All the existing services being delivered towards the grassroots peoples need to be more coordinated and accelerated and that is very important for empowerment coupled with improving living and livelihood condition of the rural masses, speakers at a participatory discussion said.
They viewed various government and non-government organizations are now implementing different projects for public welfare. So, there is no alternative to contribute to the empowerment of local citizens through more democratic, transparent, inclusive and effective local government system. The observation came at a coordination meeting among the partners of Swiss Development and Cooperation (SDC) at Mass line Media Center (MMC) office in Rajshahi city yesterday afternoon.
Deputy Director of Local Government Dipak Ranjan Adhikary and Director of Local Governance Programme- Sharique Dr Lilia Tverdum addressed the discussion as chief and special guests respectively with its Regional Coordinator AFM Amir Uddin in the chair.
President of Rajshahi Union of Journalists Akbarul Hassan Millat, Regional Manager of MMC Jahangir Alam Khan, Regional Manager of Prip Trust Saiduzzaman Sipon, Abul Basher from DASCOH, District Facilitator of Local Government Support Programme (LGSP) Abu Hena Mostofa Kalam and Sharifa Khatun of Sharique shared their views on the occasion.
Local Governance Programme- Sharique of Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation- Bangladesh organized the event where all the SDC partner organizations shared their ongoing activities devising ways and means on how to mitigate overlapping.
Various other matters like contribute to the government initiatives and further collaborations among the GO and NGOs interventions towards uplifting the local people were discussed elaborately.
Apart from this, the meeting discussed some key issues including enhancing capacity for women leadership roles in local government institutions both Union Parishad and Upazila Parishad structures, mobilize citizens groups to influence their service delivery, mainstreaming pro-poor and pro-women local governance practices and collaboration and interaction.
The discussants said training on tax assessment and collection, financial management and record keeping, participatory planning and budgeting, roles and responsibilities of UPs and UZPs and standing committees and their strategic planning should be given priority.
Besides, awareness of local population of their rights, roles and responsibilities and orienting local governance issues to media people and local government institutions need to be focused properly, they opined.
