Questions/Answers

In Bangladesh, Upazila (sub-district) or Circle Land Offices are vested with the responsibility to provide most of the land related services at grass root level. An Assistant Commissioner Land, popularly known as AC Land, discharges the functions as the chief land officer of the respective upazila/circle. Unfortunately, these offices including their subordinate Union Land Offices are often said to have been unable or indifferent to develop a transparent, accountable and inclusive service delivery system. So, when we started to work for a better land service management at Paba Upazila Land Office in Rajshahi district, our objectives included- a) To build up a citizen-friendly service delivery system by simplification and digitalization of the process and thus to establish a system which would benefit each and every citizen within the jurisdiction; b) To provide the best service in the easiest way by reducing the time, cost and visit of the clients which they previously had to spend to receive services from land office; c) To stop the tendency of corruption among the land office personnel and to bring the best of them by creating a congenial working environment and improvement of the existing office atmosphere and staff management; d) To empower the citizens in regards of their right to service by establishing a direct connection between the service-provider and service-recipient through proper stakeholder engagement; e) To ensure good governance in land office by strengthening the grievance redressal and monitoring system and reducing corruption; and f) Finally, to develop an inclusive and equitable service delivery system in upazila land office so that everyone feels represented and no one is left behind;

Our initiatives like improvement of service delivery system, better office management and proper stakeholder engagement have simplified the service process, and created equal opportunities for each and every citizens to have the access to easy and effective service delivery. In the meantime, our initiatives which have been replicated across the country as a result of an instruction from the Cabinet Division, have paved the way for establishing an inclusive and participatory land management system at the national level. So, our initiative Matir Maya (love for land) can reasonably be aligned with the category of delivering inclusive and equitable services to leave no one behind.

The Matir Maya spirit is consistent with the Goal-10 & 16 of the SDG. As the initiative has encouraged equal and quality service to all, it supports and promotes the following targets of the two SDGs, 1. By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all; 2. Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all; 3. Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms; 4. Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels; 5. Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels. Our initiatives like improvement of office environment and simplification and digitalization of services through helpdesk, website and apps-based services etc. has opened the access for every service recipients. The open session for addressing people’s grievances, called ‘Your AC-Land’ held daily at the Matir Maya waiting shed in the office premise has been viewed across the country as an excellent example of inclusive, participatory and transparent process of service delivery and community involvement. The land office has developed its capability as a government organization to contribute in the reaching the target of inclusive service to leave no one behind.

1. Social: The high rate of case disposal is causing a decrease in land litigations. Successful running of the system for long will result in lower number of land disputes and crimes, and this is important to ensure peace and social justice. 2. Economic: People’s time, cost and visits have been saved, and they can now effectively engage themselves in more productive activities. They can now also save money which previously was spent for bribery. 3. Environmental: Fuel consumption has decreased as people are now paying less visits to the office. Initiatives like digitalization and less paperwork will help to develop a paperless land office in the future.

Land is closely connected with people’s livelihood, social norms and economic activities. Article 42(1) of the Constitution of Bangladesh gave rights to every citizen to acquire, possess and transfer of properties. And land offices are the most important organs to ensure these rights of people at marginal level. Unfortunately, an evil nexus between the middlemen and a part of dishonest employees of land office allegedly dominated the service delivery process of the office. In order to overcome these challenges, we have introduced the Your AC Land session in which we hear directly from our citizens and try to provide instant remedy to their grievances. If no instant remedy is possible, the service-seeker is given a slip which contains relevant information like next date and what to do etc. The whole procedure is recorded in a Public Feedback Register in which a comment directly from the service-recipient on his/her overall experience is also included. Also a helpdesk has been established near the entry gate of the office. Moreover, we have utilized the digital technology for improving our service standard. Website, Facebook page and apps-based services have made it sure that no one is left behind our service coverage.

As there was no scope of sitting or waiting within the office premise, particularly the female clients coming from remote areas suffered a lot because of standing here and there and being exposed to sun, cold or rain. Moreover, they often hesitate to communicate with the employees of the male-dominated land office. The Paba model has effectively addressed these issues. In the Matir Maya shed, women and the aged and physically challenged people are given priority while sitting and receiving service. As an outcome of the ‘Your AC Land’ session, online services and courtyard meetings in rural areas, female clients can now easily and freely ventilate their grievances to the highest authority and participate in the decision-making process.

As land is one of the most significant issues in densely populated Bangladesh, almost every citizen is included among the stakeholders of land office. In the conventional service delivery system, clients particularly the rural people often suffered a lot because of the inconvenient and unfriendly atmosphere and activities of the evil syndicate encircling the office. So, our target group included every citizen who directly or indirectly take service from land office. Our initiative to develop a convenient service delivery process through digitalization, stakeholder engagement, modern record management and an effective grievance redress system have created equal opportunities for all the citizens. The Matir Maya shed, an open platform of the clients, is used to provide legal remedy to their land-related problems publicly by the land officer. As a result of establishing direct and digital connections between clients and office, it has now become easier to settle long-pending land litigations, and thus, people’s confidence in public offices has been restored and repairing the tarnished image of land office has been possible. So, citizens of the upazila are at the center of all of our efforts, and at the end of the day, they are satisfied with our service.

