Let me start off. Thank you everyone for coming in. My name is Adnan Kathir. I'm currently working as an advocacy officer for the Water and Climate Campaign for Water Aid Bangladesh. I'll be moderating today's session titled Bringing Community Voices in Water and Climate Camp in Policy Discourse hosted by Water Aid Bangladesh and the International Center for Climate Change and Development. Our session will be divided into three parts. The first half an hour would be the storytelling round, the next half an hour would be the breakout room discussion, and lastly we will have a feedback round where we will also be taking your questions. So our session will look into how we can convert stories from the grassroots level into effective advocacy strategies and bridge existing gaps in the current status quo. We have three goals, winning the global argument to use wash as an effective climate adaptation strategy. The second goal would be how can we make climate finance more inclusive, especially through the lens of GCF so that we can develop high level wash adaptation bits in the future. And lastly figuring out effective pathways for multisexual collaboration or coalitions to make our communities we are working for more resilience to climate change impact. Now stories have existed for a long time, especially from communities and today our session will share four such stories. And we'll use that as a pathway for discussion on how we can achieve the same targets as I mentioned earlier. So without any further ado, I'd like to introduce Hasin Jahan, who is the director for WaterAid Bangladesh. He's been working in the sector, the wash sector for the last 25 years. Prior to joining as country director for WaterAid Bangladesh, she was the country director for practical action, and she's been involved in other work with the government and other partners as well. So without any further ado, Aapa, over to you. Thank you very much. Can you please show the slides? Yeah. Chandler, can you go to the next one? Yeah. Yeah, please. Next slide please. Yeah. Thank you so much. Welcome everybody. According to the climate change index Bangladesh ranks ninth among the most vulnerable countries, the frequency of extreme events has already increased. Average temperature has risen and the duration of winter period has shortened. There is sea level rise leading to increase in salinity, both in river water as well as in soil. The climate change related phenomena are prominent in coastal belt of Bangladesh and over 30 million people across the coastal line are facing the consequence of climate change. The next slide please. Drinking water is a curse in coastal belt. The shallow water aquifer, aquifer is contaminated with arsenic and iron, while the deep aquifer is contaminated with salinity except a few pockets of sweet or portable water. At the same time, river water is also saline due to tidal effect, but it remains saline part of the year, not maybe all the time of the year. People mostly depend on pond water, which is basically the rainwater. They also use rainwater harvesting plants at household level or community level, but these rainwater harvesting plants are not remaining operation around the year. So that's the problem. Next slide please. Gender inequalities persist and men and women experience the impacts of climate change very differently. Let me explain a bit how climate change impacts differently for women. Women have to travel a few kilometers, which may take hours to collect water for domestic purpose. Girls drop out from schools to help their mothers. Women and girls suffer from sexual enhancement while carrying water from distant places at dark. Within such prevailing context, my story begins. Next slide please. Tamina, a bold lady from Shamnapur, one of the coastal village, took the courage to set up a water business. She lives in a village, as I mentioned in the coastal area, which was washed away by Cyclone Isla in 2009. And all the ponds of that village were overgrown by the tidal surge during that cyclone. As a result, the villagers actually suffered, started suffering from having a safe potable water source. And they depend mostly on rainwater harvesting, and that is not a round-the-ear solution. As a result, they have to fetch water from the neighboring villages during dry season. Water Age and its partner, Rupantar, started working in that particular village under its HSBC funded project. During community consultation, Tamina proposed to form a woman cooperative to run a water business, provided the project can install a water technology for the villagers. Seeing the boldness, Water Age and Rupantar, the partner NGO, decided to go for this venture, and a reverse osmosis plant has been installed. Tamina led a woman cooperative and managed that water business. And she served the villagers that is the size of the villages around 300 households since March 2019. And at an affordable rate, while the profit is being shared among the committee members for the last one and a half years. She is serving the people of the village and at the same time created income opportunity for the entrepreneur group, creating an example how women leadership can shine. Now I will tell the next story that's about another lady. Can you please go for the next slide? Okay, my next case is about Geeta is the tale of a daughter-in-law. Let me explain why I mentioned daughter-in-law under inverted comma. In our traditional culture, the daughter-in-law's role remains more suppressed. Her prime role is often expected to remain limited to household chores. Her voice should remain low. And her aim in life should be making the family members and the extended family happy. But Geeta made an exception. Geeta got married and came to a coastal village of named Asashuni. She has two school-going children. A wash project of WaterAid along with its partner, Rubanthol, started in that particular area. And the project noted that the villagers are suffering from acute water prices, but they are unable to mobilize people and get a piece of land to install any RO, that is reverse osmosis land. Rubanthol made this lady Geeta and found her very proactive and progressive minded and requested her whether she can help to organize a meeting with the villagers. Even being a so-called daughter-in-law, she took the challenge and courage to convince her family and arranged a meeting with the community members, I mean community villagers, and asked for a sparing a piece of land. Sadly, none of them agreed, but she didn't give up. Along with two other ladies, she went to the assistant headmaster of the school that did the tour and requested the assistant headmaster and the school committee whether they can spare the land for river osmosis land. And finally the school committee agreed and a river osmosis plant had been installed at the school premises and fillets the villagers started getting water from that plant. Seeing the perseverance, Geeta had given the opportunity to manage the water point forming 10 member women water purer group. Since then, I mean from the last March, she is managing the plant, the villagers and earning money. And the entire women entrepreneurship group has been empowered through this process. So let me stop here and I'm giving the floor to Adnan. Adnan, next slide please. Thank you Hasinapa for your insight. So far, just to reiterate for the people joining in right now. So we have three specific goals. One is to include wash as an effective climate adaptation strategy. At the same time, learn from the communities who are working in the grass root level, especially we have seen the women are taking the role there. So as a way forward from the stories from the water and I would like to ask two questions to our participants so that as we move forward for the discussion session, we have these two questions in mind. First being, how can we make women lead movements more inclusive? Secondly, how can we scale up such actions to bridge policy gaps in the future? At this point, I would like to introduce my colleague from the International Center for Climate Change and Development, Sharon Mannan to share the next two stories. Please, Sharon, over to you. Thank you so much Adnan and Hasinapa. I was great the way Hasinapa has said the scene at the beginning and then share the two stories. So from the stories we have heard that how despite having a lot of infrastructures and interventions in built women, particularly women often face some, often are faced with some systemic barriers and challenges within the system that hinders their way of moving forward and access all those resources. We also have a different struggle and different fight to achieve or attain all these issues. While it is important to consider the interventions and the infrastructures are in place, it is also crucial to have some sort of platform that provides the place for the local actors to speak and influence in the decisions making. At this point, I would like to introduce two stories and we will hear from the local actors about two advocacy interventions that has been taken under the Pani Jivon, which is Water is Life project, which is a project funded by Helvetus Swiss Intercooperation and Climate Justice Resilience Fund. This is a multi-partner project and which also really focuses on the interventions on climate change and water security and wash aspects. So today we have Mr. Shauko Choudhury and Ms. Sufiya Begum with us today who will speak in Bangla and share their interventions of having these two advocacy platforms. So while they speak in Bangla, I will put the translation in the chat box and I'll also try to summarize and wrap up their interventions very quickly by the end. Thank you. So Mr. Shauko Choudhury, I think he got disconnected for some reason. I can see his video but I don't think he can speak or maybe he's having difficulty connecting. I think they're having microphone difficulties. Karin, why don't you go to the next one? I think in this case, I'm Zubar, I think in this case I can help and contribute. Sure, Zubar, if you could introduce Zubar Bhai, then we can start. So I see we have a bit of a technical difficulty connecting in with the local speakers. Now we have Mr. Zubar Hassan who is the director at the development organization of the rural port. Zubar Bhai, if you can finally speak about the wash budget monitoring club at this moment and basically the interventions and outcomes. