First Lot of Training on RTI Focusing Municipality and Governance Concludes

The first lot of 5-day Training on 'RTI focusing Municipality and Governance' begun at freedom1 Forum, Kathmandu, from May 25 concluded today (May 29), 2013. The training was organized to produce RTI activists at the local level and to prod the supply side of information. A total of 15 youths-each three from five municipalities from different districts- had participated in the training. The municipalities are- Bhimdatt of Kanchanpur, Narayan of Dailekh, Byas of Tanahau, Dhulkhel of Kavre and Dharan of Sunsari. Among the total, eight were women. freedom1 Forum Chairman Taranath Dahal, Executive Director Krishna Sapkota, senior journalist and General Secretary Dharmendra Jha, Program Officer Anirudra Neupane facilitated the training. On the concluding day, Secretary at the National Information Commission, Shree Ram Pant, gave away the certificates to the trainees. On the occasion, he lauded the activities of the freedom1 Forum, saying it was helping the Commission to make people aware about the RTI and bring change. In order to effectively implement the RTI, cooperation from all sides was essential, he pointed out, urging the trainees to be active for the transparent society. Similarly, Chairman Dahal urged the trainees to be committed to the RTI and promised that he would extend help in the RTI campaign. Another facilitator Mr Jha said there was no other tool effective than RTI to curb corruption and make society transparent. Speaking from the trainees' side, Debu Bist from Bhimdatt and Parbati Katwal from Narayan municipality said they would be committed to the use and promotion of RTI in their regions. The training was really useful to their life and society, they added. The training focused on theoretical and practical aspects of the RTI. In addition to this, the trainees filed information requests at different public agencies in the capital city, and had an interaction with the officials of the National Information Commission.