The Youth Development Foundation (YDF) and Department of Human Rights and Minority Affairs,
Government of Punjab organized 1st Punjab Inclusive Governance Summit 2024 at a private hotel on Tuesday.

According to the details, Ministers HR&MA Ramesh Singh Arora and Khalil Tahir Sandhu attends the conference as guest of honour while Secretary of HR&MA Ali Bhadur Qazi, ex secretary Dr Shoaib Akbar, and representatives of other institutions attended the summit.

Executive Director YDF/ Convener Shahid Rehmat while highlighted the importance of conference  said that YDF, backed by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), is expanding its successful program to strengthen inclusive governance. Our initiative focuses on empowering Minority Civic Agents (MCAs) - including youth, women, and minorities across 16 Union Councils (UCs) in Lahore and Faisalabad. He further briefed that YDF empowered 40 Minority Civic Agents across 51 UCs, equipping them with updated local governance and community assessment skills. MCA engagement increased through tailored workshops for facility staff and establishing 16 UC forums, alongside two District Governance Forums (Lahore & Faisalabad), dedicated to addressing service delivery issues in minority neighborhoods.

Secretary HR&MA Ali Bhadur Qazi said in his address that hopefully Summit will promote mutual cooperation and active engagement among the members and various stakeholders while it is hoped that through the Minority Civic Agent Program, provision of basic facilities will be ensured at the grassroots level and by creating a District Governance Forum, all matters will be resolved amicably.

Ex Human Rights Secretary Dr. Shoaib said that the local government system is important because the basic problems of the people can be solved at their doorsteps and thus the problems of the common man can be solved through the program.

Abdul Atif, Director of Water and Sanitation Authority, expressed his views and said that they are trying to ensure the supply of clean water and the problem comes when the pipes etc. get rusted and due to being underground, the common man didn't know about it. Rashid from Lahore Waste Management said that cleanliness is half faith and for this every citizen has to do his duty because no organization can move towards success alone. The representative of LWMC said that we all have to keep our environment clean and promote the model of recycling so that we can move forward like developing countries.

 Addressing the concluding session of the summit, Problem solving efforts will be undertaken and a comprehensive action plan will be formulated to address service delivery issues and establish an effective co-ordination framework. All the participants appreciated the efforts of Youth Development Foundation and urged to continue such programs in future also.

The summit was attended by the representative Department of Human Rights, government officials, representatives of civil society organizations, minority rights advocates and UN representatives of ethnic minority citizens.