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Karin. Yes, I'm sorry about this connection because so far I know this is in Moral Gorge, there is a P number of signal, maybe the connectivity problem. Anyway, yes, the budget club as you know from the name that says it relates to the money and it relates to the number, but these things have been translated in the ground in such a way that community people can engage in the process and they can use the budgeting process as a intervention of right to water and sanitation and ultimately addressing their wash needs. So, as the introduction, Pani Jibon which is in Bangla but it's in Water is Life is one of the initiative undertaken by Halvitas Bangladesh with the partnership of many other partners, including ICAD. So this wash budget has been undertaken as a, as a club which is consisting of numbers of community leaders who are a school teachers, women leaders, youths and local inhabitants including marginalized so that a group of people can come together and discuss their right to water and sanitation and ultimately advocate to the local authority because in Bangladesh, administratively, Union Purushad which is the lowest part of the local government system is the main institutions who is really working with the local people. So, and they have a lot of allocation in relation to the health and other safety net program, but there was not very much focus on water sanitation hygiene. So in this budget monitoring club has become a catalyst in the community level and they started to discuss and convince the local responsive or local authority and the duty bearers that see this is the government commitment and there is allocation which is coming in every year. So it's better to allocate water sanitation for the poorest of the poor so that they can avail or they can consume or they can consider the water sanitation for the poor. And this monitoring club also lobby and advocate with the local administration which is called sub-district level Upojala Purushad. In Upojala in the government structure there is a standing committee and also in Union Purushad. So they are repeatedly or frequently asking the question and discussing with them about their rights. So, in the in the last and as you know, the project area where the Alvitas implementing through Dorp and other organizations, the southwest of Bangladesh is Muralgon, one of the very climate vulnerable area. And those areas, particularly water is saline and only the source of water is surface water and the ponds and filter is one of the options of the surface water. And those surface water and the ponds and filters are not very cheap. It's very costly and a lot of households are sharing the same ponds for water. In my last previous presenter, Haseena was mentioning that how women are collecting water from distance. So this budget club is also advocating for better water supply in the ponds and PSF so that community can access the water properly and short distance. So, as you saw in the slides that look at for local water wash needs, monitor and track wash budget, how much budget is coming, how they can increase the budget for particularly hygiene and wash and ensuring the proper channelization of effective utilization of wash budget. For example, that's not putting the money in the drainage in the other known structural process rather than the PSF ponds and filter because many of the ponds and filters of that area are not functioning. Once it is installed or established but it is not properly functioning and people not accessing because of lack of operation and maintenance allocation. So the on these issues, the budget monitoring club are mobilizing and also advocating with the local government. I don't know how much time I have but maybe later. Thank you. Thank you so much. Do you want to try? I think we have Shaukot Bhai again. Shaukot Bhai, why don't you just turn on the video and open the mic. Shaukot Bhai, what's your name? In that case, Karin, if you do the next thing. Yes, I think they are facing technical difficulties. Well, we apologize for the technical difficulties. Since they're from the community and they're in the rural level, we have sometimes having difficulty connecting with them. Anyway, Shain, if you do the next thing. Hello. Yes, so maybe next slide, Chandler please. Yes, sister. Shaukot Bhai, are you okay? Yes, I'm okay. If you can speak to Sufiya, she's from the mother parliament. Sister, I'm from Shaukot Bhai. Shaukot Bhai, if you can speak to Sufiya, she's from the mother parliament. I guess I can summarize the mother parliament and if we have Sufiya, maybe we can give her. Yes, speak to Sufiya. Shaukot Bhai, if you can speak to Sufiya, maybe we can give her. If we can give her, maybe we can give her. So thank you so much, Sofia, I hope you all heard her, but I know the translation is already available in the chat box, but I can quickly summarize what she has said. First of all, let me apologize because we are directly asking the community village people to join with us at this point. So I think we can consider the technical difficulties because they are often not equipped with the high speed internet connection. So I hope you all don't mind. So just to summarize what Sofia has just said, she is a speaker at the mother parliament, which is a platform for women, particularly for women advocacy. The area where she lives in, in Bagheer Heart District, which is at the southwest coast of Bangladesh, which is highly vulnerable to different disasters and particularly in the face of climate change, it is increasingly being faced with high intensity cyclones and salinity intrusion. So and as we all know, water sector is particularly vulnerable as particularly for these people who depend on natural resources like the river for their livelihoods and they basically do agriculture and fish farming. So and the and the impacts on the health of women is also very crucial at this point because women are often in charge of collecting water and managing the household. So they are often dealing with this saline water, which results in different skin diseases and different gastrointestinal diseases and even in some cases some pregnancy related issues. So considering all these issues, these local community women have as a part of its support from Pani Jivon Project has established this women advocacy platform, which is called the mother parliament, where women, young girls and particularly elderly women and widowed women when often don't get chance to get heard of, you know, come together and sits once in a month and talks about all these women's specific needs and challenges and what are the interventions that are required. One interesting outcome that she has highlighted is salinity is one of the important factors and major, major disaster that these communities face. And in some cases the ponds and the ponds and filters that they have are often not well managed and they require re-excavation and all that. So basically through the mother parliament, they have they have issued a petition at the local authority to re-excavate the canal so that at least it doesn't increase the level of salinity coming out of the leakages from the nearby shrimp farms. So they have put the petition and issued the petition to the local authority and after a lot of back and forth and series of dialogues and lobbying, they have finally been able to get the pond re-excavated and now they kept on continuing all these advocacies. And this way they also get a platform to raise their voice and influence the decision making. Thank you so much. I hope you all enjoyed what Sufya and Zubair Bhai has summarized about these two advocacy platform. Now I would like to hand it over to Abdan. Thank you so much. Chandler, thank you, Shahreen. Thank you everyone who joined to share their stories. Chandler, if you go to the next slide. Again, time and time again we are seeing, please go back to the previous slide please. Time and time again we're seeing women-led communities taking the lead in their communities especially to bring interventions for the wash sector at the same time tackling the adverse effects of climate change. Again, in addition to the two questions we prompted at the beginning of our presentation, we have two additional questions. That being, how can we scale up local policy advocacy for women-led institutions? And the second one is, which actors can make wash climate financing more wide ranging? Again, we are looking into how we can use wash as an effective strategy for climate adaptation both nationally and globally. So now we're at the end of our storytelling round. Now we'll go into the breakout session. So our volunteers will be putting you into the breakout room. We would ask facilitators to assist. And so in the chat you will see who will be leading the breakout room. So as that happens just give us some time while our volunteers will be putting you in the breakout room. Thank you so much. Sharon, should I start? Yes please, please. Okay, I would ask the moderators. We have some people coming in still. So Sharon, do you want to start? Any interesting insights from your breakout room? Sure. Thank you so much Adnan. So as you all know that the breakout room was decided to identify a few strengths, weakness, opportunities, threats within the local actors so that we can identify the gaps and put them in a position and enable them so that they can be the influencers in future. So while addressing we have a couple of really, really good and interesting points and everyone was really active throughout the session. So during the strengths session, what is an interesting point was that the communities not only know about their community, the priorities, their needs, they also are very, very well aware of the service providers within their communities. So that can be an interesting strength for them as well so that they know and can quickly go and access the support they require or the services the demand from the service providers. In terms of weaknesses, although the speakers in our group had a I completely agree with them, the word weakness is not right for them and a lot of systemic barriers often become a weakness for the communities themselves. For example, the power dynamics within the system and the relationships can be a weakness for them and also their poor access to technologies and improved devices often becomes a weakness for them. In terms of opportunities, one interesting point, we all know that opportunity they have their potential to collaborate with NGOs, governments, private sectors, but one interesting opportunity that came in my group was the opportunity for peer-to-peer learning. Within the within different districts, within the communities or even among the countries, nearby countries, there is a very good chance of peer-to-peer learning and adopting the technologies and adaptation measures, the community was adaptation measures. So we thought that was a very interesting opportunity. And in terms of threats, again, we have preferred the word challenges over threats. One of the important challenge that was highlighted is the effective flow of fund within the system. And again, you know, the concern of not being heard, you know, anymore, that is an interesting challenge and threat within the system. In terms of key actors, one interesting point was raised that local schools and school communities can be a very effective key actor in this regard to get their voices heard to disseminate their information. And in terms of considering the issues, one important factor was that the effective channelization that people should consider and also the issue of, you know, accountability, particularly the willingness of the local service providers to hear from the community, they should have the willingness to, you know, co-create solutions. So that's all from my end. Thank you. Thank you so much. Saki Bhai, if you could summarize your room Saki Bhai, are you there? Saki Bhai, Mike's muted. Sorry, I thought I'd unmuted it. Shohel, could you maybe put up the SWAT analysis? So I think we had quite a lot of points that resonated with the Shahreens group as well, sort of understanding the sort of power dynamics and local actors that the communities need to be working on. And I think in sort of building up with some of the prompts that we put into the slides that really resonated with some of the discussions that we were having in terms of local communities being a little bit more embedded within the need. You know, the local communities are often the ones that are where we're getting the demands from the projects, which is a very good thing that we know the project and activities are demand driven. But then it's also about the local communities are a lot more invested in the agenda of getting that need met. So I think in terms of both understanding the demand and the commitment for seeing that through, that was a common strength that we were sort of focusing on. Also looking at some of the