Officials from Maldives begin training at NIRD-PR to scale-up governance

Rangareddy: As part of the efforts to form a cooperation and boost capacity building through training process, a two week long training programme for the elected representatives from the Island Councils and officials from the Local Government Authority (LGA) of the Republic of Maldives began at the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRD-PR), Rajendranagar on Tuesday.

Deputy Director General NIRDPR Shashi Bhushan inaugurated the two weeklongtraining programme for the second batch that will continue till March 17, wherein a total number of 23officials are participating.

It is said that the NIRD-PR and the LGA from the Republic of Maldives signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on August 02, 2022 regarding the operational framework for cooperation between the two countries mainly for organizing Capacity Building and Training Programmes (CB&T) in India for the staff of LGA and the members of Local Councils and Women Development Committees (WDCs) of Maldives.

The NIRDPR is the nodal institution to design and implementCB&T programmes,including customization of the training modules taking into account the requirements of the LGA of Maldives. On behalf of the Government of India, the Ministry of External Affairs will bear the expenses pertaining to the training programme as per the accord.

The NIRD-PR has planned to conduct a series of training programmes over four years (2022-2026) to strengthen democratic decentralisation in the Maldives. The training programme covers areas such as local planning, local resource mobilization, financial management,e-governance, service charters, women empowerment, local leadership, and community participation in local administration etc.

Mrs. AfshanLatheef, Director General of Local Government Authority and Director General of Maldives Institute of Local Government (MILG) Mr. Shamoon Adam, and First Secretary, High Commission of India to Maldives Mr Karan Yadav, IFS, joined the session through Video Conference wherein Deputy Director General Shashi Bhushan, Associate Professor Dr AK Bhanja and other officials from NIRDPR were also present.

While addressing the inaugural session, Shashi Bhushan said, "The two weeks long training programme will scale up the knowledge, awareness, and attitude of the participants about democratic decentralisation, focused quality planning, and institutional strengthening of Local Councils. The officials from LGA felt that the training programme will help them have in-hand an in-depth understanding and self-confidence about their roles and responsibilities in the effective implementation of the lessons learned in Maldives.