A capacity-building workshop on “Gram Panchayat Development Planning (GPDP) and Implementation in Gram Sabha on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Food Security” was conducted by Bihar Forum for Social Initiatives (FSI) on 31^st May 2022. 40 people, including Programme Coordinators, Animators, and Panchayati Raj Institution members participated.

The capacity building meet discussed Disaster Risk Reduction for public mobilization, participation, and control in the implementation of the plans at the panchayat levels. The one-day event served to better orient the participants of the Global Programme India on the structure and workings of various statutory institutions and actors within the Panchayati Raj system of local self-government.

“Gram Sabha or village council meeting is an independent and important unit of a village through which almost all the problems of a village can be discussed and resolved. The government schemes can be shared with the village through the Gram Sabha, and people can get the benefit, said one of the resource persons Mr. Prabhakar Kumar. There are several government schemes for women, children, marginal farmers, and income generation, he added. The objective of the participants under the project is to enable the existing village committees to access these schemes in a planned and motivated way. These resources, if used by the beneficiaries wisely, would help them reduce the risks of disaster.

Another resource person, Dr. Yashwant Singh, talked about the expansion of e-governance and digital information. Moreover, he pointed out that there was less scope for ‘middlemen’ siphoning the money. Now it is the duty of the program staff and the PRI members to disseminate the process of learning about various government welfare schemes and programs available on the government portal to the farmers, he added.

At the end of the program, IEC materials and calendars on lightening, drought, flood, COVID safety, windstorm, and thunderbolt were distributed to the participants by the FSI Coordinator.