Citizen Participation and the Quest for Accountability and Transparency in Urban Local Government in Bangladesh A Study on Rangpur City Corporation

Abstract

Citizen participation is fundamental to promote accountability and transparency in urban
local government of Bangladesh. For the last half-century, citizen participation has been considered
as a key tool to empower the citizens in which citizens can actively participate and provide input
in decision making process that spearheads the accountability and transparency in urban local
government of Bangladesh. However, the level and access to citizens in urban local government
functioning process is limited for many reasons in developing countries compared to developed
countries. This study has explored the mechanisms of urban local government of Bangladesh to
ensure the accountability and transparency in decision-making process as a case of Rangpur City
Corporation (RpCC). This research is conducted by qualitative research approach where data
and information has been collected from primary sources. In addition, some secondary data has
been used to furnish the research. Research report shows that the level and access to citizen in the
functioning of RpCC is very minimal. It is also found that RpCC has been taken a limited initiative
to ensure accountability and transparency in their activities. While RpCC has hung out the citizen
charter in front of office building as a part of transparency mechanism but people’s awareness about
citizen charter is very low. Moreover, it is found that employees of RpCC are engulfed in corruption
from top to bottom. It recommends that inclusion of the people in RpCC activities is the only way
out to solve the problem.