City Desk :
Experts at a meeting have stressed on improving nutrition and livelihoods of the urban poor to attain the sustainable development goals (SDGs) on time for building a developed Bangladesh by 2041.
They expressed the view at the tri-monthly ‘City level multisectoral nutrition coordination committee meeting’ organised by Rangpur City Corporation at its conference room.
The event was arranged recently with support of the Livelihoods Improvement of Urban Poor Communities Project (LIUPCP) of the National Urban Poverty Reduction Programme (NUPRP) and Nutrition in City Ecosystems (NICE) project.
The Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives, the UNDP and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom are extending support in implementing the LIUPCP project, reports BSS.
City Councilors and officials of RpCC and different government departments and representatives of different NGOs involved with implementation of the LIUPCP project were present.
Mayor of Rangpur Md. Mostafizar Rahman Mostafa attended the meeting as the chief guest with Chief Medical Officer of RpCC Dr. Kamruzzaman Ibne Taz in the chair.
Executive Director of RDRS Bangladesh Tapan Kumar Karmaker, Civil Surgeon of Rangpur Dr. Shameem Ahmed and Chief Revenue Officer of RpCC Ummey Fatema addressed the meeting as special guests.
Nutrition and Socioeconomic Specialist of the UNDP’s LIUPCP Md. Rashedul Islam, Field Coordinator of Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture Bangladesh Md. Mahbubul Alam and Project coordinator of NICE project Khondker Farzan Ahmed delivered presentations.
Dr, Kamruzzaman said the project is being implemented in 12 city corporations, including RpCC, and 24 municipalities across the country spending Taka 826.12 crore to ensure sustainable livelihoods of the urban poor and improve their living standard.
“With the project assistance, effective organisations of the urban poor people have been formed for enhancing their capacities through providing training to improve livelihoods and living standards of the poor urban adolescents and women,” he said.
Mayor Mostafa said the project is financing the urban poor in meeting nutrition, building houses and climate resilient smaller infrastructures in slums alongside providing assistance and scholarship to the youths for vocational and technical training.
“Besides, the project is effectively financing the urban poor to launch small scale businesses, run nutritional programmes for their sustainable livelihoods and improve living standard,” he said.
He stressed on ensuring better coordination among project implementing organizations for successful execution of the project to free the urban
poor from malnutrition, poverty and hunger by improving livelihoods to attain the SDGs by 2030.
