Consultative meeting on capacity building of village functionaries held at ATI

Kohima, August 28 (MExN): The first consultative meeting on capacity building of Village Level Functionaries (VLFs) was held at the Administrative Training Institute (ATI), Nagaland, Kohima on August 28, with nearly 50 representatives from seven districts participating.Representatives comprising village council chairmen, VDB secretaries and other village-level authorities from Tuensang, Peren, Phek, Wokha, Tseminyu, Chümoukedima and Kohima districts attended the meeting. Officials from various departments, including Home, Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Census, Election, Police, Social Welfare, Women Resources Development, Finance, Treasuries, Education, Health and Family Welfare, Power, PHED, PWD, Water Resources, Planning and Transformation, Soil and Water Conservation, Rural Development, Agriculture, Horticulture, Fisheries, Land Resources and Environment, Forests and Climate Change, participated as resource persons.Addressing the inaugural session, Additional Chief Secretary and Director General, ATI, V Shashank Shekhar said government schemes and programmes were introduced for the welfare of people and VLFs had an important role in ensuring that their benefits reached intended beneficiaries.He said a significant proportion of Nagaland’s population lived in villages and VLFs played a crucial role in disseminating information and facilitating coordination between the government and villagers.Shekhar also highlighted the role of villages in sustaining and strengthening traditions and culture and encouraged participants to actively contribute suggestions during the discussions to identify practical issues and improve delivery of government programmes at the grassroots level.The inaugural session was chaired by Deputy Secretary, Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department, Asalie Lese, while Additional Director, ATI, Bendanglila, gave an overview of the VLF Capacity Building Training Programme.Deputy Director, ATI, Dr Hovithal Sothu, conducted sessions on issues including transparency and ethics.During the meeting, representatives of various departments made presentations on schemes and programmes implemented by their respective departments.Participants raised queries and shared feedback during panel discussions, particularly on the dissemination and implementation of government schemes and services at the village level.The interactions and discussions focused on practical challenges faced at the grassroots level and ways to improve coordination and delivery of government services to villagers.