Workshop on water supply, sanitation services held
Local Government Division, Ministry of LGD and Cooperatives organised a daylong national dissemination workshop on 'Horizontal learning for strengthening capacities of local government institutions on improving water supply and sanitation services in Bangladesh' at Hotel Sheraton in the city on Thursday.
The Horizontal Learning is a peer-to-peer learning process that was initialed by the Local Government Institutions (LGIs) in Bangladesh in November 2007, says a press release.
The initiative is being facilitated by the local Government Division, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (LGRD&C) and supported by the Water and Sanitation Programme South Asia (WSP-SA) of the World Bank.
Other partners include the Development Association for Self-Reliance, Communication and Health (DASCOH) with financial support form the Swiss Agency for Development Co-operation (SDC), Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA), WaterAid Bangladesh with assistance from its local NGOs- Shushilon, Green Hill and Mohideb Jubo Samaj Kalyan Samity (MJSKS), Plan Bangladesh, Dhaka Ahsania Mission and the NGO Forum.
Emphasising on people's participation in the process for sustainable development, the speakers said that it is a key for replicating good practices, carrying out an open budget meeting, dialoguing with people and transparently integrating the replication plan within the ADP is mandatory for LGIs to successfully introduce good practices.
Local level communication is quiet important to share the information effectively. The replication of good practices is essential for scaling up, simultaneously it is also important to incorporate these learning at a policy level and translate them into practices.
The Horizontal learning programme has initiated a platform for scaling up of existing good practices while incorporating them into a broader policy dialogue.
Sheikh Khurshid Alam, secretary LGD, Ministry of LGRD&C, attended the programme as the chief guest while Md Lukman Hakim Talukdar, joint secretary (WS), LGD, Ministry of LGRD&C, chaired the inaugural session of the workshop.
Vinaya Swaroop, acting country director, The World Bank, and Glenn Pearce-Oroz, country team leader and senior WSS specialist, WSP-SA, of The World Bank, also spoke.
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