In partnership with Bangladesh’s Cabinet Division and under its Platforms for Dialogue (P4D) project, the British Council organised an Inclusive Governance and Social Accountability (IGSA) Forum on 28 March 2019.
The forum was held to initiate a series of workshops across the country, aimed to build leadership and general governance skills of civil servants and sensitise them about social accountability policy instruments. Mohammad Shafiul Alam, Cabinet Secretary of the Government of Bangladesh was the chief guest of the opening ceremony. Rensje Teerink, European Union’s Head of Delegation and Ambassador to Bangladesh and Barbara Wickham, Director Bangladesh, British Council were present as special guests. Mostafizur Rahman, Additional Secretary, Cabinet Division chaired the event and Sultan Ahmed, Additional Secretary, Cabinet Division and the Project Director of P4D were also present at the ceremony.
This one-day IGSA Forum employed a mixed methodology of plenary sessions, seminars, workshops and presentations. These sessions concentrated on the needs of national and regional civil servants overseeing citizen engagement and quality of service provision, with a focus on the effective implementation of Citizen's Charters and the Grievance Redress System.
“P4D has targeted both the civil society representatives and the civil servants to play an inclusive role in governance, which will ultimately benefit the citizens,” said Mohammad Shafiul Alam, as he insisted on the importance of accountability across institutions.
P4D, a European Union funded project, works closely with the government’s Cabinet Division and other influential ministries to provide capacity-building training in a range of areas for civil servants and officials. This is geared towards enhancing the government’s ability to respond to the needs of its citizens, under the framework of the following social accountability tools: Right to Information Act, National Integrity Strategy, Grievance Redress System and Citizen's Charters.