Ensuring Voice and Equity: An Analysis of Inclusive Governance in Local Government in Bangladesh

Abstract

Citizen participation is frequently regarded as a cornerstone of accountable and inclusive local governance. However, legal participatory procedures in many developing countries, including Bangladesh, do not necessarily translate into considerable citizen influence over decision-making. The justification for the present study is that, despite the increasing institutionalisation of participatory procedures at the local level, there is still little empirical data on their real efficacy. This study examines the effectiveness of citizen participation regarding institutional arrangements on inclusive governance in municipalities of Bangladesh. A mixed-methods approach was used to conduct the study in Trishal Municipality, Mymensingh District. A total of 384 respondents were sampled using stratified random sampling techniques, and 10 Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) were conducted with the Municipality officials and community stakeholders. Thus, descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis were conducted. The results show moderate effectiveness scores across all participation mechanisms (2.54-3.19), with the lowest score for citizen influence (2.58) and the highest for transparency (3.19), indicating the presence of “participatory formalism” in municipal governance. The Multiple regression results indicate that the factors of inclusion (β = .634, p < .001), transparency (β = .400, p < .001), awareness (β = .141, p < .001), and gender (β = -.436, p < .001) are significant predictors of participation, while education and income are not. These findings suggest that institutional inclusiveness and governance quality play a more important role in shaping participation than socioeconomic factors. The study shows that while the quality of citizen engagement in municipal governance is moderate, it is strongly influenced not by individuals' socioeconomic factors but by institutional inclusiveness, transparency, and trust, among other factors. Therefore, the study calls for strengthening deliberative and inclusive governance spaces, improving transparency and accountability systems, and advancing gender-transformative participation to improve substantive democratic governance in Bangladesh.