National Centre for Rural Development (NCRD) in collaboration with Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (Cirdap) would hold four-day regional training programme on "Participatory Techniques for Planning and Management of Rural Development Projects" starting on June 10. Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour would inaugurate the training programme.
Muhammad Saleem Khan Jhagra, Secretary Ministry of LG & RD and Dr Durga P Paudyal, D G Cirdap would be the key speakers on the first day. Director General,(NCRD) and Joint Secretary, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (LG & RD) told that the delegates from 14 countries would participate in the training programme.
He said the programme would provide a platform to share development ideas, which will not only improve lot of rural poor but also promote regional understanding. Rural sector, he said, has contribution of 30 percent in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with 67 percent of the population living in rural areas. Such strong economic contribution of the rural areas makes it imperative that their participation in government decision making should be ensured.
He was of the opinion that the living standard of rural communities should be raised and education of various levels should be made available to them. About NCRD, Jamil Ahmad told that the Centre in collaboration with Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development was working to empower rural communities by arranging capacity building workshops and seminars for them.
The centre was also providing training to provincial training institutions, district governments, tehsil municipal administrations and union councils to ensure good governance when the local officials run affairs of local governments. The Centre has trained 126,000 representatives of rural communities. The representatives will prove to be vital link in successful completion of ongoing development projects, Jamil Ahmad said.