ways that communities are a little bit more responsive. Oftentimes, they're the ones right there at the impact level before any other actors can really mobilize themselves, get themselves geared towards working towards the activities and impacts. So again, that's the strength that we were looking into how we could turn that into an opportunity, then being a little bit more responsive, a little bit more effective. And we had some talks about how oftentimes working with local communities, that's a lot more cost effective for the project in general. So again, in terms of looking at when you're doing sort of maybe the national budgeting or donor driven projects in terms of cost effectiveness and value for money, that's something that to consider it's not whether you invest in other actors to be coming in and working at the local level, working with the local communities again, gives you that demand driven but then also gives you a better value for money in the project. So maybe that might be an opportunity that we could be taking forward. We had some talk about how to effectively channelize funding at the local level. So again, one of our comments was about how oftentimes local communities specifically lack the knowledge and access for going for bigger funding, whether there was our international funding mechanism, sometimes even national budget funding. So again, the opportunity is to be investing in the knowledge and developing those sort of capabilities within the community and using other financial institutions, microfinance institutions and Bangladesh being a case study that can be a good way of effectively channelizing climate finances because oftentimes, even if the local communities aren't able to access anything, microfinance institution is something that they're able to take a micro loan from. So then again, a bigger channel and bigger international funding might be difficult. But then what are some of the other private sector entities that we could be working with? We had some talk about how building linkages with academic sectors specifically in local schools and colleges that might be a good way of building the sort of resilient knowledge within the communities. And again, one of the points that I was sort of putting towards is working with local communities specifically earlier on develops the resilience of the community rather than them only being adaptive to something, something has to happen and they're going and repairing a flood embankment or a pond or a colder. It's not only an adaptive reactive sort of measure, working with the communities beforehand can actually build their resilience. They know what's happening beforehand. They're aware of some things that are happening beforehand. So capacity building in that element might be something that we could also consider as a step forward. I think we can, if I missed anything overarchingly, anybody would like to come in? Shohail, you're added. I think those are excellent points. I think comparing to the group discussion we had, I think we have some similar insights. I think most of the local level interventions often are being missed out because there is no proper channeling of their ideas to the global level or their local authorities as well. I think those are the key challenges everyone is facing and it's good that those things came up in two different groups. Sakip, if you would still like to continue, you have the floor or we can move on to the next break. I think we're okay for this. If we hear from some of the other breakouts, we can come back in the discussion if we need. Sure, sure. Thank you. Tashvia, Tashvia, if you would like to come in? Isstakbha will do the summary from our session. No problem, Mr. Guhai. Yeah. Thank you, Abnan. So we had a similar discussion despite of some technical difficulties we really had a good discussion among ourselves. The points are a bit similar that my colleagues already have mentioned but a few additions that I want to mention is like in this part of strengths, one of our discussion was the local people are more acceptable in the local communities and that's why they had a good influence in the communities, in their own community. That's why that is kind of one of their main strength. Some of the weakness is lack of understanding of these specific issues like climate change. In a lot of cases we have seen that the local people they don't have a clear idea what climate change is and that kind of comes up as a weakness or like challenge for them. At the same time they have limited opportunities to raise their voice even though a lot of organizations are kind of working at the community level to have their voice at different levels but still they don't have like the opportunity that they should have. They have limited opportunities. In terms of opportunities that we see is if we can train them to build their capacity and conduct different activities that can be a good opportunity for them they will have a good understanding of the topics. At the same time the NGOs can play a role to facilitate and linkage their community level to the national level in decision making. The test that we see is one is the political interference. A lot of time the political leaders they have their role, negative role to play in this process. At the same time the power imbalance, the power imbalance that we have with the local community and the policymakers that plays a kind of negative role in this way. At the same time vested interest even a community is not a homogenous and that a different group has a different agency so sometimes the local elites with the business interest kind of comes up as a threat to this process. Some key actors that we think is from our group is like local institutions definitely the local Indian bodhisattva, Upojala Purishavad and the local health care center, health complex. At the same time department of public health, water research management they play a vital role in this process. In terms of things to consider what we think is really important effective channelization of fun. At the same time as Shari mentioned transparency and accountability will play a big role to formulate the process in formal. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, if you have any questions, especially participants, you can please write them down in the chat box. We'll get back to you after the feedback. At this point I would like to Arusa to summarize the breakout room from our end and at the same time after I would ask Dr. Hop since he was present in the room to share his thoughts. Arusa over to you. Hi everyone. So at this point I think I don't have anything really new to say but however out of the top of my mind I know besides discussing what has already been discussed till now I know we talked about the fractured nature of the government departments where each government departments have their own agendas and viewpoints and oftentimes it seems that because of that the local change makers cannot really go in and make a difference. So and then another key thing that we discussed also was formalizing the informal groups. So oftentimes we know that in community places we have a lot of associations or groups that are informal but whoever is present in that group are very influential. They have the means to make change however they don't really have that authority. So by formalizing them we can give them the access to really make a change in their community and besides this I think I will give the floor to Dr. Hop so that he can go over the points that he talked about. Thank you. Yeah Dr. Hop if you could come in I think you shared some really insightful thoughts in our group. I would request you to share that with the larger participants present here right now. Thank you very much Abnan. So just to repeat my reflection within the group to me there are three big challenges that we need to be thinking about all of us collectively and not just this particular session but all the sessions of the CBA. The first one is how do we and by we I mean all of us are not the grassroot communities. We are outsiders associated with some grassroot community. What role can we play to assist the grassroot communities to enable them to be more effective in the activities that they do in this particular case access to water use of water but in the larger context adaptation to climate change going forward and we've got some very good examples of NGOs doing things academics doing things and what we now need to think about is how do we make the outcomes of all of these activities more effective going forward and there are several things that we can do one all of them have been discussed here so this is not anything new is how do we empower people and empowerment requires organization it requires collective action it requires connecting people from different locations together so that they can act together to influence decision-making initially primarily within the local decision-making structures and the national decision-making structures but for this particular conference what I would like us to all think about and and hopefully take out from the conference and take forward after CBA 14 is over in the next few days is how do we take this to the global level how do we link up with each other grassroot groups people working with grassroot groups in different localities countries towns rural areas continents how do we connect with each other and how do we stay connected to each other and how do we take forward at the global level these different advocacy items and evidence-based information and and knowledge that we are producing together with local communities that to me is the big challenge we have not been able to do that so far so my my question all the time when I listen to all of this is how can we make that happen are there thoughts that we can bring together to make our collective action globally collective action of the grassroot community is more effective in this particular context obviously water water has helped and watched as a very very big role to play in adaptation to climate change almost anything to do with adaptation has to do with water at the same time so these are integrally linked that you can't de-link them so it's very relevant for the community based adaptation agenda to talk about wash and water as well so thank you all everybody for excellent discussions I really enjoyed being part of it thank you thank you Dr. Hawk for insights at this point we'll be taking questions we have really good panel members from the community level at the same time from water aid and in the international center for climate change and development so if you have any questions you can use the raise hand feature we can give you the floor at the same time we you can type in the questions in the chat box we can prompt the question to our experts afterwards so I'll just give one minute if you have any questions please use the raise hand option we also have some questions that came earlier we can directly jump into that as well you have any I think Olivia had a comment Olivia would you like to prompt that question to the panel yeah so it was more more just a point than a question but around where we were talking about informal and formal communities and I mean obviously I can only speak from Cape Town perspective but I think Bangladesh possibly has a similar situation as well where the informal informal communities are kind of considered like an other that they're not necessarily kind of embraced as as you know part of part of the society and unless that happens I'm not sure that their you know the the voices of the informal communities are you know going to be listened to and respected and I'm not I don't know what