Mapping Good Governance in Service Delivery

A Study on Some Selected Upazila Land Offices

Abstract

Land is an indispensible instrument of human survival. In Bangladesh, Upazila Land Offices
are designated to provide land related services to the people. As a part of improving the
state of public service delivery, government plans to extend the National Integrity Strategy
networks to Upazila Levels. Hence, it deems necessary to know the current status of
governance in Upazila Land Offices and the factors affecting it. The study tried to gather
the respondents’ perception on institutional and operational capacity, legal framework,
participation and trust on Upazila Land Offices. Besides, a statistical model was developed
based on the assumption that good governance is a function of ‘political commitment,
efficiency of the service providers, peoples empowerment and digitization’. The findings
suggest that inefficiency and insincerity of the staffs are serious concern; but the trend shows
slower progress in different components. Performance of the civil society members in
different land related committees is not satisfactory and trustworthy to common populace;
hence participation or empowerment is not a concern to them. However, political
commitment, efficiency of the service providers and digitization significantly affect the
level of good governance in Land Offices. The current state of good governance practices
in the land offices is depressing and suggests policy intervention.