A Shared Agenda of Transparency, Accountability and Responsiveness

Establishing an inclusive governance in Bangladesh is a shared agenda of the government, civil society organisations and the citizens, maintained discussants of a day-long forum held Thursday in the capital.

The “Inclusive Governance and Social Accountability (IGSA) Forum” was organised by Platforms for Dialogue, aEuropean Union funded project in partnership with the Cabinet Division of Bangladesh being implemented through the British Council Bangladesh.

“P4D has targeted both the civil society representatives and the civil servants to play role inclusive governance which will ultimately benefit the citizens”, saidMohammad Shafiul Alam the Cabinet Secretary of the Government of Bangladesh and the chief guest of the event, insisting on the importance of accountability across institutions.

“New knowledge and input are required with sincerity and efforts to fulfil government’s vision of developing Bangladesh. As the title of today’s workshop suggests that government should be participating in dialogue”emphasised RensjeTeerink, European Union Head of Delegation and Ambassador to Bangladesh.

A major aim of Platforms for Dialogue is to promote widespread application of social accountability tools. “Part of P4D’s mission is to support government institutions to deliver on ambitions set out in the 7th Five-Year-Plan and policies centered on the National Integrity Strategy, the Right to Information Act, Citizens’ Charters and the Grievance Redress System”, highlighted Barbara Wickham, the Country Director of the British Council Bangladesh.

The one-day IGSA Forum was a mixed methodology of plenary sessions, seminars, workshops and presentations. These sessions concentrated on the needs of national and regional civil servants overseeing citizen engagement and quality of service provision, with a particular focus on the effective implementation of Citizens’ Charters and the Grievance Redress System.

P4D is a three-year project thatsupportsthe promotion of inclusive governance at local and national levels. P4Demphasises mutual responsibilities to foster a more collaborative relationship between government and civil society.

As part of P4D’s intervention in 21 districts, CSOs and representatives of local government are receivingtraining that will inspire effectiveengagement and dialogue on local policy issues.The project is now developing new tools and policy platforms, both at the regional and national level, for effective and transparent government-civil society engagement on policy matters.