‘Micro-level planning, Education and Communication key to better implementation of schemes’
New Delhi, Sep 29 (Agency) Stressing the need to figure out the issues related to the development of girls at micro-level, Development Commissioner Vivek Kumar Singh said that customised approach should be evolved to address the issues for attaining the result-oriented target. Addressing the one-day state-level workshop, “Sashakt Beti, Samriddh Bihar: Towards Enhancing the value of Girls in Bihar” organized by Women and Child Development Corporation (WCDC) in partnership with UNICEF, Save the Children and Plan International (India Chapter) on Tuesday Singh said that to ensure intended results, we need to first figure out the issues at the micro-level and then a customised approach to address them need to be applied. Accordingly, creditable IEC materials should be developed. Feedback mechanism along with evidence-based monitoring are also very crucial in this regard, he added.Chairman cum Managing Director, WCDC Harjot Kaur Bamhrah, said that various schemes of the state government are aimed at the elimination of gender disparity and considerable progress has been made over the years.
However, the government alone cannot address all gender-related issues and therefore, all stakeholders including the community need to work together. To ensure economic development is easier than to guarantee social transformation due to the prevalent societal rigidity. She called upon the girls to come forward and take self-decision in order to break the gender-specific barriers.Chief, UNICEF Bihar Nafisa Binte Shafique said that investing in girls’ education is crucial to transform the status of girls. Men and boys need to be engaged to realise gender equality. Praising the Bicycle Yojana of the state government, she said that it has been replicated in Bangladesh – her home country.
Despite several government schemes, it has been observed during our field visits that the parents are not using the grant money meant for the girl child rather being spent on other things.Programme Planning Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, UNICEF Bihar Prasanna Ash, discussed about the status of girls in Bihar in his presentation.A panel discussion on the theme Enhancing Value of Girls in Bihar: Opportunities, Challenges and Solutions was conducted during which the girls asked specific questions relating to education, health, nutrition, protection, etc. which were duly responded by the senior government officials and representatives of development partners.State Program Manager, Save the Children Rafay Eajaz Hussain, outlining the objectives of the workshop, underlined the need to make the male child sensitive and empower the girl child.