Public-private integrated efforts to uplift urban migrant stressed

Integrated efforts of all the government and non government organisations concerned have become crucial for improving the living and livelihood conditions of the urban migrants.

Many of the rural poor people with their recurrent disaster exposures are migrating into urban areas and they face a high employment crisis and with very poor quality housing and other well being further tapping them into a deeper urban poverty cycle.

Climate change is becoming a threat to the urban environment and development and livelihood as well as uncertainty. Urban poverty is highly linked with rural disaster risks.

The views were expressed at a dialogue workshop on ‘Problem Identification, Solution and Resource Mobilization’ at city bhaban conference hall on Thursday under a project titled “Community Social Labs: An initiative to improve the living conditions of vulnerable slum residents”. The 15 month project is being implemented in some parts of the city under the Urban Management of International Migration due to Climate Change (UMIMCC) and Urban Management of Migration and Livelihoods Projects.

Deutsche Gesellshaft fur International Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) has been implementing the project in association with Caritas Bangladesh being funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and co funded by the European Union (EU).

With intervention of the project, around 700 urban migrant households were given requisite support aimed at improving their level of confidence after he best uses of local resources in Rajshahi city. Besides, they got scopes of eradicating their poverty caused by the adverse impact of climate change as the climate-induced poverty has been escalating gradually in the urban areas.

Ward Councilors of Rajshahi City Corporation Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and Ayesha Khatun and Chief Community Development Officer Azizur Rahman, Assistant Director of the Department of Social Services Shamsun Nahar Khatun and its Social Service Officer Dr Hamidul Islam addressed the meeting as resource persons.