We undertook under the banner of Matir Maya a package of initiatives in Paba Upazila Land Office which can be covered under the following terms: 1. Registers and Records Management (April 2014-June 2015) Hundreds of registers have been properly bound and updated regularly. A systematic and disciplined records keeping and file management system has been developed with a digital database. 2. Improvement of Office Environment (January 2014-June 2018) a) Citizen charter, list of the employees of the office and their job description with photos and mobile numbers have been displayed publicly. b) Employees are rewarded on the basis of their performances. c) Office infrastructure has been renovated and reshaped. Office premise has been beautified with greenery. 3. Improvement of Service Delivery (November 2014-October 2015) a) Matir Maya, a waiting shed for the citizens visiting the land office to take service, has been built in the office premise. b) ‘Your AC Land’ session, an open platform for the people, is held in the Matir Maya shed everyday in the initial hours of office to provide instant remedy to public grievances. c) A helpdesk called Sebangon has been established at the entry point of the office. d) Land Services Day/Week are observed to build up public awareness. 4. Use of Digital Technology (July 2015-November 2018) An interactive website, facebook page, e-mutation of land records, e-payment of land taxes, apps-based service like e-land office etc. has been launched through which most of the land services are available. Regular evaluation and monitoring of our activities has been carried out by the senior authorities like the Deputy Commissioner and Divisional Commissioner. Top level officers of the government also inspected our project. In July 2015, the then Cabinet secretary was highly pleased while inspecting these pro-people activities and gave instructions to other land offices to follow the Paba model.

1. The evil syndicate of middlemen and dishonest officials is very much powerful in the socio-political and administrative context of Bangladesh. However, we successfully wiped them out of the office by strictly enforcing laws with the support from higher authority and concerned organizations. 2. To address the tendency of corruption and negative approach among the officials, trainings and motivational sessions were organized and close monitoring, rewards for better performance and punishment for corruption or any foul play were emphasized. 3. We overcame the problem of lack of public awareness by activities like view-exchange programs, courtyard meetings and online and offline promotional activities.

We have introduced a number of initiatives some of which are totally new phenomena for a typical land office in Bangladesh. For example, the Matir Maya shed and the open session ‘Your AC Land’ were completely new in regards of the traditional practices of public offices. However, the digitalized services were mostly in practice in different mode at other public offices. But Paba Upazila Land Office was the first to combine all these efforts to introduce an innovative and inclusive program of land services. Thus, the initiative can be taken as an innovative and effective package of both original and adapted services.

Our initiative drew inspiration from some other previous instances of successfully providing service to people. Some of our colleagues were operating public sessions with the people to give remedy to their problems or to select beneficiaries of the government’s social safety network programs. In the context of land offices, especially in the Rajshahi division of Bangladesh, there were also some good practices like record keeping and digitalization programs etc. which inspired us to take the challenge of bringing about bigger changes.

The success of Matir Maya in developing a simplified and citizen-friendly service delivery process drew the attention of the high up of the government. In 2015, when people across the country came to know about it through print and electronic media, there was a huge positive reaction on this issue. Considering the impact of the changes, the Cabinet Division of the government issued an official circular to the all the Deputy Commissioners to replicate these initiatives within their jurisdiction. Since then, restructuring of services in the country’s land offices in accordance with the Matir Maya model are going on. As a result of continuous supervision and monitoring by the Cabinet Division and Prime Minister’s Office, the initiative has been replicated in other Upazila and Circle Land Offices. Till now, all the 500+ Upazila/Circle Land Offices across the country have taken Paba Upazila Land Office as a model of better land services and successfully replicated the project. The standard of service in land offices has improved and accountability and transparency have increased to a remarkable extent. Matir Maya has become the source of inspiration also for other public offices which are now reshaping their service deliver on the basis of their clients’ needs.

Not applicable.

We started with the regular funding of the office. When the initiatives primarily drew the attention of the senior authority, the office was provided special financial allocations from the district and divisional levels. A group of local businessmen, elites and villagers also provided spontaneous financial and logistic support to us. We initially engaged our office staff in our reformative activities. Considering the huge volume of the work, more personnel were outsourced with the help of the supervising offices. But the most important resource we received was the love and support from the local people who inspired us to take bold decisions one after another.

