Conference on ‘Role of NGOs in Implementation of SDGs in Bangladesh’

As one of the partner Organizations of Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh Mr. Atul Francis Sarker, Executive Director of Caritas Bangladesh and Yasmin Akhter Mukta, Program Officer, Communications and communication focal person of the platform participated the conference on ‘Role of NGOs in Implementation of SDGs in Bangladesh’. The day-long event was jointly organised by the NGO Affairs Bureau, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh. The event took place on 18 May, 2017 at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center, Dhaka.
The conference focused on effective partnership between government and non-government organizations (GO-NGO) through building trust, mutual respect and support which will help to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Bangladesh. A set of comprehensive guidelines for such collaborations will also help to work in implementing and monitoring of the Goals and ensure accountability for their activities.
Khandakar Rakibur Rahman, Director General, NGO Affairs Bureau chaired the introductory session where Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, Convener, Citizen’s Platform and Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) elaborated on the possible nature of GO-NGO partnership. Md Abul Kalam Azad, Principal Coordinator, SDG affairs, Prime Minister’s Office and Dr Shamsul Alam, Member, General Economics Division, Planning Commission spoke as Chief Guest and Special Guest respectively. Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, Chairman, PKSF attended the event as the Guest of Honour.
During the working session, Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Distinguished Fellow, CPD presented the keynote on “NGOs in Bangladesh: New Roles in the new Global Development Agenda”. Ms Khushi Kabir, Coordinator, Nijera Kori and Dr. Iftekharuzzaman, Executive Director, Transparency International Bangladesh co-chaired the session. Participants were divided into Goal-specific groups to identify and present opportunities, challenges and recommendations for GOs and NGOs for achieving those SDGs. [Read more]