Provision of basic educational facilities to the rural folk was imperative for their mainstreaming and involving them in decision making process. This was stated by Jamil Ahmad, Director General, National Centre for Rural Development (NCRD) and Joint Secretary, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (LG&RD) in an interview with APP.
He told that 67 percent of total population live in rural areas and 30 percent of GDP is contributed by rural sector so it is necessary to improve their living standard for bringing development in the country.
About NCRD, Jamil Ahmad told that the Centre in collaboration with Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development was working to empower rural communities through arranging capacity building workshops and seminars for them. Several orientation training sessions were organised for the officials of the nation building departments, development planners, policy makers, community leaders and functionaries of NGOs, he added.
The Centre was also providing training to provincial training institutions, District Governments, Tehsil Municipal Administrations and union councils in various aspects of local government system and Good Governance. The Centre has trained 1,26,000 representatives of rural communities for strengthening the ongoing development projects last year, Jamil Ahmad informed.
NCRD in collaboration with Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) would hold 4-days regional training programme on "Participatory Techniques for Planning and Management of Rural Development Projects" starting on June 10, Jamil Ahmad told. Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour would inaugurate the training Programme on June 10.
Muhammad Saleem Khan Jhagra, Secretary Ministry of LG&RD and Dr Durga P.Paudyal, DG CIRDAP would address on the first day. DG NCRD, Jamil Ahmad told that the delegates from 14 countries would participate in the training programme. Elaborating the aim of programme, he said the programme would be arranged to share development ideas for promoting regional understanding among different countries and improving lot of rural poor.