the answer is to that to be honest it's a big it's a big problem that's bigger than you know obviously that we can say but I just think it's an interesting problem yeah thank you thank you I think that's a really interesting question I think top provoking question I might say and I think everyone should like me moving forward we should all figure out going on to Dr. Hawthorne point also your point we have a hand raised from Sakib Bhai Sakib Bhai if you could I think sort of related to that as well we had a point about oftentimes at the local level specifically local water issues it's often the women of the household in the community that are the ones that are in charge of dealing with the problems and sort of figuring out what to do with it I've just seen from some of our case studies as well so I think one of the points that we had about being inclusive about that is not only sort of looking at them as being a sort of end beneficiary of a project but then including them into the planning and the design stages as well so that your your project is able to sort of target the local community needs as well as be gender responsive right from the beginning from the planning and the onset of it and then building that forward into the structures of the project I think is a much better perhaps more effective way of going ahead with the project rather than having to retrofit these sorts of considerations and inclusivity issues later on once the project is already designed and integrated thank you thank you Sakib Bhai I think Sumiti had a really good point in the chat box regarding convergence of wash problems and solution with climate adaptation Sumiti would you like to from that question I would like Hasina part to come in and give her insight on that Sumiti I'm sure thank you Adnan I basically felt that I think from a technical as well as academic circles these two domains have been kept a bit apart because wash again may have a solution space which is both technological as well as you know technique technologically dependent and derived as we heard you know with the RO plant plants in Bangladesh as well as an ecosystem element so both in terms of solutions as well as approaches wash and climate adaptation have not really been seen as parallel processes or not they have been seen as parallel but as converging processes so maybe some awareness building is required in that domain to to build the interlinkages I would say at a very practitioner and community level understanding but as I was listening to the conversation especially Olivia talking about formalizing the informal communities engagements etc I think I just wanted to raise this element of Cape Town and South Africa particularly where crime impedes a lot of people from engaging within formal settlements because of the history of the country which may not be the same in all countries but definitely it's a very very critical element here because I know researchers who worked in informal settlements and the strategies that they then employ so that they can be tracked by colleagues and friends all the time you know through GPS so I mean that's the thing that I was saying about how different cities have their own contexts that one then has to put in so I appreciate that the point that Salimullah raised about connecting to global discourses and yet we are also very much entrenched in our local context so yeah so you have an interesting question regarding the convergence of wash problems and solution with climate adaptation I think it's a very important comment yeah yeah sharn sorry so I particularly during my breakout session I had Mr. Zubair Hassan within the session and he raised out if very quite a few interesting points like he has been working in this sector for quite a while and has been closely linking the grassroots voices with the local and national national and subnational actors maybe I can quickly ask Zubair if you can hear us and if you can share how the exactly the challenges are in place and what you think can be the solutions to you know include the local actors and a march with the national and subnational government if you can quickly in two three minutes summer thank you thank you very much I think we had a lot of discussions and all the distinguished participants they already know their point of view but as a local implementing organizations and as we are directly communicating with the local people and already two of them have participated and today's caption of our session is local solution and inspiring local action so solution I think it is depends but very difficult at some point but what we have found that community know what we have learned that community know what they should do only we need to create some enabling environment that what to do in relation to the water sanitation hygiene particularly for their needs as well as the climate responsive initiative and also accordingly we need to have create the facilitation for example making the opportunities because they don't know where to go and appeal for water and sanitation government are saying at the national level that we have the proper strategy we have sufficient budget allocation we have numbers of PSF related projects local rural water and we have separate ministry environment and climate change ministry so but local people don't know we need to create enabling environment so that they can get the proper information how much budget is coming for them and how they can receive it and how they can best utilize it and also particularly focusing on inclusive and gender responsive budget because all of we know that water is very much related to the gender issues and it is it should be inclusive and in the first presentation as well as Dr. Hawk also mentioned that the empowerment needs to come from somewhere that is important very much important because without giving empowerment or giving the the the rights or duties at the local level we are just putting the top down approach it will not work the solution should come from the local level we have to explore and lastly what we would like to say that from our implementing project what we have seen that resources are not going at the local level all it is stuck at the national level for example in the SDG approach we know the per capita allocation 1200 taka it's a planning commission estimated budget which is 12 euro per capita but is this enough for the local community have we assessed any time or have we discussed at the local level we know the corruption and the accountability issue also but top of that we need to think the local needs creating the enabling environment and giving them the chance to explore the budget and and that's what Pani G1 is trying to do it thank you very much thank you thank you so very very interesting insight on that date at this point since we're at the end of our session i would like Hasina up to come in firstly i would request upper to share her insight about the overall session and her finding and then i would ask her to give the closing remarks but before everyone leaves after the closing remarks i would request everyone to turn on their video we'll take a picture before you are allowed to let go of the end of this session apai if you could come in thank you so i'll be very brief just to say a few words one about that climate the climate impacted areas what our solution is not neither easy nor cheap we have to understand that and the technical technological solution whatever we give them that is high cost and the operation and maintenance require high high cost as well and if we engage the local community the overall operational cost may minimize so that is another point to understand and consider for future and my third point is political commitment is a must so flow of resource will be there if political commitment is there so we we cannot ignore that and the last point is gender responsive and gender inclusive planning is essential and let me move on to my closing remark and at the outset i would like to thank Dr. Salimul Haq a director of ICAC for attending this session and i'm really thank you for his presence and i would also like to thank Zubair Hassan director of research planning monitoring of dot monitoring director of dot and i would like to thank Shauko Choudhury who is the Kojila coordinator of dot and Sufiha Begum speaker of mother mother parliament and lastly i would like to thank all all the audience for attending the cv conference especially our session Shahreen Adnan Shatil and all the moderators who attended the Begum sessions and as my last remark i would like to say one thing and give an example actually i have heard Shahreen was telling several times and she was asking for apology because of the technical difficulties but this is here i want to emphasize a point that you can see that often we talk about community and the community remains missing and here is the platform online group platform and we try to bring the community present here with us and we had technical bridge and everywhere this is this happens that when we want to bring the community make them inclusive we we encounter several problems and we have to accommodate them and we have to bear with this so i i i really thank everybody to bear with us and we have to understand that if we want to make the inclusive planning then we have to accommodate like this and we have to accept the reality and we have to tailor our intervention our project like this like today we have managed the situation so thanks everybody and we hope that we can go for inclusive planning like today thank you very much for attending today's session thanks thank you thank you so much thank you doctor hot thank you for joining the session today so before everyone leaves please turn on your video we're going to make it fun we're going to take a quick picture before everyone can leave volunteers if you could take a screen screen or a picture um rukh sir are you taking it if people all of them could turn on their mics i see some of them are still not on video thank you okay everyone's here yep i got most of the photos only a few are still not on camera but i think we're good most of them are thank you everyone thank you thank you so much thank you for listening thank you for coming in thank you for participating thank you so much thank you so much everyone i hope everyone enjoyed the session and thank you so much for your active participation


Everybody forced here got a couple boxes of 2022 Star Wars masterwork from Matt Kay So you just sketch Matt big auto maybe lots to look for in these. Good luck, man Even bigger winner for the magic we get 50% off Papa John's All right, there's a blue shirt in way auto twilight server Andrea Bartlow as twilight server all right second mini box here got Obi-Wan quote purple Lando at a 15 nice Lando But they beat lane Wood card Greedo number to ten sick wood card one of ten of the Greedo Awesome stuff Matt and an R a sing-automish on bore you. Oh, yeah, that's right the jobs. I saw that highlight. I just blanked Sketch coming up sketch coming up Queal on the blue guess sketchy malice guess sketchy. It is a bokeh tan sketch that one is really pretty Bokeh tan crease sketch by Nick Grippin grip on that's super cool, man. Congrats Matt really good box here wood card in a sketch and another mini box to go Which will have another auto in it. I think this is a Such a cool sketch. Let me think dummy thick dummy thick Mando green bd1 to 99 a k2so 25 rubble base radar screen relic Radar screen relic k2so really good box there great box Only one auto, but I think the sketch replaces the auto technically. Yeah, I know you're right Lane. You're right Although I don't know it's not 100% because sometimes you see in sketch and auto and say mini box It's a little inconsistent in that sense. I haven't seen a mini box without a hit. Yeah, anything you get to Not complain more of an observation. I would say 90% of the time people would rather have the sketch than these than the auto that's bold 90% of the time it's gotta pull the big auto then green Maron to 99 and hondo onaka auto Jim Cummings is hondo onaka Hunter on the blue Fixer auto Skyler Bibles Skyler Bible Wicked there purple Jenna grievous at a 50 foil the Mandalorian at 299. I don't know. I don't know Lane. I have no idea Got a source fabric relic Jacket relic from Ray. I don't know why they should just play the young outfielders that they have I guess for depth But they should be playing raffaella and will sure bray you and like if the rands healthy easier center fielder Maybe they want a DH Yoshida And get him out of left. I don't know another dummy thick card That's some thick. He's coming your way Matt Okay, blue is Bodhi Rook. Hey, John the young don't Donna on the rebel base radar screen Relic there Alright appreciate you Matt. Congrats on especially that first box man. That was really really good Beautiful bokeh tan sketch and I'll do it. We'll get those out to you


