Report

Accountability and citizen–state relations in Bangladesh: findings from the CLEAR programme

This report from UK think tank the Institute of Development Studies presents the political context of Bangladesh and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the country.

This report synthesises findings on accountability and citizen–state relations in Bangladesh from the Covid-19 Learning, Evidence and Research Programme in Bangladesh (CLEAR). To do this, it refers to five projects from the programme that dealt with these concepts: (1) Becoming Poor; (2) Effective Digital Health Platforms for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights; (3) Durdin-er Diaries; (4) The Feedback State; and (5) Rethinking Accountability for Digitised Futures in Bangladesh. This report introduces the CLEAR programme and the projects synthesised (Section 1); presents the political context of Bangladesh and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the country (Section 2); presents the findings on expectations, accountability, and responsiveness along with findings on new issues on e-governance and key groups that need increased attention from the government and scholars (Section 3); and explores the findings’ national and global implications, including the implications for the Sustainable Development Goals and lessons for development and policy in low- and middle-income countries (Section 4).