Poverty Alleviation of Rural People through Good Governance in Bangladesh

The governance is a vital issue especially for a developing country like Bangladesh which affects every sector of development. Corruption, inefficient service delivery, weak policy setting, and limited participation of various stakeholders in decision making have a negative impact on the rural poor. However, the main reason of poverty retaining in Bangladesh is seen in bad governance, which comprises widespread corruption, non-transparency and non-accountability of public policy making. Good governance is considered to bring in a powerful change in the condition of the poor. The main objective of this article is to explore the ways of poverty alleviation through good governance in Bangladesh. It also finds out the present situation of poverty in Bangladesh and determines the link between good governance and poverty alleviation. This article used documentary analysis and, in particular, content analysis as a research method in order to disclose appearance of good governance agenda representing ways of addressing poverty alleviation. This study finds out the four indicators of good governance which directly related to poverty alleviation in Bangladesh: accountability, transparency, participation and predictability. This study suggests that publicly available information, access of the poor to basic services of government, budget transparency, expenditure, verdicts of courts and tribunals, responsive local government, grass root democracy, and anti-corruption are effective instruments for every sector development which can alleviate poverty in terms of any dimension. It contributes new lense to the existing literature regarding linkages between good governance and poverty alleviation.