BIGD in cooperation with HSI and SDC hosted an orientation session on March 7, 2016 for the media to keep abreast of key local government reform issues under the Local Governance Program `SHARIQUE’. The issues that SHARIQUE has identified are functioning of Committees and Standing Committees of Upazila and Union Parishads, building effectiveness of Ward Shobha, increasing women’s participation in local government, and encouraging Union Parishads to keep allocations for their capacity-building. While some of these issues require policy reform, others are more about awareness-raising to strengthen existing policy provisions. Given the context and challenges, SHARIQUE consulted with the media to determine how best to raise awareness and deliver more informed coverage of the subject.
The event began with a brief overview of SHARIQUE by Mr. Fazlur Rahman, Research Specialist of BIGD. Dr. Mirza M Hassan, Adjunct Fellow, BIGD delivered a presentation on advocacy issues mentioned above and the related policy reform proposals that SHARIQUE has formulated based on its action research and stakeholder consultations. An interesting discussion followed the presentation where journalists expressed interest to know the reasons behind the declining number of women contestants in local government elections, and also shared their views on the pros and cons of the newly introduced party-based election system in local government.
Thanking the participants and concluding the orientation session, Dr. Sultan Hafeez Rahman, Executive Director, BIGD said that with the kind of eagerness that the media had shown today toward local government reform issues, it was possible to work together and jointly advocate for reform proposals.
Other representatives in the programme included Dr. Shanawez Hossain, Research Fellow and Team Leader of Sharique, BIGD and Mr. Rafiqul Islam Talukdar, Senior Programme Manager, BIGD.