the goan I network
PANAJI
Forum for Integrated Development and Research organized a round table in order to help form a task force to research, document and place before the government ways to look at social development of the State.
Dharmanand Vernekar, the Advisor of FIDR, welcomed Charudutta Panigrahi, mentor FIDR, and Siddhartha Behera, director FIDR, summed up the need for a ‘one-stop shop forum’ in the State to take forward the livelihood discourse in collaboration with the communities concerned.
The round table is a unique initiative of FIDR to bring together the intelligentsia, policy makers, implementers, experts from business, governments and the development practitioners to explore the dynamics in livelihood and economic growth of Goa.
The experts present at the brainstorming session opined that the inclusive growth and sustainable livelihood programs in Goa seek to address poverty challenge, providing inputs at both upstream and downstream levels.
Other issues which were addressed were data gaps and institutional capacities to make livelihoods the central theme of development for the future generations.
As a first priority, it was unanimously decided that a task force should emerge from the round table which will help in the building of capacity of the state in creating an enabling environment to address poverty and produce data for associated monitoring and planning.
The group present was concerned about the issue of people migrating in search of better life. Some of the ideas shared included initiatives to reduce the migration from rural areas, develop employment strategies and build local capacities.
The round table also discussed issues pertaining to differently-abled and gender equity.
Also, in the wake of stagnating and decelerating growth in significant sectors like tourism and mining, a need was felt to assess community needs and design interventions to help access alternative sources of livelihoods such as IT without compromising the inherent skills and resources of the youth of Goa.
Present at the round table were expert and civil society members. These included former MLA and Goa EDC Chairman Siddharth Kuncaliencar, MAIT President and former president of Goa Chamber Nitin Kunkolienkar, Adv Yatish Naik, Editor of Gomantak Times Sashwat Gupta Ray, Sangeeta Naik of GIPT, Soter D’Souza and President of DRAG Avelino de Sa.
All present at the round table were of the opinion that this kind of a forum would develop an inclusive platform to share experiences and identify opportunities for collaboration.
