Bangladesh Mahila Parishad - Norad

516.2 Efficiency and Cost EffectivenessDuring the field visit, we observed spontaneous participation of group members ofBMP at district, upazila, union, village and para level. These members are organizingpeople in the community without any remuneration. BMP has over 2400 branchesall over the country. Out of these branches, only 60 district branches receivefinancial support from the project in the amount of Tk. 17000 per month formeeting recurring expenses. Other branches receive no financial contribution fromthe project. It is the grass root people who are contributing whatever little they canto keep the movement rolling. In the project financial statements, we do not seereflection of those hours put by the volunteers or the resources pulled together bythe members - from a place to hold weekly meetings to entertaining a visitor. If theproject had to be implemented without contribution of the members, it woulddefinitely cost significantly higher to get impact of this level.In addition to the above, we have checked salary scale of BMP staff and other costsboth program and administration. In our opinion the program is running costeffectively and economically.RecommendationIt is true that in a member based organization it is difficult to account for every littlecontribution made by the members. It is however important that hours put by thevolunteers are recognized and accounted for. It would therefore be advisable thatBMP introduces registers for keeping track of volunteers and hours contributed bythem so that a tentative cost of the project could be ascertained if needed.6.3 Planning and Monitoring in Budget UtilizationBMP informed us that it monitors budget utilization on transaction to transactionbasis. No expenditure can be incurred without budget and expenditures are checkedwith budgetary provision at requisition stage. A budget variance analysis is done onmonthly basis. Half yearly monitoring is also done based on which actions are takento speed up budget utilization.At the time of review, we however observed that budget monitoring and efforts toimplement budget is inadequate. Budget for 2010 and 2011 had to be revised due tonon-utilization. In 2012, a significant portion of the budget from previous years hasbeen rolled over. As of September 2012, total utilization is Tk. 37,282,125 out oftotal budget for the year of Tk. 88,306,100 or 42%. During Oct-Dec 2012 periodBMP has to spend Tk. 51,023,975 or 58% of the budget in one fourth of the year. Itwill be quite challenging for BMP to achieve this target in such short time if itintends to follow all procedures for procurement and project implementation.Recommendation• There should be strict monitoring on budget implementation. Efforts should bemade to implement all programs as per log frame and annual work plan. If an