Abstract

Bangladesh has had a troubled political history since gaining independence in 1971 and is also beleaguered by poverty and natural environmental disasters. In particular however, corruption is blighting its prospects for economic growth, undermining the rule of law and damaging the legitimacy of the political process. This article adopts a sectoral approach to the study of corruption by examining people’s experiences of using health and education services in Bangladesh through a large scale quantitative survey. It also presents case study research which assesses the impact of anti-corruption work by TransparencyInternational Bangladesh (TIB) in the areas of health and education. The article concludes that: the poorest in Bangladesh are most penalised by corruption; there are significant benefits for health and education service users resulting from TIB’s interventions and there is a need for committed political leadership if ongoing efforts to tackle corruption are to be effective and sustainable