Government moves to hold a UNO conference for the first time, planned for December; DC conference set for January 31
The government has taken the initiative to hold a conference of Upazila Nirbahi Officers (UNOs) for the first time in the country. The conference is planned for this December — the first national-level gathering of the most grassroots tier of the field administration.
The dates of the annual Deputy Commissioners' (DC) conference have also come forward. According to sources at the Prime Minister's Office, the DC conference is scheduled to be held from January 31 to February 3 next year.
Sources at the Prime Minister's Office said the exact date of the UNO conference has not yet been fixed. Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has, however, consented to attend the inaugural ceremony of the DC conference, which he will inaugurate on January 31 at the Osmani Smriti Milonayoton in the capital.
The sources added that once the date is finalised, the Prime Minister will also inaugurate the UNO conference — creating an opportunity for direct exchange between the top level of the field administration and the highest level of government at both conferences.
The DC conference, held every year, keeps separate sessions for different ministries. A few months before the conference, deputy commissioners are asked for proposals on their districts' problems, development prospects, ongoing projects, policy matters, and issues of regional and national importance.
The Cabinet Division reviews the proposals sent by the deputy commissioners in discussion with the relevant ministries, after which a final list of proposals is prepared. At the conference, the proposals are discussed in detail in the presence of the ministers, advisers and secretaries of the ministries concerned.
However, no final decision has yet been taken on how the structure and proceedings of the first-ever UNO conference will be run, according to sources at the Prime Minister's Office. As the number of upazila-level officers and the nature of their work differ from those of deputy commissioners, preparations are now focused on the outline of this event.
The current reality of the field administration is also behind the initiative. Since the mass uprising, the field administration has had to face various kinds of challenges, and problems have also appeared at field level in implementing the government's Family Card project.
Officials concerned believe these challenges of the field administration and the problems of project implementation may receive importance in the discussions at the UNO and DC conferences. Hearing experience directly from the upazila level, they think, would better reflect field realities in policymaking.
All told, the possible UNO conference in December and the DC conference in January-February together create a continuous platform over the coming months for policy exchange between the government and the field administration. What remains is for the UNO conference's date and structure to be finalised — once that is done, preparations for this first-of-its-kind event will move ahead in full swing.
