Union Parishad: Union Parishad is the lowest tier of administrative unit in Bangladesh.

And Union Parishad is the second tier of rural local government from below. As per the statutes at present Bangladesh contains a four-tier local government structure. But in compliance to the constitutional provision an elected local government body exists only at the union level. According to LG (UP) Ordinance, 1983, union means a rural area declared to be a union under section 3 (Declaration of union and alteration of limits thereof) [GOB, 1990:2-3)]. It is entrusted with forty functions. The main functions include public welfare, maintenance of law and order, revenue collection, development and adjudication. Its source of income includes grants, taxes, rates, fees etc. The Union Parishad consists of a chairman, nine members, and three women members. The voters of the Union Parishad directly elect all.

Upazilla Porishad:
For administrative purposes, the country is divided into seven divisions, each headed by a Divisional Commissioner. There are 64 districts under the 7 Divisions. The district is administered by a Deputy Commissioner who is assisted by Additional Deputy Commissioners. The District has a Zilla Parishad headed by a Chairman. The Districts are divided into Upazilas headed by a Upazila Chairman. Currently, there are 583 Upazilas in Bangladesh. After revisions of its structure by different governments, the local government system now has three tiers--union parishad, upazila parishad and zila parishad.

To provide better service to the rural people the Government introduced the Upazila Parishad system in Bangladesh. A upazila parishad consists of a chairman, two vice-chairpersons (one of them a woman), chairmen of all union parishads under the upazila concerned, mayors of all municipalities, if there are any, and women members of the reserved seat. The chairman of the upazila parishad will enforce executive power to implement the decisions taken by the parishad. A UNO will serve as the chief executive officer of the upazila and the government will appoint one secretary to the parishad. The government can employ its officer or employee to the parishad for executing general or special duties on specific condition.

Zilla Parishads: The divisional level is the highest tier of administration, after the national level. The Divisional Commissioner (popularly known as the Commissioner) is the head of the divisional administration. S/he only plays a supervisory role over all the departments and agencies in the Division, as the divisional office of each department is directly linked to its national office. S/he also coordinates the functions of the district administration in the Division. The Commissioner became involved in development functions only since the establishment of the Regional (Divisional) Development Boards in 1976. The Regional Development Boards are responsible for those projects of the District Boards which the latter cannot finance or do not have expertise to look after. The Regional Development Boards are somewhat less active at present.

The District has been the focal point in the administrative system of Bangladesh. The head of the district administration is known as the Deputy Commissioner (or more popularly the DC). The office of the DC is divided into a number of divisions and sections. These include the planning and implementation section, which prepares the Annual and Midterm Plans; the rural development section; and the physical infrastructure section. When construction is small scale, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Thana or Upazila administration. The administrative head of the Thana is known the Thana Nirbahi Officer. The District and Thana/Upazila executives are assisted by a large number of officials as well as professional and technical personnel appointed by the central government. Local government in urban and rural areas is entrusted to bodies elected by the people. Such bodies are called Pourashavas or City Corporations and Municipalities (numbering 286 in 2003) in urban areas, and Gram Parishads/Sarkers Union Parishads or Union Councils Upazila Parishads and Zila Parishads in rural areas.