RONO HILLS, Mar 27: A two-day national seminar on the ‘Role of CBOs and NGOs in emerging rural transformation scenario’ began at the Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU) here on Tuesday.
Being jointly organised by the Guwahati regional centre of the NIRD & PR and the NSS cell of the RGU’s Social Work department, the seminar is aimed at providing a platform to practitioners, scholars, government officers and academicians to share and assess the challenges faced by NGOs and CBOs in rural development.
Addressing the inaugural function, Arunachal Pradesh Women Welfare Society (APWWS) chief advisor Jarjum Ete said that in the present scenario the issues and challenges faced by the society for harmonious and equitable growth “is getting complicated with each passing day.”
Stating that the role of CBOs and NGOs has become more important and vital in the present-day scenario, she said the role of three organizations – the APWWS, the All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) and the Arunachal Indigenous Tribal Forum (AITF) – is crucial for addressing the issues that concern people the most.
She further said that rural school children have poor proficiency in reading and writing English, “which in turn affects them in their ability to understand subjects like science and mathematics.”
She stressed that CBOs and NGOs should focus on the education sector in right earnest.
NCRI senior academic consultant, Ashwin Kumar highlighted the role and functions of the NCRI in curriculum development, “with focus on rural community engagement.”
He said NGOs and CBOs could leverage their efforts for rural development through funds which are made available through the corporate social responsibilityscheme.
RGU’s Political Science HoD, Prof PK Panigrahi spoke on the role of NGOs and CBOs, and said they could play an important role in “ameliorating the rural development paradigm.”
He also stressed that NGOs “have to be grounded to their objective of non-profit making foundation.”
NIRD director Prof RM Pant highlighted the objectives of the seminar.
Thirty-five research papers will be presented and discussed during the two-day workshop.
