The government yesterday signed a grant assistance deal with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) for $ 19.31 million or Tk 144.45 crore to strengthen the upazila parishads.
LGD Additional Secretary Syed Mahbub Hasan and UNDP Country Director Stefan Priesner inked the deal at NEC2 in the city's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar. Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan was present on the occasion.
The grant will be used under the Upazila Governance Project (UZGP) to transform the upazila bodies into more functional, democratic, transparent, and accountable institutions. The Local Government Division (LGD) will implement and complete the project by May 2016.
The UZGP aims to strengthen planning and budgeting system at upazila parishads with MDG orientation and pro-poor service delivery mechanism as well as strengthening LGD's technical capacity for effective policy review, monitoring, and lesson learning for improved local governance.
The project will be implemented all over the country including direct fiscal support to 14 upazilas of seven districts. The European Union (EU) has committed to providing US $10 million and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) for US $5 million, says a press release.
UNDP's Stefan Priesner said, 'We are excited to help the government empower the upazila parishads as key institutions for providing effective and efficient service delivery to the poor communities in Bangladesh".
The UZGP is part of the overall programmatic framework of UNDP and UNCDF support to Bangladesh in local governance reforms, assisted by the European Union and the governments of Switzerland (SDC) and Denmark (Danida).
Source : The Daily Star
