Press Releases

Annual Forum of Development Practitioners: Promoting Local Governance and Decentralization in India

Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, 24 October 2007: The Decentralization Community of Solution Exchange (an initiative of the United Nations Agencies in India) is organizing its Second Annual Forum at Bhopal from 25-27 October 2007.

Over 100 active members of the community from across India are attending the forum. The opening session will begin at 9.00 a.m. at the Noor Us Sabah Hotel, Bhopal.  Honorable Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shri Shivraj Singh Chauhan will inaugurate the Forum and Dr Maxine Olson, Resident Coordinator, United Nations in India will preside.  Shri Rustam Singh, Madhya Pradesh’s Minister of Panchayat and Rural Development will be present as Special Guest in the Function. A number of senior officials from the Central Government and Madhya Pradesh Government, staff from many Un Agencies, personnel from civil society organizations, researchers and academics will attend the three-day event.

During the three-day workshop, Decentralization members will identify and discuss the emerging issues in Panchayati Raj and Decentralized Local Governance, including District Planning and explore opportunities to take action and move forward in these areas.

During the first two days, Community members will attend various technical sessions on Decentralized Planning for Development of Backward Regions, Marginalized and Vulnerable sections and Special initiatives in Local Governance. Thereafter they will breakaway into different groups to discuss a range of topics and develop a list of action points to take the issues forward.

Members will also visit field locations of two projects in District Sehore to interact with the Panchayat functionaries and line department staff on the subject of district level planning. These visits will be organized in association by two Bhopal-based NGOs - Samarthan and Debate.

The forum also hosts a “Knowledge Mela” which facilitates members of Decentralization community to share knowledge and experiences and discuss burning issues in the sector such as capacity building of Panchayats, natural resources management and district planning, urban local governance.

The forum offers development practitioners, government official, individuals from the private sector, and academics and an opportunity for a face-to-face interaction between members, to review the Community’s activities, and provide suggestions for improvements and inputs to strategize for the future activities.   This is to help achieve the objectives of India’s five year plans and Millennium Development Goals.

Solution Exchange is an initiative of the United Nations Agencies in India that offers development practitioners an impartial platform to connect, share, learn and collaborate to find solutions to their day- to day challenges. Solution Exchange builds Communities of Practice by connecting people with common interests and concerns through email groups and face to face interactions. The objective is to leverage India’s knowledge pool of development practitioners to ensure development effectiveness and also that “no one has to reinvent the wheel.”  

For more information, contact Alok Srivastava- Resource Person, Decentralization Community 
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