***J am grateful to Dr Saleemul Huq for kindly mentioning me fy name in his very well-written article entitled. "FAP from Debale to Dialogue published In the opinion column of The Dally Star on November 2. 1994. He writes that if producing water management schemes that are environmentally sound and acceptable to the people is the goal of the Flood Action Plan then "the proponents and critics probably have more in common than dividing them.' 1 agree. There is perhaps no need to go Into a point by point discussion of the very well-written article of Dr Saleemul Huq. However, the point that needs a general discussion is the point of public participation and public communication in the FAP.***

T, HE .phrases people s participation or public participation are today part of the standard baggage of development rhetoric. While developing the FAP projects and conducting different FAP studies, it was found that it was easier to talk about public participation in development works than to fully comprehend its implications for those who are socially disadvantaged and who are likely to be affected by project intervention. It is well to remember that in Bangladesh "rural institution* were developed as extension of government bureaucracy rather than people s organisation with lack of awareness and information on the part of the poor.” Even when such participation are envisaged, implementation and effective transmission of the idea and achievement to the people are difficult tasks. For the Flood Action Plan, public participation and information dissemination or public communication are inter-linked concepts. If public participation is a focal point In the Flood Action Plan, an effective dissemination of information — open communication — of the FAP related activities is a part and parcel of the FAP programme.

People’s participation depends on a democratic system and on the development of the Institutions which are involved in the work. Its success also depends on the people being' constantly kqpt aware of the concerned activities. On the one hand, it means that people should be more fully involved in all stages of project development. from need assessment through operation and maintenance and on the other hand, it means people, should be kept aware of their role in .the development project and this is what the FAP activities have tried lo attain. For information. dissemination and for-v

■nation of ideas and consideration of suggesUons In the Flood Action Plan, three distinct steps were taken. They are 11) Two International Conferences on the Flood Action Plan. (2) Special Workshops on water management and flood related selected issues. (3) Regional and sub-regional seminars at district and thana levels where public representatives and village level organisations and representatives of several non-gpvernmental development agencies participated.

In these seminars opinions of the local and affected people with regard to water management have been carefully listened to and the final draft report on the Flood Action Plan reflected many of their suggestions and ideas. The general objective of the whole process on the one hand, was to ensure that conceived projects are in conformity with local requirements and the people develop a sense of ownership of the infrastructure which are being con-structett for their own use: on the other hand the objective was to establish a channel of communication with the people and to keep them informed of the FAP activities.

During the Second Conference on the Flood Action Plan the Government of Bangladesh and the World Bank prepared a working paper entitled "The Flood Action Plan. Achievements and Outlook." This was later printed in thousands of copies both in English and Bangla and together with the proceedings of the conference, has been distributed to all members of the Parliament. Union Council Chairmen and Members. local .officials of concerned FAP areas and participants of the conference.

FPCO brings out a Quarterly Progress- Report which is routinely distributed to related agencies. FPCO library has been made open for reference

by the Pre** and other intended researcher* and the national presa l* always kept informed of all the FAP actlvi Ues All FAP activiqe* have in deed received" a very wide < ov erage by the national pre**. Sometimes, of course some people believe what they wish to believe and there is no known Remedy to this malaise There are critic* and critic* of the FAP There is one very internationally well known, flamboyant but certainly very erudite critic who In different seminars would forcefully and almost convincingly deliver his speech against various aspects of the Flood Action Plan but would never wall lo listen to the response to his speech. He always has a busy schedule and other seminars to attend With such critics, of course neither a debate nor a dialogue is possible.

However, since my involvement wl(h FAP. I have rarely met a crlUc of the FAP. who is totally against the FAP or the need to do something about the recurring floods and flood related problems in Bangladesh. The question that has repeatedly come up is primarily that of degree — whether In the FAP studies environmental considerations were sufficient, whether peoples participation were sufficient. whether the dissemination of informaUon relating to the Flood Action Plan was good enough. Since it is very difficult to establish a universally acceptable criteria on these issues, it is also very difficult to fully answer these questions.

I must mention here that FAP is the first and the only public sector’ programme where these issues are being addressed In an organized manner. Notwithstanding the locals, some of their International masters asking for more perfection and refinement, are yet al infancy ip their own countries compared to FAP In these aspects.

1 think the purpose of the Flood Action Plan studies has been to find an acceptable consensus on all the major Issues relating to the solution of the water management problems in general and to the flood related problems In particular.

The draft final report of the Flood Action Plan which was formally released to the Press bv the Minister for Water1 Re-

source* on the 24th Novemixr 1994 has been distributed to many agencies With the request for "comments in writing1 which couid be dis cussed "before the draft Is finalized and officially submitted to the FAP Technical Commi ttee of the Government The forwarding letter also reads.

We believe the FAP studies have thrown new light on the complex social and environmental issues which are part and parcel of the water sector and we trust the report does Justice to this ground breaking work. No programme in the history of Bangladesh has laxhoiued the depth of public consultation the way of the FAP has. Formal and informal discussion meetings have been held with the broadest possible spectrum of the population encompassing Members of Parliament, local leaders. NGOs. farmers, fishermen, women groups and the landless.’

The forwarding letter further reads. FPCO accepts that the review of the FAP summary will Involve many people and although we are anxious to move forward, we recognize that considerable lime will be needed to gather all the opinions. We suggest aiming for a discussion on the comments as early as possible in the New Year after mutually deciding on

a suitable date. For obvious reason* we are unable to provide Individual copies of the huge number of FAP documents produced In the last lour years. However all of these docu ment* may be viewed at either the FPCO or World Bank Resident Mission Libraries

'We look forward to your commenta"

The Association of the Development- Agencies in Bangladesh (ADAB) has also been given some copies of the draft Final Report with the same request for written comments. I am sure that FPCO authorities would certainly be glad to receive their point by point written response on fhe report. Under the circumstances the news." ADAB criticises FAP Document as published in Die Dally Star of January 1. 1995 was net only a little surprising but perhaps rather disappointing. However. I hope this meeting of ADAB is not the end of the matter. I hope that they will send their written comments which can then be discussed in an open forum or otherwise.

To my way of thinking, debate or dialogue, the Water Management Plan or the Flood Action Plan, irf whatever name it is called is hot really important in the last analysis. What is important is to find out an acceptable solution to the water related problems including floods and anyone who has the

good of the nation in mind and the required expertise can contribute to It Perhaps It will be too much to claim that the draft final report of the Flood Action Plan Is the sole handiwork of only those who have been directly involved with the writing of the report. Perhaps it is the end product of many contributors in many form, direct and indirect, but the credit of editing and compiling the thoughts definitely should go to FPCO

Let me conclude by again quoting from the forwarding letter along with the Draft Final Report of the Flood Action Plan of Mr M H Siddiqi. BU. Chief Engineer. FPCO. "Much more remains to be done such as integrating the results of the FAP studies into the National Water Plan but we hope thia will be a natural fol-low-on-exercise to FAP". Let us not fail to attain what remains to be done. Let me also hope that the critics or proponents of the FAP in whatever name they are known or like to be known, "without the services of a Str Ninian", to quote Dr Saleemul Huq. shall be able to put their mind together to find technically, environmentally and financially practical solutions to the problems of recurrent floods in Bangladesh. To me. it is Inhuman, near the-end of the 20th century, to suggest that the people of Bangladesh should learn to.live with floods.