SHUJAN Committees

SHUJAN: Citizens for Good Governance is the country’s largest association of influential individuals committed to working together in non-partisan ways to improve governance in Bangladesh. It has campaigned successfully for important electoral reforms and won important court cases.

SHUJAN Committees are formed at the Union and Upazila levels, and are federated upwards through districts to the nation. They play a key role for localizing the SDGs by engaging with elected representatives and government officers at these levels.

Formation of SHUJAN Committee at Union and Upazila level

Purpose of the activity

  • Playing the role of watchdog & pressure group.

Facilitation: what type of person or team is required to facilitate the activity? 

  • Upper-tier SHUJAN Committee is responsible for the formation and effective functioning of the lowertier Committees. For instance, SHUJAN Upazila Committee is responsible for the formation and functioning of the SHUJAN Union Committee.
  • Area Coordinators and Regional Coordinators of THP play catalytic roles in this process.

Preparation: what should be done before the activity?

  • Listing the potential members for the committee
  • Communication with the potential listed members
  • Fixing a date, time and venue to organize the meeting
  • Issuing invitation letters

Participants – who should participate? How many in each session?

  • Influential and nonpartisan opinion leaders of the respective community. 

           **Around 30 to 35 participants are usually invited to these meetings.

Duration:  how long does it take?

  • 02 to 03 Hours.

Financial cost items

  • Snacks & water
  • Venue cost
  • Communication cost
  • Handouts and stationaries
  • Banner

What are the “transformative” aspects of this activity? It shifts the mindset of participants from what to what?

  • Improved transparency, accountability and citizens’ participation in local governance
  • Increased involvement to play the role of watchdog 

Impact on mindset:

  • Grows a sense of citizenship and responsibility

What are the content/factual learning objectives of the activity?

  • Understanding the guidelines of SHUJAN
  • Learning how to form local SHUJAN Committee 
  • Knowing the roles & responsibilities of the Committees and their mandates
  • Understanding the current scenario of local governance

Flow: from “welcome” to “thank you” what are the spaces the participants are taken through? If there are “power questions” that prompt each step, what are they?

  • Welcome speech
  • Why the need to form SHUJAN Committee at local level
  • Need for unity and bring forward the right people/concerned citizen
  • SHUJAN guidelines to form the Committee
  • Formation of the Committee
  • Discussion about the roles and responsibilities
  • Activity planning for one quarter
  • Closing remarks

Followup: what should happen after the activity and how will we record it?

  • Quarterly followup meeting is arranged for the Committee to review the progress and further plan
  • Committee list and minutes prepared in the meeting should be preserved at the local, regional and central SHUJAN Secretariat.