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Institutionalising good governance at the local level has become a focal point in development and poverty discourse since late 1990s. Professionals in the field argue that establishing good governance require decentralization of power as well as reform in the local government system. More importantly, the government service-delivery organizations need to be made accountable to the local people, especially the poor. Ensuring good governance thus require people's participation as active stakeholders in the service delivery process to influence the outcomes that are need-based and articulated by citizens' voices and preferences. Several organizations are working on different strategies to establish good governance. The principal objective of this action research programme is to develop research and information processing capacity of the local communities and local NGOs. To initiate collective action at the village level, a close partnership was forged between Nagorik-Uddyog -- a Dhaka-based NGO with good experience of working in the area of collective action. The mobilisation effort was undertaken in 12 villages in Kalihati Upazila of Tangail district. The experiences of this action research in its first phase showed that there are strong structural barriers against initiating collective action in the villages. People have no common standard for evaluating public services as they have different levels of information and diverse norms. Some are adopting for market driven exit rather than articulating their voices. The poor are mainly suffering from the burden of low quality of services. The challenge of mobilising people is great and the village level collective action needs to be scaled up and connected to the Upazila level and stronger ties need to be forged between citizens and their elected representatives. A coalition of concerned citizens committed to bringing about improved public services will enable the poor to access better services from public authorities.
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