Friends, welcome back to my channel and welcome if you're new here. My name is Jen. I'm a certified weight loss and nutrition coach and I'm on the WW or the Weight Watchers Blue Plan. Today I have a fun haul video for you. It's been a while since I've done one of these. I do order from Thrive Market all the time. I just haven't filmed a dedicated Thrive Market haul video for quite some time. And this came at the perfect, perfect time. As we start out the new year, of course I wanna continue to eat clean and healthy and of course I wanna save money when buying all of those items. So that's why I am a member of the Thrive Market. I order from them pretty regularly. If you didn't know, all of the items on Thrive Market are up to 30% less than your traditional grocery store. Not to mention there is a little bit of something for everyone, every lifestyle, every diet plan. They have thousands and thousands of healthy items. So today I have quite a big haul from Thrive. Some of my favorites, some new things, some new finds that I've continued to order and that have been put onto my favorites list. So this is an excellent haul. Thank you so much to Thrive Market for sponsoring today's video. And down in the description box, I will leave a link for Thrive where when you join the Thrive Market, you pay the membership fee. It's for an entire year. You get free shipping over a certain dollar amount. You'll also get a free gift up to a $24 value, which is amazing. So definitely check out the Thrive Market down below. Also in the description box, you'll find my brand new release 2021 custom calendar. Another great thing to have as we move into the new year. You'll also find nutrition coaching. I offer macro and calorie calculation as well as 30 and 60 minute one-on-one sessions. So head on over to my nutrition coaching website. Again, the Thrive Market is linked down below along with my other favorite things.  We'd love to have you head on over and join us there. So we have a haul to do, so let's jump in. My first Thrive Market haul of 2021. I am gearing up with all of my healthy staples plus a few new finds on the Thrive Market website. So let's take a look at what I picked up from Thrive Market. Everything's packaged very nicely in this box. Everything is wrapped really, really well. Glass bottles, cans are wrapped up. Everything comes in pristine condition. I've never had an issue from Thrive. Their entire box and all of its packaging is compostable. So it's great for our environment. So I got quite a good haul. I'm pretty excited to move into 2021 with some new finds and a lot of my Thrive staples. First, I ordered the Tara Original Chips. I actually purchased these at the Dollar Tree quite a few months ago. They are delicious. They are a vegetable potato chip. So this one has parsnip, taro, sweet potato, yucca or yucca and beets. And it's so good. I don't know what it is about these chips, but they're absolutely positively delicious. I will put calories, points and price here on the screen for you. I also picked up these chips. These are coconut oil sweet potato chips with sea salt. What I love about these, number one is their kettle cooked, which is my favorite kind of chip. And number two, they are individual portion. There are six little bags of chips in this package. So you can't overeat when things are pre-portioned which is amazing. So it definitely helps with portion control. So each bag is sweet potatoes and organic coconut oil and sea salt. That's it. 200 calories per bag and you cannot beat the nice clean ingredients in a potato chip. They also have a killer price on enjoy life chocolate chips.  What is so great about this brand is it is allergy friendly. So it is free of the nine common allergies. It's all natural. The ingredients are absolutely perfection. Unsweetened chocolate and cane sugar. And here's what enjoy life products are free from. Wheat, peanuts, peanuts, dairy, cakes and soy, eggs, that's me folding, lupin, mustard, fish, chocolate and crustacean. So these are the most common allergens. So it's great that they have their products made without them and these are the best chocolate chips ever. So I picked up the dark chocolate morsels and two bags of the minis. I just love the minis. I feel like you get more bang for your calorie and point buck. So I picked up two bags of those and I paid less than $11 for three bags. You can't beat it. And in the event that you live in a warm climate, thrive will package these up with an ice pack. So I have ordered in the summer. They come cold as cold can be packaged up perfectly for shipping in a warm climate. So I'm excited to have these for baking and I do just sometimes like a little sweet chocolate treats. So I'll have one serving as a snack. I also picked up the noble made classic barbecue sauce. The barbecue sauce is 35 calories per serving. Here are your ingredients. Literal, literal perfection when it comes to ingredients. So I'm excited to try this in place of the G Hughes just because that one doesn't always have the best ingredients. And then I love the Thrive Market organic unsweetened applesauce. It's the best. I don't know what it is about it. It's the quality, it's the taste, the texture. It's my very favorite applesauce. So I will always pick that up on Thrive. Now I have purchased these from the Thrive Market before and absolutely loved these. These are the Lara Bar kid bakes in cinnamon swirl. These are so good. They remind me of a super soft snick or doodle cookie but they have great ingredients. Nine ingredients, no artificial sweeteners and these are actually gluten-free and non-GMO. My favorite ever taco seasoning is from the Thrive Market. You have to buy two at a time. So I went ahead and ordered four. This taco seasoning is perfect. It's not too spicy and it has really, really good flavor. And then I love the canned goods at Thrive as well. As you know, I pick everything up organic especially if it falls on the dirty dozen, which tomatoes do. So I picked up a can of organic fire roasted dice tomatoes and two cans of organic tomato sauce. This is a new find for me. I've heard of this before but I've never tried it. I will put here on the screen my thoughts because I will try this before this video goes up. But this is the Tutti Gourmet Biscotti. It is gluten-free and this is orange and dark chocolate. Who doesn't love orange and dark chocolate together? What I love about this too is their handmade and they're free from wheat, dairy, corn and soy which again speaks right to my heart. So I'm excited to try these. Hopefully they are as delicious as I think that they're going to be. I also like to buy my organic oats from Thrive because they're much more affordable. I really like these Bobs Red Mill gluten-free organic oats. One thing to watch with oats and gluten-free is you might be saying, hey Jen, all oats are gluten-free. Not necessarily. If they are not from a certified gluten-free facility then they cannot put the words gluten-free on the package because they are processed and manufactured in a plant with wheat. So there's a potential that particles of wheat have floated and landed on the oats. So unless they are in an exclusive gluten-free facility they can't put this big red gluten-free label on top. So watch for that. If you're someone that has to watch your gluten I just really like these organic oats. They're my very favorite. And another little tip for you is always buy your oats organic because they are heavily sprayed with glycosate which is the active ingredient in Roundup.  You know my love of kombucha and I have never tried the Revive sparkling kombucha in mango and orange. So I had to pick this up. It's only 20 calories per serving and a serving is one can. So traditional kombucha is 50 to 60 calories a serving. So this I think may be zero points. Of course it'll be here on the screen for you but I'm excited to try just a new brand of kombucha and this little corner I'm really excited about. So as I was searching through the Thrive website I searched sparkling water because you know I love sparkling water and this baby popped up. These are the Aura Bora sparkling waters. This is an herbal sparkling water in peppermint and watermelon. They are zero sugar, zero calories and this ingredient list is amazing. Carbonated water, organic watermelon extract and peppermint leaf extract. So as I've told you guys in the past the only clean sparkling water meaning it does not have natural flavors on the market is spin drift. And now Aura Bora is number two. So I will let you guys know again here on the screen my thoughts. I'm going to try all three flavors that I picked up and let you know which ones I like, didn't like and which ones were my favorite but I love peppermint anything so I'm pretty excited about that one. I also picked up two cans of the lemon grass coconut. Oh sounds so good. And then two cans of the lavender and cucumber. So again, hopefully I like these because for an option for clean sparkling water this is even more affordable than spin drift. And honestly there's a most of the flavors of spin drift I don't love. So I'm hoping these are my new go-to sparkling water. So that's everything that I picked up from the Thrive Market. I did meet the minimum order threshold so this shipped to my doorstep for free. No gas, no fighting the crowds, no wearing a mask. Thrive Market is seriously a game changer for healthy food so check them out down in the description box. I hope you enjoyed this Thrive Market haul. I'm so excited to be restocked up from Thrive and have a lot of my favorite things on hand and try out some really new fun things. Since filming this video I have fell in love with so many of these items. I'm super excited again to be part of the Thrive Market. So if you're not a Thrive member I'll link it down below again with the free gift up to $24 value. Just check them out. It's a great way to save money and have everything delivered right to your doorstep. That's one of my other favorite things. If you enjoyed today's video please give it a big huge thumbs up and don't forget if you're not yet subscribed or you're new turn around and hit that little subscribe button we'd absolutely love to have you. Thrive is linked down in the description box with the calendar, nutrition coaching, links and discounts to my other favorite things and of course my Facebook group. Thank you again so much to Thrive Market for sponsoring today's video and I'll see you guys all in the next one. Bye.


