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Minister for Women, Children, and Senior Citizens Julee Kumari Mahato said that the role of the organization would be important for achieving the development goals set by the state.

Speaking at a dialogue program organized by the Social Welfare Council and NGO Federation of Nepal Bagmati Province in Hetauda on April 19, Minister Mahato said that the society should be strong against the evils and malpractices.

Minister Mahato said that child marriage, Chhaupadi, and ethnic violence in rural areas could not be brought under control even though more than 52,000 organizations were active in various campaigns across the country.

He said that the organizations should make programs and plans based on their scope of work and priorities when requesting a budget from international donors.

Similarly, Minister Mahato suggested that the organizations should run programs and campaigns in line with the policy, rules, objectives, and sustainable development goals of the state.

Stating that the state has set a target of building a child marriage-free nation by 2082 BS, he said that a state-level discussion is being initiated with the objective of cooperating with the civil society organizations in such campaigns.

Shyam Basnet, the acting vice-chairman of the Bagmati Policy and Planning Commission, said that the commission was working to coordinate and partner with the civil society organizations in the development campaign including child marriage free province, cooperative road human free campaign, child-friendly province.

Director of the National Council for the Rights of the Child, Milan Dharel, said that the government was ready to cooperate with civil society and organizations.

Similarly, he stressed the need for the organizations to run their programs by assimilating the policies, methods and sustainable development goals of the government. Dharel also said that it was important for the government and the federation to work together as they had the same objective.

Chief of the Women, Children and Senior Citizens Division at the Ministry of Social Development, Bagmati, Chandakumari Byanjankar, said that it was easy to take the program to the local level after federalism but it was difficult to work due to lack of manpower.

He said that the ministry was working for the empowerment of women in the rural areas of different districts of the state despite the shortage of manpower.

Similarly, in collaboration with 18 organizations, grant programs have been launched for the empowerment of the target community including children, women, senior citizens, and persons with disabilities, said Byanjankar.

He informed that the ministry has set up a disability information center for the people with disabilities to facilitate the program and has been providing 2,000 security allowances monthly for the children without parents.

Speaking on the occasion, Arjun Bhattarai, Deputy General Secretary of NGO Federation of Nepal, pointed out that the state should improve its attitude towards civil society organizations.

Buddhasharan Lama, a central member of the NGO Federation and in charge of Bagmati Province, said that the government should pass the Integrated Social Development Act for cooperation with civil society organizations.

Stating that the social development act has been drafted and submitted by civil society organizations, Lama said that the act needs to be passed soon.

Vice President of Social Welfare Council Dr. On the occasion, Padam Prasad Khatiwada urged the organizations to move ahead with the program as per the target of the government as it has a role as a development partner of the province.

Pushparaj Adhikari