Experts at a workshop have said Bangladesh, one of the worst-hit countries in the world, faces a tough time ahead owing to the adverse impact of the climate change.
Against such a backdrop, they said, the country needs more funding to combat the climate change and mitigate the drawbacks.
However, Bangladesh's success rate, in terms of submitting climate change project proposals and obtaining external resources from various international sources, is still insufficient, they said, adding that this needs serious consideration as the country requires exploration of climate financing from different local and international sources.
The observations came at a six-day training workshop titled 'Training-of-Trainers (ToT) on Climate Change Project Proposal Development for accessing International Climate Funds' organised by the Economic Relations Division (ERD) and supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
The event concluded at BRAC CDM Rajendrapur on Thursday, said a press release issued on Saturday.
The objective of the ToT was to support the capacity strengthening of experts for accessing international climate funds through developing quality climate change project proposals.
Kabir Ahamed, joint secretary, (wing chief, UN wing) at the ERD, was present at the opening ceremony as the chief guest. S. M. Mahbub Alam, deputy secretary, ERD, was also present.
"Only preparing a project proposal is not enough, learning what needs to be included in a project proposal, what kind of challenges we may face and how a project can be implemented are also very important," Kabir Ahamed said.
It is needed to involve more stakeholders from the private sectors, especially NGOs and others who are working in the climate sector, in such initiative, he said.
"Our aim is to train people in developing project proposals. While developing a project proposal, you have to connect the proposal with national priorities so that the financers can understand that the demands are in sync with national priority," said S. M. Mahbub Alam.
Dr Firdaus Ara Hussain, principal advisor, ICICF Project, GIZ opined, "Bangladesh is the seventh most vulnerable country to climate change. Against such a backdrop, this training has been arranged to strengthen the capacity of private and public sector representatives in developing climate change project proposals."
Participants from different ministries, departments, Bangladesh Bank, academia, national-level training institutions and private sectors took part in the training programme.
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