The next item of business is a member's business debate on motion 14162, in the name of Jamie Halcro Johnston, on regulation of electricians as a profession. The debate will be concluded without any questions being put. I could ask those members who wish to speak in the debate to press the request-to-speak buttons now, and I call on Mr Halcro Johnston to open the debate. I am grateful to have the opportunity today to raise an issue that is of importance to every home and business in Scotland, but it all premises across the length and breadth of the country, whether on or off-grid, have some form of electrical installation. It is ultimately to them the body of consumers that I would ask members to consider today. First, I extend my thanks to all the members from across all the political parties in this Parliament who have signed my motion and to the organisations who have taken time to meet with me over the recent months. I also thank all those people within the industry who have been in touch and to the many who are in the gallery today. Electricity and the insulation and maintenance of its supply must be handled with extreme caution. In many cases, it seems that electrical products are more regulated than the electrical insulation work that they utilise, yet the consequences of poor work can be severe, damage to property, injury and occasionally even death. I was staggered, as have many colleagues across this chamber, to learn that people who enter our homes and businesses to install and maintain our wiring of fuse boxes and appliances need to have no qualifications at all, and yet they can still call themselves electricians. I believe that that simply should not be the case. The UK national contact point for professional qualifications shows 102 different professions that have protection of title. Most notable amongst them is the gas industry. We recognise that there are appropriately certified tradesmen able to undertake work on gas installations. The Parliament has extended protection to other roles, for example to door supervisors at bars and nightclubs in events. That is not to say that protection of title will immediately solve every problem. Of course, gas boilers are still fitted in homes and business premises by people who are not appropriately qualified. However, it must surely be at the core of the measures that we can take to create a safe and well-regulated industry. For many years, organisations such as Select formally the Electrical Contractors Association of Scotland and the Scottish Joint Industry Board, which includes representatives from United Union, the successor of the former electricians union, have been campaigning for the electrical profession to be recognised and protected. In more recent years, a number of organisations have cooperated with the Scottish Government as part of its working group to bring about changes to the industry and to improve the safety of electrical work, as well as better enabling consumers to make the right choices when it comes to choosing contractors and trades people. It is, however, almost three years since this issue was first raised, and not only is there no action towards it, the Scottish Government's position remains ambiguous. It is, of course, right that any approach is well considered before being taken forward. However, this work has already been done in the main. Some have asked about the scale of the problem, a point that has been heard and discussed at some depth. Select and United have presented evidence to the working group that suggests that as many as 4,000 individuals may be operating in the grey market, undertaking unqualified or underqualified work on electrical installations. They fully recognise that this figure, however, comes with caveats. The truth is that it is almost impossible to bring forward conclusive statistics. Few individuals, faced with the question, will be willing to raise their heads and enthusiastically declare themselves as unqualified. Gil Finlay. Does he agree with me that the areas that he has just identified are a huge issue, but also that there should not be any moves in the industry to downgrade the role of an electrician? John Swinney. I certainly would not. I think that there is a lot more, just from the motion that has been put for today, conversations that need to be had after to make sure that all areas like that are encompassed with any legislation that goes forward. As the greatest prevalence of poor and unsafe work is found in the domestic market, in people's homes, there are other challenges too. For most, commissioning electrical work is not a frequent exercise. We know that many are not familiar with the industry or the existing bodies that operate within it. Whilst most expect to qualify an electrician to arrive, we know that that is not always what happens. Members of the public in general assume that the title of an electrician comes with its protections. When presented with evidence that it is not, the vast majority, 93 per cent in select survey, back regulation to assure that only people with relevant qualifications can advertise their services as an electrician. A further 89 per cent wanted more information on how to check that an electrician is qualified. Of course, what is central to this debate is safety. What are the consequences of poor electrical work? In 2016, there were 619 casualties and 10 people killed in electrical fault-related incidents across the United Kingdom. Figures in Scotland may be proportionately less, but that seems like little excuse when faced with calls for action to avoid this harm. We also know that many faults are latent, that they can lie and wait for months or even years before a combination of circumstances cause injury to a person or damage to property. There are a number of possible approaches to protection of title, with which I have no doubts ministers will be familiar. Some have proposed an extension of the joint industry board with its membership opened up further to co-ordinate this. Others have suggested that the existing certification register of construction, which has existed for some time on a voluntary basis, could be modified and have its remit expanded. All of the organisations that I have spoken with have emphasised that keeping cost minimal, keeping the solution simple and maintaining a light touch with business and electricians are key in their considerations. Enforcement will also be a concern. We should not introduce a regularity framework then allow it to be ignored. So, too, we will be ensuring that continuing qualifications are recognised. Electrical work is evolving, and we must avoid the suggestion that protected title is a substitute for ensuring that qualifications are up to date or that specialist work should be only undertaken by those with specialist qualifications. The professional bodies that exist already demonstrate good practice and promote high standards of training amongst their member firms. That model should be embraced as part of any recognition and certification programme. Those issues are not beyond the wit of this Parliament to thrash out. However, the question that still remains is simple. Whether there exists within the Scottish Government, the political will to make that happen. As I mentioned previously, many of those issues have already been heard within the Government's working group. However, I am far from alone in thinking that this process has dragged on for too long. There seems to have been a broad acceptance after select commission its own legal advice that this Parliament has the powers to act. Unfortunately, the momentum for measures to improve safety is sometimes only found after incidents make it clear that they can no longer be ignored. I would hope that we collectively begin to take forward action now. Deputy Presiding Officer, I feel that the protection of title is a necessary component of ensuring safety in the electrical industry, but I recognise too that this will not be a silver bullet. NICEIC have, for example, emphasised the importance of raising awareness amongst domestic customers and some of the ways that they have been working with organisations to achieve this. That is a process that I fully support. What I am seeking today is a sign that, after almost three years of discussion, the protection of title is seriously being considered by ministers, in line with the wide support that such a move would have. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I thank Jamie Halcro Johnston for securing this important debate this afternoon. That being said, I have not signed the motion, because from my work in this area, as the convener of the cross-party group of accident prevention and safety awareness, in my discussions in the industry, I feel that there is not a consensus yet as to how the best way forward is to achieve consumer confidence. That is the most important thing here, is that when people contract out and engage someone who describes themselves as an electrician, that the customer can be fully sure that they are qualified and safe to be undertaking the work in that area. In that being said, I absolutely recognise the commitment to safety both of select and Mr Johnston and how important that is going forward. We talked about some of the issues of what can go wrong with electrical safety, and this is really important not just for people in their own homes and social landlords, but one only has to look at some of the testimonies on the Families Against Corporate Killing website and see people who have been killed or seriously injured at work as a result of electricity installations not being safe in the work in practice. It is really something that for many of us we take for granted, our electricity is there, it is on demand. When something goes wrong with it, we all feel the issues, but sometimes I feel that we do not, as consumers, understand how important it is to ensure the safety. Neil Findlay. I will ask this in all sincerity what if she could help us about who is not on board with the proposal to regulate the industry. I do not think that it is a case of regulating the industry. I think that it is a bit achieving consensus about the best way to do that. That is why I did not sign it, because I recognise the calls for the particular mechanism that Mr Halcro Johnston has called for, but the consensus that I do not feel is there. It is not about not regulating, it is about getting to that consensus. I welcome the work of the Government's electrical working group and I am sure that the minister will have much to say about the work that has been completed over the past three years. I know that one of the barriers to some of those issues