Mostafijur Rahman from Kurigram: ‎Nearly 400 chars submerged in water. ‎Delivering citizen services across rivers, canals and remote char areas is still a big challenge in Kurigram. A coordinated initiative is needed to make government and private service opportunities more accessible, especially for the underprivileged people of char areas. With that aim, a discussion meeting on strengthening access to public services at the community level was held in Kurigram.

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Friendship Bangladesh organized this discussion meeting at the meeting room of the Kurigram Deputy Commissioner`s office on Monday (August 11) afternoon.

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The meeting discussed various initiatives to provide civic services to the people of the char areas, improve the quality of services, increase social awareness, and improve the quality of life of the backward communities.

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The speakers in the discussion said that a large section of the people living in the vast char areas of Kurigram lag behind in government and private services for various reasons. They face various obstacles in accessing civic services due to various reasons including inaccessible communication system, poverty and lack of awareness. These obstacles should be removed and the services should be brought closer to the people.

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It was informed in the meeting that Friendship Bangladesh is implementing various initiatives including women and child protection, education promotion, prevention of child marriage, health awareness and various social activities. A large part of these projects are focused on the char areas. Through this, work is being done for the social and economic development and improvement of the living standards of the char people.

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The organizers said that keeping in mind the needs and realities of the people of the char areas, the opportunities for receiving civic services will be further expanded in the future. The continuity of delivering services to the doorsteps of the people of remote areas will continue through the coordinated efforts of government institutions and private organizations.

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The meeting was attended by Asad, Additional Superintendent of Police of Kurigram District, Abdus Salam, Regional Coordinator of Friendship, Rezwanul Haque, Assistant Project Manager of the Good Governance Department, Naeem Kamran, Senior Regional Manager, Nazmul Hossain, along with officials from various government and private departments of the district, local government representatives, and local residents of the char area.