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CITIZENSHIP, DEMOCRACY AND THE ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS
"Deepening Democracy, Building Citizenship and Promoting Participation – The Role of Civil Society Organizations" (also known as Citizenship DRC Bangladesh) is a research project conducted under the overall umbrella of the Development Research Centre (DRC) on Citizenship, Participation and Accountability at the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex University, UK, with financial support of the DFID. Under the DRC, this research is being conducted in eight countries across Africa, South America and South Asia. The research in Bangladesh was undertaken in partnership with 8 grassroots organizations, ranging from purely service delivery to rights-based organizations.
A paradox in the development trend of Bangladesh provides the premise for the research. Despite the fact that democracy in Bangladesh is extremely fragile, with weak rule of law and unaccountable governance institutions, the country has had remarkable achievements in attaining economic and human development goals. It is generally agreed that ‘good governance’ is an integral part of the democratic process and acts as a critical ingredient for sustainable and pro-poor economic growth – this research attempts to resolve the contradiction of how, in the absence of ‘good governance’, sustainable and pro-poor economic development has occurred. In Bangladesh, non-governmental and microfinance organizations (NGOs and MFIs) as a whole tend to identify the poor population as consisting of citizens with rights who are able to bring about change. Citizenship DRC set out to test the hypothesis that it is because of the contributions of grassroots development organizations that Bangladesh has attained levels of economic and social development seemingly out of line with the country’s democratic and governance development.
Download the Citizenship DRC Bangladesh concept note here.
Learn more about the Development Research Centre.
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