Published: 29 June 2016
Corruption is one of the major obstacles to the country’s development and poverty alleviation. Corruption remains at the center of public concern and daily discussions, including in the media. Various national policies and strategy papers have emphasized the establishment of good governance, enforcement of law, and making the governance system more pro-poor in order to effectively prevent corruption. In the 10th National Parliamentary Elections held in 2014, one of the key issues of different political parties, especially the ruling party’s election manifesto, was a strong commitment to effectively combat corruption.
Corruption can occur at various stages of state and socio-economic activities. At the policy-making stage, large sums of money are illicitly transacted through abuse of power involving collusion among influential figures in politics, administration, and the private sector, which has widespread macro and micro-level impacts. On the other hand, in various service sectors, service recipients often face irregularities such as the extraction of unauthorized money by service providers in order to access their rightful services—usually involving small sums of money. Such corruption directly affects people’s everyday lives, disrupting their welfare and economic advancement at the individual level. It is this experience of corruption in service delivery that is the subject of our household survey.
From November 2014 to October 2015, this survey highlights the corruption faced by households in Bangladesh while receiving services across various sectors. Alongside presenting an overview of corruption in service delivery during 2015, this report also provides, where possible, a comparative picture with 2012.
