Impact of Horizontal Learning Program in Capacity Building of Union Parishad in Bangladesh

This study attempts to investigate the impact of Horizontal Learning Program (HLP) in capacity building of Union Parishad in Bangladesh. In this study, six Union Parishads (UPs) were selected under five divisions of Bangladesh purposively with different identical nature like where the HLP concept was already disseminated, which UPs were already used for piloting of HLP and which were the best performer of HLP good practice. Horizontal Learning Program (HLP) was initiated in November 2007 as a one-year pilot by Local Government Division (LGD) with support from WSP in collaboration with Swiss Development Corporation (SDC), Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP) of World Bank, Water Aid, Dhaka Ahsania Mission, Plan Bangladesh and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has been a partner organization of HLP since 2007. The study found that 97% of the UP Secretaries have knowledge about HLP. 76% UPs are currently involved with HLP whether 16% UPs are not currently involved with HLP. Out of 84 UPs 25 % have 1≤2 number of good practices; 21 % have 3≤4 number of good practices; 17 % have 5≤6 good practices; 13 % have 7≤8 good practices and 11 % had 10 + good practices. The study also reveals that 75% UPs are satisfied with HLP activities. Furthermore, four overarching themes have identified which clearly represent the overall picture of HLP, such as, how HLP contributed; was it supportive program for UPs; how it helped to enhance capacity of UPs; challenges and others.