Chapter 9: Social Integration Through Rural Transport Expansion in Bangladesh: Improving Performance at a Local Government Engineering Department

Providing public infrastructure and services is about more than serving customers. Countries expect these programs to contribute to a host of outcomes such as economic development, poverty reduction, social justice, gender equity, ethnic inclusion, and a sustainable political settlement among rival elites. It takes effective public services and contribution to these broader outcomes to foster social trust and public confidence, an active and cooperative citizenry, and state legitimacy.

The recent history of Bangladesh provides an international comparative perspective of how public services can contribute to improved social outcomes. This chapter will begin with a brief overview of the process. It will then look at the case of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) under the Local Government Division, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, and how it has managed to continuously improve its performance in the context of “good-enough governance” to better contribute to these outcomes.