CBO & CSO Leaders Sitting In Training On CWIS Promotion
[ 21 Aug, 2023 ]
Leaders from Community-based Organizations (CBOs) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) of Gaibandha municipality are sitting in a 2-day training to strengthen their capacity on City-wide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS). 32 trainees (12 female & 20 male) including counselors, sanitation workers, journalists, women leaders, and development practitioners are participating in the Training organized by SKS Foundation at SKS Inn, Gaibandha. Under the “Rising for Rights for Strengthening Civil Society Network in South Asia to Achieve SDG 6” Project, the Training is being held in the title Training on Strengthening Capacity of CBOs/CSOs for Raising Their Unified Voices on SMSS/CWIS.
On 21 August 2023, inaugurating the Training, Md. Matlubor Rahman, Mayor of Gaibandha Municipality, upheld the collective efforts saying, “As we all live in the same world, we none are excluded, we all are included in a world system wherein we all are affected by one’s actions. Similarly, our sanitation system is not isolated. Our individual sanitation is not enough to secure our health and wealth until we secure the collective sanitation system as we all live in the same city. Therefore, besides individual sanitation, we have to focus on collective sanitation by including all.”
Welcoming the trainees, Khondakar Zahid Shorwar, Deputy Director, Field Operation, SKS Foundation, said, “It is our city, and we all who are present at Training have a responsibility to save the city; therefore, we have to know about our city and its challenges and have to plan for development. Through this Training, SKS is facilitating to sensitize its citizens on their responsibilities towards a safe and healthy city for all.”
The Training, on the first day, covered the topics of Safely Managed Sanitation Services (SMSS), the background of Freshwater Action Network South Asia (FANSA), FANSA-BD, and the Rising for Rights Project, CWIS, and the present sanitation situation of Gaibandha Municipality facilitated by Md. Rezaul Haque, Executive Engineer, Gaibandha Municipality; A.K.M. Abdul Matin, Sanitation and DRR Specialist; Sankar Kumar Roy, Project Coordinator; and Md. Shafiqul Islam, Advocacy Specialist. The topics emphasized that sanitation itself is not an isolated issue, it’s interrelated with water and hygiene, and from sanitation indicators, it's shown that rural areas are in a better position than urban areas. However, as urbanization is spreading and speeding up, it needs to take action sooner to look into the CWIS promotion in the flood-prone Gaibandha district, the trainees of the training agreed.
