Research Brief

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2022 | RESEARCH BRIEF | 1

December 2022 | Issue 04

Research Brief

Digitizing Implementation Monitoring and Public Procurement Project

Interest and Capacity of Citizens to Monitor Local Development Work: An Assessment

The citizen engagement component of Digitizing Implementation Monitoring and Public

Procurement Project (DIMAPPP) has been designed and implemented for the last few years to ensure social accountability in public procurement, related to small-scale construction works (e.g.

school, bridge, road, college, and wash block) in rural Bangladesh. The citizen engagement process started in January 2019 and as of March 2022, citizens from both group based and non-group based have monitored 316 individual contracts from three agencies named Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), Education Engineering Department (EED), and Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) in different geographical locations. Till March 2022, about 24,402 people have been directly and indirectly involved in this project, and have raised 443 grievances. The present research looks at 114

completed contracts.

This study aims to explore and analyze the profiles, interests and capacity, and subsequent experiences of local citizens, directly involved as group (nagorik porjobekkhok) and non-group, to monitor local development works. The study will also examine the nature of the engagement of the public officials who engaged with the citizens to facilitate the citizen monitoring process.

Methodology

The study used qualitative data obtained through Key Informant Interview (KII) of citizens, contractors, and engineers involved in the

implementation of DIMAPPP on field level in Cox’s Bazar, Moulvibazar and Nilphamari. Districts from three different regions were chosen purposefully to Authors | Raihan Ahamed and Insiya Khan

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Digitizing Implementation Monitoring and Public Procurement Project

Research Findings

Division 3 (Chattogram, Sylhet

and Rangpur)

Citizen 36 (3 citizens from each

contract)

District 3 (Cox’s Bazar, Moulavibazar

and Nilphamari))

Contract 12 (4 projects from each

district) capture the geographical variation. Three

districts were selected from three divisions and from each district, 4 contracts were selected (Figure 01). 3 citizen monitoring group members were then selected from each contract. In addition to group members, 9 general citizens were chosen from Moulvibazar district for non-group members, as this would help understand the difference, in terms of quality of monitoring, between group and no group. Furthermore, 9 experienced technical persons from 3 districts (3 persons per districts) were chosen to garner their observations in terms of monitoring the contracts.

The citizens were distinguished based on their income level, education, and the extent

A. Role of citizen

Findings from citizens of both areas: with citizen monitoring group and no group showed very similar results in terms of the citizen’s interest, sense of ownership, and perspective towards DIMAPPP.

One interesting finding was learning about where citizens believed the money for public works was sourced from. Many citizens thought the money

came from government revenue or foreign aid/

loan. Some citizens, especially the ones from Sylhet region who were more familiar with people working abroad, believed that this money came from remittance. But majority of the citizens knew that the source of money was VAT and Tax given by citizens. This shows that large number of citizens are aware that their money is being used for public procurement.

B. Orientation and site meeting

Group based sites Non-group based sites

• Everyone expected to learn details about the project and strategies for monitoring from the engineer at the meeting.

• In few cases, people had different expectations, such that they would receive reliefs/donations or get food and monetary incentives.

• There were some suggestions from citizens to ensure that engineers explained in local dialect to make it easier for them to understand. Example, citizens in Cox’s Bazar and Moulvibazar struggled.

• General citizens thought that the quality of the construction will be better (80% or more) compared to others due to the participation.

• The engineers have also managed to motivate the citizens to develop ownership to the work and monitor the project as their own.

• The citizens realized that they need training besides the lecture of PE in site meeting.

C. Signboard

of their proactive involvement in monitoring the project.

From the total number of respondents, 9 (25%) were female.

The survey lasted from 18^th April to 31st May 2022 and covered projects such as construction of school, bridge, road, college, and wash block from LGED, DPHE and EED.

• Citizens were attentive towards the signboard, spending time to read all the information. And ones who could not read asked help from others to guide them.

• In most cases, the signboard was available throughout the duration of the project. The few times signboard got damaged, citizens took the initiative to protect the signboard or fix them in ways they can be reused.

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• People noticed the signboard with interest and sometimes they saved the given contact numbers

• Having the contact information of engineer available to call at any time for any complaint was helpful to the citizens.

• Citizens suggested keeping the signboards even after the project ends, as that allows everyone to get an idea on the establishment. Also, in case of any future issues, they can call the number provided on the board to complain.

D. Monitoring system 1. Group based sites

• Many citizens said that they monitored the public works the way they would monitor their own properties.

• Some did say that because there are more people to monitor the public works compared to their own, they did not monitor them with equal diligence.

• Majority did not have previous experience in working in the field. Only active

members called NGO representatives and/or PE

2. Non-group based sites

• Only 1 or 2 citizens took the responsibility and diligently monitored the project sites. When they went to the site and met others, they talked about the progress of the construction works. Sometimes they met in tea stalls or haat-bazaar.

• General people nominated ex UP Member or local elites (e.g. retired person,

teacher) as a leader to monitor the task.

• When they got any anomalies in the work, first they talked with the workers. If the workers failed to resolve, then they talked with the NGO representative.

Possible challenges during implementation During implementation, citizens faced a number of challenges, whether it was regarding the language, location of the project, or due to the lack of support from contractors and engineers. Furthermore, not providing incentives caused citizens to become inactive over time leading to a challenge in citizen’s participation.

An example of how threats can harm the project can be seen from a case in Cox’s Bazar.

A citizen had donated his land for a school. While the building construction was ongoing, he regularly monitored the work. When he approached the contractor to improve the quality of work, the contractor threatened him and filed a case against him on false charge of demanding bribery. Then police came to verify the case. After verifying with the locals, the police arrested no one. But as a result of the interrogation, all the citizen members in that area became inactive.

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Achievements

Over the years the citizens engagement project has managed to improve both the quality of the projects and accountability of the contractors. Citizens were also found to be more aware and had a better understanding on how public projects function in the country and their responsibilities in ensuring

successful implementation of the projects. Even though financial incentives were a constant demand, citizens still had interest to monitor without it.

Citizens seemed to be more united as they worked together to monitor and improve the quality of public projects in their locality while preventing corruption.

Future program design suggestions

The stakeholders provided the following recommendation for future designing of the program:

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