Donor support towards good governance in Bangladesh: a focus on people's participation and accountability

International donors to Bangladesh have emphasized governance reform since the 1990s, on the basis that bad governance was siphoning away both domestic and foreign aid resources. While donor support towards good governance is encouraging, such support should be judged in the light of actual contributions to the promotion of good governance. This article examines a donor-funded project called the Participatory Rural Development Project (PRDP), which aims to promote good governance at the grassroots level. The article assesses the effectiveness of PRDP in promoting good governance, especially in bringing transparency and accountability to Bangladeshi Public Administration. The core finding is that the project achieved remarkable success, with a tangible impact in terms of promoting good governance at the local level. The paper analyzes the reasons for this success with the aim of providing indicators for other donors working in this area.