Speakers at a programme on Thursday laid emphasis on improvement in the livelihood of char people.
They also highlighted the contributions of the Making Markets Work for Jamuna, Padma and Teesta Chars (M4C) project along with its private and public partners to the rural disadvantaged farming households.
They were speaking at a knowledge dissemination event on 'Market Systems Changes for Sustainable Vulnerability Reduction in Challenging Contexts' held at the city's CIRDAP auditorium.
Through the event, the M4C officially disseminated the project's experience of developing the agricultural market system which generated pathways for vulnerability reduction for the poor and extreme poor households living in the hard-to-reach char areas of northern Bangladesh.
M4C is a project, implemented by Swiss contact in collaboration with Rural Development Academy (RDA) and mandated by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) under the umbrella of the Ministry of LGRD and Cooperatives.
Md Kamal Uddin Talukder, secretary of Rural Development and Cooperatives Division, attended the programme as the chief guest.
Derek George, deputy director cooperation, Embassy of Switzerland, Bangladesh, Dr Md Abdur Rashid, director, Char Development and Research Center, RDA, Bogura and S. M. Mahmuduzzaman, Team Leader of M4C, Swiss contact, among others, were present.
Mr Kamal Uddin Talukder said if the poor char people are provided with right skill set and right business linkages, they can also become active agents in the market system and improve their socioeconomic status and become resilient.
Anirban Bhowmik, country director of Swiss contact, presented the study findings and highlighted how M4C project's model challenged the conventional notion that extremely vulnerable people can only be mere recipients of assets and technical support.
Rather they can also be economically self-reliant with right enabling environment induced by changes in the market system, he added.
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