The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the Local Government Division (MLGRD &C) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today that sets the rules and procedures for the grants under the Upazila Governance Project (UZGP).

The MoU was signed by the UNCDF Head of the Regional Office, David Jackson and Ashok Madhab Roy, Additional Secretary of the Local Government Division and National Project Director of Upazila Governance Project (UZGP). The signing took place in the premises of the Local Government Division, Bangladesh Secretariat, in Dhaka.

The UZGP is part of the overall programmatic framework for UNDP and UNCDF support to the Government of Bangladesh Local Governance reforms that is supported by the European Union (EU), the Government of Switzerland (SDC) and Denmark (Danida).

One of the principal activity areas promoted will be a fiscal mechanism intended both to support development planning and actual delivery of gender sensitive and inclusive local services and infrastructure to a selected number of UZPs spread over all the seven divisions of the country.

The total contribution from UNCDF and contributing development partner through UNCDF to the performance-based UZP grant mechanism will be in average 4.5 Million TK (indicative) for each of the enrolled UZPs (7 UZPs in the first year and 14 in the subsequent years), i.e. a total of 3,492,516 USD (indicative) over the 4 years. 

The UZGP supports the Government of Bangladesh to implement the governance reforms at Upazila (UZP) level to demonstrate how the UZP can fulfill its development mandate for service delivery and leverage its comparative advantage in delivering development and services at the local level and accelerating the achievement of the MDGs – recognizing locally identified specific needs.

Moreover, it will weave the UZP into a more holistic and integrated local governance framework in which the UPs, the line agencies and the Upazila Parishads complement one another, co-financing local development programs, which will be locally accountable.  It will support central government’s capacity to monitor these local governance reforms and to develop a National Framework for Local Government Policy and Capacity Building for local government institutions (LGIs) and local level functionaries.