Evaluation of the improving local level governance project in Bangladesh : combining traditional folk arts with democratic local governance

In addition to the project's traditional components, ILLG offered several unique components for study. In a break from the usual USAID project structure, in which an intermediary—most often, U.S.-based contractor or cooperating agency operates between USAID and in-country implementers, Rupantar, a Bangaldeshi nongovernmental organization, worked directly with USAID. As the implementing partner, Rupantar employed a mix of traditional song and drama to provide "adult civic education" in addition to more conventional approaches to promoting rural, local democratic governance. The project began in August 2002 with 23 union parishads (UPs), expanding in 2006 to a second phase with 50 UPs, and finally, encompassing 210 UPs and four pourashavas in its third and last phase in 2008, which introduced a disaster management component and lasted until March 2011. The project's three-part strategy worked with three groups: (1) UP chairs and members through training, mentoring and activity support; (2) carefully selected citizen committees through training and mentoring; and (3) citizens through traditional dramatic arts. The evaluation methodology comprised three basic elements: document review, intensive interviews and daylong field visits to 12 UPs in two regions of Bangladesh. The major constraints on the evaluation were the nine-year life of ILLG, and the 18-month lag between its project's end and the evaluation period. Problems included: (1) the evaluation team could not locate USAID personnel who had worked with the project before its terminal year; and (2) the project's target population at little memory of the project. Also, the May 2011 UP elections installed new chairmen in most UPs, along with many new members resulting in a loss of actual ILLG participants available at project locales. These constraints however, did, provide an opportunity to assess post-project sustainability. (Excerpt, modified)