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Water Governance in Bangladesh: an Evaluation of Institutional and Political Context

Ngai Weng Chan
Geography Section, School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Malaysia

Ranjan Roy*
Department of Agricultural Extension & Information System, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh

Brian C. Chaffin
College of Forestry and Conservation, University of Montana, 32 Campus Drive, Missoula, MT 59812, USA

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Water crises are often crises of governance. To address interrelated issues of securing access to sustainable sources of safe water for the world’s populations, scholar and practitioners have suggested fostering improved modes of water governance that support the implementation of integrated water resource management (IWRM). Recently, implementation of an IWRM approach was announced as a target for achieving Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study employs an analytical hierarchy process with a SWOT analysis to assess the current institutional and political context of water governance in Bangladesh and evaluate IWRM as a means to achieve the SDGs.

Keywords: Water governance; IWRM; SWOT-AHP; Sustainable development goals; Bangladesh

Location:

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Socio-economic and Policy

Commodity: Water Shortage

Objectives:

To achieve this, we use a hybrid method—a combination analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis—to evaluate the compatibility of current water governance in Bangladesh with principles of IWRM. In addition, we briefly assess environmental and climate policy integration in three key Bangladeshi water policy documents: the National Water Policy; the Development Strategy of the National Water Management Plan; and the National Water Management Plan itself. We conclude with a series of policy insights relevant to fostering IWRM in Bangladesh.

Methodology:

In the previous section, we reviewed the institutional and political contexts of water governance in Bangladesh. This background serves as a basis from which we deductively determine initial strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) for a hybrid quantitative analysis of major water organizations and institutions in Bangladesh. Below, we detail this process including the refinement of SWOT factors based on 44 informal interviews with policy makers, researchers, consumers, and NGO workers, each with more than one decade of related professional experience working with water resources issues in Bangladesh and/or related international settings. We employed a semi-structured questionnaire to guide interviews, and included questions designed to uncover the institutional and political opportunities, constraints and barriers to effective water governance in Bangladesh. The determination of the final SWOT factors used in the quantitative analysis were thus informed both deductively from peer-reviewed literature and policy documents as well as inductively from interview data, and thus triangulated for increased robustness of results. The second author collected and analyzed data from July 2013 to March 2014. SWOT is a method of conducting a situation analysis of internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external (opportunities and threats) factors, which influence decision making. SWOT factor identification can inform resource planning to achieve predetermined objectives, e.g., strengthening water governance. However, the meaningfulness of identified SWOT factors cannot be quantified by employing the conventional SWOT analysis alone. The application of an analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is useful to overcome this shortcoming by assigning relative priority to each factor through a process of pair wise comparisons. To determine the identified SWOT factors of most influence to strengthening water governance in Bangladesh, AHP was combined with SWOT analysis via the following steps: (i) identification of all potential SWOT factors from a literature review and semi-structured interviews; (ii) pair-wise comparison of factors within each SWOT group; and (iii) pair-wise comparison across the four SWOT groups. This hybrid method is discussed and tested by Kurtilla, Pesonen, Kangas, and Kajanus and Masozera et al.. Of the 44 experts interviewed in an effort to determine factors for the SWOT analysis, 26 interviewees were additionally asked to complete pair wise comparison questions of SWOT factors. In the pair wise comparisons (see Equation (A1) in Appendix A) of factors within each SWOT group, the factor with the highest priority value was brought forward for further comparisons. These leading factors among the four SWOT groups—strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats—were then compared as in a similar pair wise process by the first author. After completing all pair-wise comparisons, priority values of the groups, priority values of the factors within the groups and consistency ratios were computed using the Eigen value method (see Saaty and Vargas and Equation (A2) in Appendix A). The consistency ratios (Equation (A3) in Appendix A) were kept below or equal to 10% to remain the inconsistencies within an acceptable level. If the consistency ratio is greater than 10%, a revision of the subjective judgment was required.

Source of Information: Water 2016, 8, 403; www.mdpi.com/journal/water

Article Link (Online Journal): doi:10.3390/w8090403

Funding Source:

1.

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

This study attempts to develop a conceptual space for expanding IWRM in Bangladesh by analyzing the current institutional and political contexts of water governance in the country. The governance system (ministerial) for policy development in Bangladesh (see for a detailed description of the process) is not currently conducive to foster policy integration between water, environment, and climate change policy necessary for the successful implementation of IWRM. Our findings further indicate that there is currently no adequate policy framework in place for the coordination of existing governance or for the sharing of co-benefits of water resources in Bangladesh. We find that this lack of coordination further exacerbates fragmentation among existing organizations and institutions charged with developing and implementing water management policies. At the same time, however, fragmentation between existing governance structures presents an opportunity for an IWRM approach. Governance coordination can be improved by forging a governance arrangement that offers an appropriate mix of local and regional institutions, with strong support for strengthening of these local institutions by national authorities. To establish coordination in governance, it is essential to focus on: consolidating water institutions’ duties and responsibilities; clarifying governance and management roles; and developing mechanisms to coordinate across water-related sectors such as agriculture, energy and environment (e.g., climate change). Sharing co-benefits is a practical policy tool to reduce conflicts as well as to achieve greater social inclusiveness and balance economic, environmental, and social factors in planning, design and implementation of water resource management. However, political will and democratic accountability are essential for stable and reliable governance coordination, and this represents a significant hurdle for Bangladesh.

Knowledge Management: Journal