The main purpose of the survey was to gather representative, reliable data providing insights into the dispute resolution experiences and needs of the bulk of citizens in the country. The survey also intended to establish a baseline for monitoring purposes that could be repeated in coming years. It started on 24 February 2009 and completed on 30 June 2009.

 

Description of Project: The broad objectives of the survey were:

 

To provide a national and regionally representative profile of civil disputes and crimes and their impacts; to map the full range of behaviours through which citizens seek redress for perceived wrongs, and their determinants; and to assess perceptions of law enforcement, incidence of crime, accountability and rule of law over time, using the recall method.

 

The focus on a two year time frame was to track whether any of the changes in law enforcement and the political environment during the period of the Caretaker Government (I e. a change in the formal rules of the game at national level, post January 2007) had resulted in any meaningful changes to citizens’ experiences with the justice system in their daily lives.

 

Tasks carried out by Mitra and Associates:

 

Survey Methodology (Sample size & Tools): The survey was conducted over a sample of households selected from 357 clusters-250 rural and 107 urban—spread across the country. A total of 9,753 respondents (4,558 Male and 5,195 female) were successfully interviewed.

 

Questionnaire: Made listing form and Bengali translation of HH Questionnaire & preparation of survey manuals. Pretesting and finalization of the questionnaire.

 

Training & data collection & quality control: Training of field personnel; conducting of fieldwork; conducting of quality control checks; Registration of completed questionnaires and instruments; developing of data entry program;

 

Data processing & reporting: Developed data coding/editing manual; entered data into computer, and cleaned; tabulation of data as per analysis plan; submission of preliminary tables; contributing to “writing up” the survey results; preparation of a report on the survey; submission of report; and handed over the data set and the filled-in questionnaires to client.

 

Client Reference: World Bank, Address: 1818 H Street N.W, MSN MC5-513, Washington D.C. 20433, USA.