Exploring the Performance of and the Citizens’ Trust in Local Government Institutions (LGIs) at the Grassroots: Views from Bangladesh
| Published date | 01 June 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00195561231221814 |
| Author | Jannatul Ferdous,Md Imran Hossain Bhuiyan,Niaz Ahmed Khan |
| Date | 01 June 2024 |
Exploring the Performance
of and the Citizens’ Trust
in Local Government
Institutions (LGIs) at
the Grassroots: Views
from Bangladesh
Jannatul Ferdous1, Md Imran Hossain Bhuiyan2 and
Niaz Ahmed Khan2,3
Abstract
Considering the dearth of research on the performance of and the citizen’s trust
in local government institutions (LGIs) in Bangladesh, this study focuses on Union
Parishad (UP)—the lowest tier of LGIs at grassroots. By combining both quan-
titative and qualitative methods of investigation, primary data through question-
naire survey among service recipients and through key informants’ interviews
with service providers have been collected, triangulated and analysed. The study,
by evaluating institutional performance of the UPs against several variables,
unveils a low level of citizen’s trust in UPs resulting from a low level of satisfac-
tion regarding its performance. While the citizens identify the lack of timeli-
ness, unfair practices and disrespectful behaviour during service delivery among
key reasons behind the lack of trust, the institutional actors criticise the lack of
institutional autonomy and resources for the poor performance and failures in
satisfying local demands at the grassroots.
Keywords
Citizens’ trust, local governance, Union Parishad, Bangladesh
Article
Indian Journal of Public
Administration
70(2) 356–369, 2024
© 2024 IIPA
Article reuse guidelines:
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DOI: 10.1177/00195561231221814
journals.sagepub.com/home/ipa
1 Department of Public Administration, Comilla University, Kotbari, Cumilla, Bangladesh
2 Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
3 Independent University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Corresponding author:
Md Imran Hossain Bhuiyan, Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000,
Bangladesh.
E-mail: imran.bhuiyan@du.ac.bd
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