can be the perception of the burden of paperwork and red tape that will be placed on small electrical companies and small individual electricians. That is often seen as an administrative barrier to achieving that. Earlier this year, I was invited to open and participate in the institution of gas engineers and managers conference in Edinburgh. I saw a presentation there from Stuart Davidson's of gas tag, and he had taken the gas safety register, which all gas engineers have. That is another mechanism that could be looked at to achieve that consumer confidence that is so important. It was an online app. The gas appliance was tagged in a home in an area and it was read with a QR reader by the gas engineer undertaking the work. That might be a lot of the paperwork that is normally associated with filling out the address, what time, what was done. It could all be recorded on the app at the time. Photographs were taken to prove that the engineer had completed the work to a satisfactory level. That was being rolled out along across social landlords. I give that as a by-wave an example of how technology can help us and improve our ability to secure that consumer confidence and safety, which is what we are all here for today. I thought that that was interesting. We are moving into the internet of things. The world is changing, sensor technology, and the ability for an installation or a few spots to tell an engineer that something has gone wrong and it needs service. All those things are of the future and things that can be used to improve this situation. I welcome the opportunity to speak about it today, and I look forward to the minister's update. Thank you very much. I call Alexander Burnett. We follow by Monica Lennon. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I also add my thanks to Jamie Halcro Johnston for bringing this important topic to the debating chamber and to those members across the chamber who were able to support the motion. In a time when consumers are always looking to research a product or service before purchasing, regulation is welcome to many across Scotland. I have previously spoken in the chamber putting my support behind apprenticeships. I believe that the regulation of electricians as a profession would improve opportunities for apprentices as it would offer a wider and more comprehensive learning than some of the more specific electrical roles that are being proposed. I will quickly note members to my register of interests as an employer of apprentices in the construction industry, but I make this point as we have all recognised the benefit that apprentices bring to business. Select and SJIB have noted that the status quo of unqualified electricians is undermining individuals and companies who invest in apprentices and staff training and innovation. Therefore, to have this accreditation for people entering the profession would not only be a huge benefit to them as individuals but would also help businesses to encourage in fresh talent. With everything moving towards electrification as part of our push to prevent climate change, we are seeing many more things from our transport to our homes moving to electric. With this increased use of electric products, we will require more electricians, and we need to do all that we can to encourage people into the profession. As members across the chamber have noted, unions, businesses and charities are like all support the principle of regulating electricians as a profession. I note electrical safety first point that more research is required on the potential benefits of protection of title in consultation with all parts of the electrical industry. Unite also mentioned that their members raised their concerns and frustration that people who have not met the established national and industry standards are able to use with impunity the title of electrician and therefore would also welcome the protection of this title. The privilege of calling yourself an electrician should be limited to those who are qualified at this highly skilled profession. Not only will this prevent rogue traders from carrying out electrical work that could be unsafe, but it could also help reduce cost to a consumer by preventing further repairs required on shoddy work. Currently, the overall cost of faulty electrical work in Scotland is around £120 million every year, and that does not even include the cost of major incidents. Consumer confidence is important, and I would be keen to see that regulation does not become a weak form of accreditation, so I therefore back calls to ensure that there is a continuous assessment of the competence of the registered electrician, and with that I would be keen to see a campaign to raise awareness to residents across Scotland of identifying and using registered electricians. This is an important step in improving consumer confidence and helping the industry to reduce the number of rogue traders used. Regulation should be there to protect consumers, but most importantly, we must support electricians who are already carrying out work safely and properly. I therefore support this motion. We will be added caveat, but we must work with the industry to develop a robust system of regulation. I call Monica Lennon, to be followed by Tom Arthur. Just bear with me a minute. I am sorry, I have just noted that there was some clapping in the gallery now. I understand why people want to clap in the gallery, but it is not allowed in the Scottish Parliament. I thank Mr Jamie Halcro for bringing forward this important debate. This follows a determined campaign by organisations representing both employers and employees, like Select, Unite the Union, the National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting and Electrical Safety First, to secure official legal recognition of qualified and competent electricians in the interests of public safety. As the convener of the cross-party group on construction, it is an issue that I have come to learn about and feel passionately about, so I am glad to be taking part in the debate today. Whether in the home or in the workplace, people deserve to be safe. Like 93 per cent of the Scottish households are surveyed by Select, I expected any person claiming to be an electrician to have training and achieved qualifications. It is staggering that, in effect, anyone can call themselves an electrician and undertake work that they are not qualified to do. That puts everyone at risk. Badly installed or maintained electrical work creates a significant risk of fire and other risks such as electrical shocks. Government statistics show that 60 per cent of all accidental fires in Scottish homes are caused by electricity. Those safety risks may lie dormant for months or even years. Those silent killers can strike at any time. It only needs a set of circumstances to combine to trigger it. The unregulated electrician sector makes it more difficult to hold road traders accountable and people are left to foot the bill of correcting unsafe electrical works. I am the daughter of a health and safety officer, so I do not really need to be convinced of the health and safety case for regulating electricians as a profession. I listened to the remarks from Claire Adamson about concerns by some in industry about the burden of bureaucracy. I remind the saying that we are here to remember the dead and to fight for the living good employers who work with trade unions to improve health and safety. Do not see that as a burden. It is about people's human rights. Too many people have died in workplaces for us to be complacent and allow conversations to drift on. Scotland has world-class routes. I will take the intervention. Just to be absolutely clear, it is not that I think any of the paperwork would be unnecessary. I was just pointing out that there are other ways of recording and achieving things that are cheaper and easier to do now. It was not a suggestion at all that there should be any diminuatio of the health and safety aspect of what should be happening in there. Indeed, the cross-party group next to me has discussed this on many occasions, so I invite both members to come along and hear some of the testimonies that are regarding this very issue. Monica Lennon I would be happy to do so. I think that people should feel reassured, because regulation of professions is commonplace in the UK. For example, I am a chartered town planner. That is a protected title. There are more than 100 regulated professions already, and yet there is no protection afforded to electricians. Regulation can spread best practice and facility on-going training. Those are good things. That will become of critical importance when the new 18th edition of the writing regulations comes into force in January next year. The race standards markedly introduced new and more complex technical requirements to ensure safety. Regulations will ensure that electricians are properly qualified to meet the higher standards and assist with training. In conclusion, I join the many organisations in the sector to call on the Scottish Government to not delay and to use its powers to impose protection of title for electricians. There is a clear case for that. Scotland can lead the way in the UK on that issue, and in doing so will help to ensure that people in Scotland are kept safe and skilled workers are properly recognised for the vital job that they do. Thank you very much. