Govt gets $18.39m aid for cementing union parishads

FE Report The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), European Union (EU) and DANIDA will provide US$ 18.39 million (Tk 1.3885 billion) assistance aiming to strengthening the union parishads in the country, said a UN release. "The $ 18.39 project was signed between Economic Relations Division (ERD) and its partners aiming to strengthening the capacity of union parishads, fostering service delivery and promoting participatory local development with special emphasis on MDGs realisation," said the release. Of the total assistance, UNDP will provide $ 2 million, EU $ 9.30 million, UNCDF $ 1.50 million and the DANIDA $ 5.58 million. The government will give Tk 80 million. The government and UNDP Thursday signed an agreement for the project titled 'Union Parishad Governance Project (UPGP)' at NEC- II in city's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar. ERD Secretary Iqbal Mahmood, Local Government Division (LGD) Secretary Abu Alam Md Shahid Khan and UNDP country director Stefan Priesner inked the agreement on behalf of their respective sides. Senior officials from the government, UNDP, EU and DANIDA, among others, were present at the ceremony. The project will focus on three outputs-attainment of MDG at local level, ensuring the accountability and transparency of union parishads through citizens' engagement and strengthening the capacity of local government institutions. The Local Government Division (LGD) will implement the project by September 2016. The release said direct fiscal support will be provided approximately to 400-450 union parishads of seven districts - Kishoreganj, Brahmanbaria, Sunamganj, Sirajganj, Khulna, Barguna and Rangpur. The multiyear joint programme will be implemented all over the country during the period 2011-2016. LGD, UNDP, UNCDF, the EU and DANIDA (Denmark) will work jointly to strengthen the functions and functionaries of the union parishad system. UPGP is a part of programmatic framework prepared in consultation with GoB, UNDP, UNCDF, EU, Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) and Danida to deepen local democracy and scale up support with an aim to achieve MDGs for Bangladesh. While UPGP was signed Thursday Upazila Parishad Governance Project (UZGP) was signed in August this year. UPGP and UZGP complement each other and linked vertically and horizontally. The release said UPGP will provide support to the government focusing on better service delivery and to facilitate better engagement among electorate, government officials and key functionaries aimed at improving service delivery for the rural people.