The initiative of Paba has been well accepted by all the groups of stakeholders. Most importantly, citizens taking service from the office are now satisfied. Long pending cases are now disposed, and land litigations are decreasing. If this can be continued for a long time, the number of civil and criminal cases in different courts of the country will be minimized. The operational cost of the lengthy and complicated judicial system can also be minimized through this mechanism. People will also be able to save money which they are now bound to spend for bribery. Digitalization and services like Your AC Land have created equal opportunities for all to make the initiative sustainable. .

Yes

Access to Information (a2i) program of the ICT Division of the Bangladesh government has evaluated the Matir Maya initiatives of Paba. Their outcome study is both quantitative and qualitative in nature. Phone survey method has been followed to collect primary data using random sampling technique. 18 beneficiaries have been interviewed from Rajshahi’s Paba upazila. Primary data has been collected from the service recipients of Paba Upazila Land Office. In terms of collecting secondary data, 4 Key Informant Interview (KII) have been conducted with the project focal, concerned higher authority, AC Land and media person. After the collection of data, it has been analyzed through Service Process Simplification (SPSS).

Indicators of the study included- 1. percentage of persons benefitted 2. percentage of persons who had the chance of meeting the AC land directly 3. Percentage of people facing any sort of challenges/barriers while receiving service 4. percentage of persons having the chance of filing complaint about any problem 5. comparative time, cost, visit (TCV) analysis 6. percentage of people receiving services in stipulated time 7. percentage of people being benefitted from simplified version of service 8. level of satisfaction

Outcome of the evaluation shows that 1. meeting the AC Land, the top official of the land office, has become easier for the service-recipients as a result of Your AC Land; 2. the procedure of filing a complaint is much easier through the open session or online or by using facebook page. 3. 78% time, 85% cost and 75% visits are saved by the respondents after the simplification in land service delivery through Matir Maya. Almost all the respondents also received their services timely, and faced hardly any challenges while taking the service. 4. almost all the service-recipients have been benefitted by the initiatives. 60% of them are satisfied and 35% are highly satisfied. 5. respondents recommend for more digitalization of the services. Following recommendations were also made in the evaluation: 1. Land service delivery process should be digitized. 2. Training should be arranged for service providers. 3. Infrastructural development should be done in all the land offices. 4. Ministry level monitoring is needed. 5. Facebook page of all the Land Offices should be activated so that citizen get updates on social media properly. With these findings and recommendation from the a2i and other organizations, government is reshaping the service process in the land offices.

Matir Maya initiative has had both horizontal and vertical impact on the institutional landscape of land administration. On the one side, it took inspiration from some other small initiatives of land offices in Bogra and Chattogram district. When Paba was successful in launching and implementing the innovative projects, other public offices as well as the land offices in Paba and other upazilas in the country were inspired, and they took it as a model. Officers from different organizations have come forward with fresh ideas to simplify the overall service delivery of the government offices. Some of the ideas are also undergoing implementation right now by different organizations. Senior and supervising authority also took the initiative positively. It has become easier for them to set an office as a model, and instruct others to just follow its path. And, most importantly, the spirit of serving people with the highest readiness as Matir Maya has shown, spread out over all the administrative spheres of the country both horizontally and vertically.

Success of the Matir Maya initiatives largely owes to the collaboration of the citizens. Stakeholders have been effectively engaged through the following mechanisms. 1. Before launching, every component of the initiative was discussed in workshops and advocacy meetings civil with society members, local elites, elected representatives, government and NGO officials. 2. The open public hearing session, held both inside and outside the boundary of the office, has become an effective platform for bridging between the service-providers and service-seekers. 3. Awareness programs like Land Services Week/Day and Land Tax Fair are regularly organized. Complicated procedures of land laws and land management are made easy to remove people’s misconceptions about the land related issues and to inform them about how to receive services bypassing middlemen and bribery. 4. Land office also organizes courtyard meetings in remote areas to get the feedback from rural women and vulnerable groups. In these programs, hundreds of citizens attend and express their views, and after analyzing the opinions, service delivery is redesigned, if necessary. Citizens cooperate with us giving information from the grass root level on different issues like land litigations, land grabbing, evil activities of the middlemen, and thus, stakeholders’ participation has become a significant part of our process.

Most important lesson we have learnt is that we, the public servants, need to change our mindset. The implementation and success of our dream to transform the world depends primarily upon changing ourselves. If we can positively change and prepare ourselves for giving the best to the people, there are numbers of ways to do that. Citizen-friendly service delivery is never possible with having a colonial mentality amongst us. Since its starting, Matir Maya initiative has been enriched by adding more and more new and creative components to the package, and it will definitely continue to do so in the future. However, for better working of the initiative in Bangladesh context, digitalization and full automation in land offices must be accelerated. And political and social commitment and goodwill to bring about reforms is a precondition for changes. Only down-top efforts cannot change the scenario in land management. Continuous efforts from both end is essential.