Project Details

Decentralization and Local Public Goods : How does allocation of Decision making authority affected provision ? A research project in Bangladesh.

Funding Agency :
Columbia University
Proejct Period :
May 2007 to September 2011
Location :
18 Unions under Gopalganj Sadar Upazila , District Gopalganj
Project Objective & Goal :

To improve quality of life of people by introducing sustained hygiene practise and improved safe water supply and sanitation facilities and services with increased access to those by the poor -------------Immediate objective: ? Capacity of all relevant stakeholders strengthened to play to roles required to promote safe hygiene behaviour (SHB), hygiene sanitation(HS) and safe water supply (SWS) with emphasise on poor and disadvantaged groups ? Capacity of NGO Forum enhanced to operate as a centre of excellence in the WatSan Sector Main Objectives of the research: # Theory: Determine what allocation of decision-making authority maximizes social welfare in a problem of providing a local public good. It was focused on: * Compare the outcomes when a central organization such as a NGO, government or private firm, makes all decisions and the community, which will be using public goods, makes all decisions in a dynamic model of interaction between individual agents. * Determine what allocation of decision-making authority maximizes for social welfare. * Determine how the welfare-maximizing allocation of decision-making authority and outcomes in the case of individual and average attributes of social networks. # Empirical: Collect original data generated by an organizational experiment to test and revise the theory and distill policy implications. It will: * Conduct an organizational experiment. * Determine which intervention yields the best average outcome. * Use the control group to study communities in which collective action occurs in the absence of any intervention

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