SWAT: A six-member delegation of the British High Commission (BHC) Islamabad, led by Governance Adviser Matt Carter, met Commissioner Malakand Division, Shahidullah Khan at Commissioner’s Office here in Saidu Sharif on Tuesday.
Other delegation members included Economist Tufail Khan Yousafzai, Program Officer Amala Najeeb, Program Coordinator Athar Waqar, and Political Secretary Sam Fletcher. The purpose of the delegation’s visit was an annual review of the Sub-National Governance Program (SNG) funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office.
The SNG provides technical support to officers and local representatives on tehsil-level on planning, budgeting, and revenue mobilization in four districts of Malakand Division.
Speaking to the delegation members, Commissioner Shahidullah Khan thanked the delegation for providing technical support through the SNG Program and hoped that the program would provide more support.
He said that there is a need for building capacity of officers and local representatives under the new system of local government. He said that local governments have to work on revenue mobilization ideas considering the local situation to show better performance in which the SNG program can be helpful.
The meeting also discussed training programs for local representatives and officers at Tehsil-level and the Commissioner appreciated such training programs. He also appreciated the ongoing support for solid waste management and said that waste could be better utilized by recycling and that more proposals need to be worked on in this regard.
During the meeting, the commissioner also drew the attention of the delegation to Mingora traffic management and said that there is a need for work on new ideas in this regard.
On the occasion, Matt Carter said that this was his first visit to Swat and he was impressed by the natural beauty and hospitality of Swat. He said that the purpose of the annual review was to improve the targets of the SNG program by meeting with the authorities so that better work can be done on budgeting, planning, and revenue mobilization with the provincial and local governments.
