PKSF MD for integrated development initiatives for Haor people
Defying nature’s whimsical
interplay of sweltering heat and sudden rains, PKSF Managing Director Dr Nomita
Halder ndc visited the hard-to-reach Haor areas on 25 and 26 August 2023.
During the event-packed two-day
visit, she inspected various PKSF interventions implemented through People’s
Oriented Program Implementation (POPI), Dushtha Shasthya Kendra (DSK), Pally
Bikash Kendra (PBK) and Padakhep Manabik Unnayan Kendra – all Partner
Organizations (POs) of PKSF – in Bhaluka of Mymensingh and in Sadar, Nikli, Mithamain
and Austagram upazilas of Kishoreganj district.
Her first stop was at Bhaluka in
Mymensingh where she inspected the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)
interventions made under the Bangladesh Rural WASH for Human Capital
Development Project of PKSF. From there, she went to Kishoreganj where she
visited microenterprises dealing in pigeons, poultry farms, aquaculture. She
also sat and spoke to a group of elderly people at a tea stall supported by the
Uplifting the Quality of the Lives of the Elderly People program of PKSF.
The day concluded with a
discussion with the high-ups of POPI at the its training center in Kishoreganj Sadar.
Speaking as the Chief Guest there, she stressed the need for preparing Haor-specific
development plans that should be integrated and long-term in nature and should
keep in consideration the pros and cons of the unique geographical settings of
the region.
The second-day of her field visit began with a journey across the vast waters of Haor, a wetland ecosystem in the north-eastern part of Bangladesh. The region physically is a bowl or saucer-shaped shallow depression, also known as a backswamp. During monsoon, haors receive surface runoff water from rivers and canals to become vast stretches of turbulent water.
In Nikli Upazila’s Chhatirchar, a small human habitat surrounded by water, Dr Halder inspected the floating schools, a Kishori Club (Adolescent Girls’ Club) and various income generating activities before attending a discussion session with the program participants, PO officials and local government representatives. Nikli Upazila Nirbahi Officer Mst Shakila Pervin accompanied the PKSF Managing Director during the trip to Chhatirchar.
From there, Dr Halder and her entourage boated around vast areas within the haor region to inspect various interventions made under PKSF’s ENRICH and Agrosor programs and Sustainable Enterprise Project in Mithamain and Austagram upazilas of Kishoreganj before heading back to Dhaka.
