The voices of the marginalised and vulnerable groups including women, low-income households, people with disabilities, third- and trans-gender, and minorities should be included in the reform for good governance, experts said on Sunday.
At the Citizen’s Conference 2024, held at the Bangabandhu International Conference centre in the capital, they also said that these groups should be engaged in policymaking through systemic change.
The two-day conference titled ‘People-centric reform for good governance aspirations of disadvantaged communities’ was organised by Citizen’s Platform for Sustainable Development Goals, Bangladesh with support from the United Nations Development Programme, Bangladesh and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
Debapriya Bhattacharya, the platform convener and distinguished fellow of Centre for Policy Dialogue, said in the context of the July mass uprising that the governance of the country did not change with the change in the government.
He said that those who were kept behind must be brought in the mainstream in future and their voices must be heard.
Attending the conference as chief guest, chief justice Syed Refaat Ahmed said that the people’s principles of judgement and values of justice had been destroyed and distorted under the judicial process in the past years.
He said that the judicial system had already started institutional reforms and the community-based judicial system must be strengthened for empowering citizens at the grassroots level.
Lamiya Morshed, principal coordinator for SDG affairs, said that the interim government inherited a broken system of institutions and economy and therefore launched a series of reforms.
‘We have to rebuild that we hope will bring sustainable change to prevent a regression back to old broken and corrupt systems,’ she added.
UNDP Bangladesh resident representative Stefan Liller said that for a long time voices of the women, youths, persons with disabilities, poor, minorities, and other marginalised groups had been sidelined in Bangladesh and now was the time for inclusion.
Corinne Henchoz Pignani, chargé d’affaires of Switzerland embassy in Bangladesh emphasised the inclusion of all voices, an organised education system, dialogue and a governance reform agenda centred on aspirations of the people at this ‘crucial juncture’.
On the first day of the conference, Jahangirnagar University professor Nurul Huda Sakib presented ‘Localism for leave no one behind groups’ rights: a proposed social protection governance model,’ American International University-Bangladesh senior assistant professor Faria Sultana presented ‘Citizen-led oversight: empowering marginalised communities for equitable public service delivery’ and Dhaka University professor Asif M Shahan presented ‘Breaking the iron triangle of policy making: empowering marginalised groups in realising rights.’