Process of Participatory Planning and Budgeting at the Local Level

Abstract

The decentralization of the state power is not new in Bangladesh. Every successive government since independence has experimented with the local government system through different reform initiatives. However, the Act of 2009 is a milestone among all the reform initiatives. The two provisions of the Act of 2009 – Ward Shava (WS) and Open Budget Meetings (OBMs) – are innovations in the context of local government institutions (LGIs) in Bangladesh. These provisions have created scope for participatory planning and budgeting at the local level with participation of the service recipients. The main aim of this chapter is to discuss the process of participatory planning and budgeting with its predetermined sequence and the formation of several committees that are supposed to update local decisions and bottom-up plans. The mechanisms and media through which people are engaging in the participatory planning (PP) and participatory budgeting (PB) processes are also analyzed in this chapter. Challenges that are hindering the process of participatory planning and budgeting have also been discussed in this chapter.