Human Rights and Good Governance

A new challenge has arisen to the development actors in all fields with the increasing need for good governance as an essential pre-requisite and foundation for realizing human rights and sustainable social progress. Consequently, a range of operational elements of good governance has come to the forefront to be considered and dealt with. In one pole of the spectrum of healthy governance is a strong public sector institution particularly at the local level, through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, mediate their differences and exercise their legal rights and obligations. The experience of Bangladesh manifests that inadequate capacity and low performance of local government administration especially Union Parishad (Parishad means council) the newly formed Gram Sarker (Village based governance institution formed by the government) and other public sector institutions has always been a hindering factor in realizing good governance. While implementing different programs geared up to promoting good governance. Bangladesh Integrated Social Advancement Programme (BISAP) has been exposed to similar barriers to fostering good governance. These factors entail, among others, lack of effective grassroots civil society organizations, insufficient political commitment, lack of transparency/accountability or democratic practices, non-cooperation between development actors and absence of mechanism to promote strong voice of poor people. The vision of BISAP is to seek “freedom from poverty, freedom from hunger, freedom from oppression, freedom from deprivation, and exploitation, a society which will beckon global peace and harmony at home and nations abroad”. With the understanding about the breadth and depth of multiple barriers to realizing human rights the project will put its primary role as capacity builders to animate the key proponents of democratic governance. Project will try to promote reciprocal relationships of responsibility and accountability and frequent interface between community people, civil societies, NGOs, local government and representative of other public service institutions which will increasingly articulate demand for and manage services.