The project will focus on 16 upazilas and 240 unions under 8 districts.
The five-year project will be implemented in Faridpur, Chandpur, Rajshahi, Khulna, Patuakhali, Sunamganj, Rangpur and Netrokona districts to strengthen governance framework of Upazila Parishad and improve service delivery to achieve the SDGs.
An inception workshop was held in the city in this regard organized by the Local Government Division, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives.
Inaugurating the workshop, LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said the government as per its election pledges, amended the Upazila Parishad Act to enable elected representatives of people to work independently and effectively.
“Our government has taken steps for strengthening local government institutions as a strategy to strengthen the democracy at the grassroots levels, this project will further help us to do so and paving the way for Sustainable Development Goals,” he said.
The project is funded jointly by DANIDA, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and UNDP and implemented by the Local Government Division, Government of Bangladesh with total budget of $7.11m.
Deputy Head of Mission and Director of Cooperation of the Embassy of Switzerland Beate Elsaesser also attended it and said that EALG’s intervention would enable citizen participation in LGI functions especially in the planning and budgeting process.
Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Denmark Refika Hayta urged the ministry to take affirmative policy actions aligning with the priorities set in the 7th five-year plan.
Country Director, UNDP Bangladesh Sudipto Mukerjee said, “Through this project we are supporting the government to localize SDGs for the first time, by including them in planning and budgeting of local government.”
It will also strengthen the capacity of the Union Parishads and provide policy support to the government for establishing effective local government system through citizens’ participation, said UNDP.
Dr Zafar Ahmed Khan, Senior Secretary, Local Government Division, Amitavh Sarker, Additional Secretary, LGD and National Project Director, EALG, Abu Shahin M Ashaduzzaman, Project Coordinator EALG and MdIftikher Ahmed Chowdhury, Deputy Secretary, LGD also spoke.
Representatives from the government, local government and Members of Parliament were present at the workshop.