Assessing Rural Women's Satisfaction with Public Services in Bangladesh: Case Study of Provision of Public Services by Civil Society Organization.

Abstract

Poverty continues to ravage about 10 percent of the world population. Efforts to eradicate poverty in all its forms remain elusive. The historical decline in global poverty rate experienced from 10.1% in 2015 to 8.6% in 2018 and even further down to 8.3% in 2019 reverses to 9.2% in 2019 due to COVID-19 pandemic. Although the poverty rate is projected to decrease to 8.6% in 2022, efforts to lower it further are confounded by the emerging global uncertainties including the Ukraine-Russia war, the global economic crisis, and catastrophes of earthquakes, and adverse effects of climate change. To address poverty in a country, the government and other development actors, including civil society, must establish national definitions, set targets, and conduct assessments on how the poor access and are satisfied with public services. This necessitates an understanding of the poor's socioeconomic circumstances, as well as the factors that influence service providers' ability to meet their expectations. This study was primarily undertaken to determine the satisfaction level of rural women with public services provided through civil society programs within four villages in the northern parts of Bangladesh. It also explores what factors influence the satisfaction level. Findings indicated that highest proportion of the respondents (53%) had a high level of satisfaction. In addition, the findings show that respondents' knowledge of civil society organization services and duration of involvement in civil society organizations, as well as family size, annual family income, and training, were significantly correlated with women's satisfaction with the services provided by civil society organizations. Furthermore, age, family size, annual income, and farm size are important socioeconomic factors that can influence women's satisfaction with public services provided by civil society organizations. It concludes that the selected civil society organization lacks the necessary personnel to provide public services and assess program success. The implication is that for civil societies to successfully supplement the government's public services, they must examine the existing gaps and barriers that need to be addressed in providing the services.