Citizen Charter and Local Service Delivery in Bangladesh

This book illuminates the importance of the citizen charter (CC) in local service delivery in Bangladesh. It describes how CC was implemented into the service delivery process and its impact. In the 1970s, the transition from traditional public administration to new public management was inspired by globalization, the emergence of an information and technological society, and many economic theories, such as public choice, principal-agent theory, and transaction cost. The purpose of the government in a welfare state is to serve the citizens by providing essential services. However, public service delivery in most developing nations is ineffective owing to corruption, waste of public funds, a lack of responsibility on the part of public employees, etc. In this context, CC emerged as a means of educating individuals on many elements of services, so they may hold service providers accountable. Thus, the issue of framing and implementation of CC has been put in place due to the persistent pressing of academicians, politicians, and practitioners advocating for better local service delivery.

Pranab Kumar Panday, Ph.D., is Professor at the Department of Public Administration, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh, and Adjunct Professor at Central Queensland University, Australia. He was Senior Fulbright Fellow at Cornell University in the USA in 2012. His main research areas include public policy, social movements, NGOs, social accountability, public sector management, governance, and gender studies. He is Author of thirteen books. His most recent book publications include Gender Responsive Budgeting in South Asia: Experience of Bangladeshi Local Governance, London, UK: Routledge (2021) (with M. Shuvra Chowdhury). Four dozens of his academic articles have appeared in recognized international journals. 

Shuvra Chowdhury, Ph.D., is Professor at the Department of Public Administration, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Her main areas of academic interest include open data analysis, right to information, grievance redress management, public financial change management, and gender studies. She has published several books and journal articles from noted international publishing houses and journals.