively clarified and analyzed through reviewing contemporary literatures ranging from neo-classical writers to political economists. Critical overview of decentralization policy and people s participation in Bangladesh in general is presented from historical perspective. The grassroots level reality of decentralization and people s participation is presented through analyzing data from the case studies, interviews and PRA sessions. The role of local government institutions (public, private and non-profit) are also presented in a comparative manner. This study has identified two different factors that reveal the existing threats and challenges for decentralization and people s participation in Bangladesh. These are classified as independent factors and dependent factors. Political intervention and bureaucratic resistance are considered as independent factors. Corruption, weak institutional framework, lack of resources, coordination and adequate knowledge are identified as the dependent factors. This study states that the dependent factors can not be eliminated unless and until the independent factors are effectively removed. The major findings of this research are: a) despite frequent reform measures, the policy of decentralization and people s participation is still entrapped around the discourse of governance as merely an illusionary vision, due to strong political and bureaucratic intervention; b) formal, informal and background (invisible) actors seriously jeopardize even the theoretical application of people s participation; c) as a result, corruption has swelled and expanded into every sector of the country; d) although the contemporary non-profit and private institutions are structurally weaker than the public institutions, functionally they are stronger; and e) strong public institutions can not work properly given their various malfunctioning practices whereas weak institutional structures (NGOs) are able to work effectively due to their good practices. Based on these findings, the study suggests that a partnership based form of local governance system would work for the future decentralization and people s participation in Bangladesh.

This paper aims to examine the impacts of remittances on the economic development of four South Asian countries: Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The study considers the World Bank's balanced panel data (1977–2017). The dynamic ordinary least-square approach finds mixed results, which explain the realisation of the pluralistic approach. Evidence shows that remittances directly increase gross domestic product, household consumption and expenditure and decreases government consumption expenditure, inflation and population growth. However, the flow of remittances is not promoting private bank credit; rather it increases import-dominated trade. Besides, remittances are yet to be significant at gross capital formation. Therefore, we recommend that policymakers should find a way to bring remittance through formal channels for capital formation and investment. Fortunately, remittance inflows indirectly cause population control and sustainability. Decision-makers should also formulate policies that will modify remittance-induced current production and consumption patterns to promote the process of sustainable development further.

La Commission sur l'agriculture durable et le changement climatique a examiné les données scientifiques pour identifier un moyen d'atteindre la sécurité alimentaire dans le contexte du changement climatique. Les systèmes alimentaires doivent évoluer de façon à mieux répondre aux besoins humains et, à long terme, s'équilibrer avec les ressources planétaires. Cette évolution nécessitera des interventions majeures tant au niveau local qu'à l'échelle mondiale afin de transformer les modèles actuels de production, de distribution et de consommation alimentaire. L'investissement, l'innovation et un effort délibéré visant à rendre autonomes les populations les plus vulnérables du monde seront nécessaires pour construire un système alimentaire mondial qui s'adapte au changement climatique et assure la sécurité alimentaire tout en minimisant les émissions de gaz à effet de serre et en conservant notre stock de ressources naturelles. Un accroissement important des investissements dans l'agriculture durable, notamment dans une amélioration de l'infrastructure de base et une restauration des écosystèmes dégradés, constitue un composant essentiel du développement économique à long terme. Plus tôt ces mesures seront prises, plus importants en seront les effets.

Business as usual in our globally interconnected food system will not bring us food security and environmental sustainability. Several converging threats – from climate change, population growth and unsustainable use of resources – are steadily intensifying pressure on humanity and world governments to transform the way food is produced, distributed and consumed.

Dans le système alimentaire mondialement interconnecté qui est le nôtre, le statu quo ne nous apportera ni sécurité alimentaire ni durabilité environnementale. Entre le changement climatique, la croissance démographique et l'insoutenabilité de notre consommation des ressources, plusieurs menaces convergentes imposent de plus en plus et de façon constante à l'humanité et aux gouvernements mondiaux un changement des modes de production, de distribution et de consommation de la nourriture.