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I would like to begin by congratulating Jamie Halcro Johnston on securing that important debate. My sentiments are similar to my colleagues Claire Adamson, but I am absolutely behind the sentiments and motivation for regulation. I hope that this debate can contribute to the consensus about the best model. I agree absolutely with Alexander Burnett that that has to be one that is developed with industry, so that we ensure that, while we are no corners cut, every aspect of health and safety is given proper attention to and enforced that we find the most efficient method at all, particularly for many electricians and small businesses who know who are self-employed. Monica Lennon I hope that the member will indulge me in the best possible spirit, but I am quite surprised to hear the arguments about bureaucracy, regulation and concerns. Traditionally, we would get that from the Tory benches. Is there a bit of a role reversal going on, Mr Arthur? I forgot his name. Sorry, Tom Arthur. I was about to help you, but you gracefully recalled at the right moment Mr Arthur. I can assure absolutely not that simply what I am stating as my colleague Clare Adamson has is that I want to make sure that we get the best method and model possible. That is it. I completely agree with the principles that have been set out. I think that they are long overdue and I will come to why in a moment, but I do want to be absolutely clear. I simply might be marked about finding the best method possible, but that cannot come at the price of compromise in regards to robustness and integrity, but it is required to inspire confidence among consumers. I hope that that clears any misunderstanding that Monica Lennon might have on that matter. I should declare an interest. I have had the opportunity to engage in conversations with select over a number of years. I am looking forward to meeting with select again next month. I should also declare the interest as the son of an electrician. My father started off his career as an electrician in the late 60s before going on to become an electrical engineer and then an operational manager. Health and safety was a very different era back in the 60s being the solitary operator on a cherry picker and high winds and the district lighting is not something that would necessarily be tolerated today. However, I learned from my father from a very young age to have a great respect and understanding for electricity and the dangers that it presents. I was always shocked if I engaged with friends or colleagues who perhaps were not aware of how dangerous it can be. The point that Mr Burnett made with regard to the increasing proliferation of electronic goods is a well-made one. The point that Jamie Halcro Johnson made is that electronic goods are more regulated than electronic electrical installation is a very key point indeed. The other key points that were highlighted in the motion were the over 100 regulated professions that already exist. Gas engineers, members of the public and consumers, have a clear understanding of the dangers posed by gas and they would not want to be subject to—we would not want their property or their premises to be subject to work carried out by someone who is not a regulated gas engineer. That is clear and understandable. I have a point where I think that part of our aims and objectives should be not just about the regulation of a profession but about inspiring greater consumer confidence and understanding. I, too, was shocked by the statistics to read that, for the overwhelming majority of people, they would not be able to discern whether or not someone was a qualified electrical installer. To give one example in my own experience, a decade ago, my parents had a new bathroom installed and the work that was carried out by the electrician was absolutely appalling. Not only was that a case of cables not being tidily ordered, the cable to the shower, one of the highest-drawing appliances in the house, was completely the wrong type of cable posing a grave fire hazard. Fortunately, in my household, my parents' household, my father, was able to identify that and go through the installer like if there was assaults. But not every household has that opportunity and it is a genuine concern for me having seen the publication that is select produced, where we have many photos illustrating some of the appalling installations that have been carried out right across Scotland. That is a clear and grave concern. I am conscious that I am in overtime, Presiding Officer, and I do not want to try your patience, so in concluding, I would simply want to say that I very much welcome this debate. I am glad that Jamie Halcro Johnston has brought it forward. I think that this is an area that we have to consider carefully, but in terms of the principles and motivations behind it, I am fully supportive and I very much look forward to hearing what the minister has to say in closing. Thank you, Mr Arthur. I have to say that I am quite relaxed today, so you are not really trying my patience at all. It is a rare moment.  Neil Finlay, please. Is this the new you, Deputy Presiding Officer? Good. I will see how long that lasts. It is just ended. First of all, I declare an interest as a member of Unite the Union. A few years—indeed, it might have just been a few months—after entering this Parliament, I campaigned extensively against the proposal by the big electrical companies who were trying to rip up national agreements for electricians and other trades, such as ventilation engineers. They were attempting at that time to de-skill the role of an electrician wanting to bring in new grades that would have downgraded the role of an electrician. I worked extensively at that time with Unite the Union and with Select and rank and file members of Unite who were working on building sites across the UK. That was a UK-wide campaign, a very effective campaign that defeated the proposal that was being brought forward by very large and very powerful construction companies. It was a good example of an extra parliamentary campaigning and delivering success.  That is the same big companies that were behind, or some of the big companies that were behind, the blacklisting scandal that sought to target health and safety reps on building sites—the same organisations now. I am a bricklayer to trade, and bricklayers are the cream of the construction industry, but we always support the other trades in the sector, because each trade relies on each other trade. That is part of the team that works in construction and part of the ethos of the team that works in construction.  However, poor wiring, insulation or earthen can, and that is a huge difference. Indeed, I know recently that an electrician was caused harm by a shock in this building very recently, and that should be of concern to us. The proposal that has come forward in Mr Halcro Johnston's excellent motion is absolutely sensible and just a normal way forward. Why we have not done it before is the question that we would be asking. It is about safety, consumer protection, building standards, professional regulation and professional title. It is remarkable that we have a list of other trades or professions that people have mentioned. A hundred others are therapists, taxi drivers, street sweepers who are all licensed in some way, but not electricians. It just does not add up. There is not a political point to be made on this, none at all. It is a practical insensible step, and it fits in with the preventative agenda that Governments are all supposed to be about. Do you know that? There is nothing to stop us doing it here. It is no MDLC's responsibility, it is not the UK Government, it is not the council, it is not somebody in Wales or whoever the usual list is. We can do it here and we should act. This is about protecting people and consumers. It is about protecting our buildings and the integrity of the trades. I have to say that the best way for safety to become the default position in the industry is for there to be regulation, for there to be protection of title and for there to be trade union collective agreements and that they become the norm in the industry because unionised workplaces are safer workplaces. Workplaces where you have more direct employment are safer workplaces. We have seen what deregulation and the over-reliance on subcontracted labour brings and it is more death and more injury in the workplace. Let us bring forward the necessary legislation. I think that it would have widespread community support, I think that it would have industry support, it would have trade union support and I hope that it would have a majority in this Parliament. Thank you very much and I now call Jamie Hepburn to close with the Government minister please. Well thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Can I join with others as well in thanking Jamie Halcro Johnston for bringing forward? What I do recognise is an important debate, it is right that we have this issue before the chamber and it is something that we should all be able to welcome that we can contribute to what is an important issue. Clearly, everyone in this chamber, most people out there across Scotland will have, at some stage, had to hire someone to carry out electoral work and I think that we would all agree that we should be able to do so with confidence that we will not be put at risk when we do so. The outset is important to be emphasised the point that was made by Alexander Burnett about the quality of training that we have through our modern apprenticeship scheme. That has come around through the quality of provision of training that we have, through industry involvement, through colleges and, of course, through the Scottish joint industry board for the electrical contracting industry. At the outset, we should recognise that those electricians that we have out there are, in the main, coming from Abercyn and having had high-quality professional training. We have heard today and before of the concern that sometimes there are circumstances that people could be put in danger of electroshocks or fire, perhaps because anyone can call themselves an electrician without relevant qualifications or competency. That is a serious concern and that has to be considered fully and acted upon where necessary. Let me say that I noticed earlier today that Mr Hulker Johnson has said that he may be considering taking forward legislation on that issue. In that respect, I should say again at the outset of this debate that I am open minded on this matter now that I have no clear or firm decision on the best way forward. However, let me make it very clear that I have not ruled anything out. In that sense, I was, having come into this post in June, very happy to meet with select only a matter of weeks later to discuss this very issue. The proposal that they have laid out about protection of title is a serious proposition and one that will give full and proper consideration in the process that we are taking forward, which I will lay out in a few moments' time. If the minister would advise us of what his reservations are or what his view is as to why he might not support us. Let me come to that. It goes back to the point that Tom Arthur made. There was a bit of misunderstanding about that being a concerns about over-regulation in the rest of it. The concern here is that we need to look at this matter fully and thoroughly and ensure that all parties that are interested in this matter are involved in that process so that any action that we take is the correct and proportionate one. In that sense, that is why we have engaged with industry. There are the calls from select. There have been alternative views set out from elements of those working in the industry as well and an attempt to try and bring everyone together so that we can take forward this matter fully and thoroughly. That is why Keith Brown, when he was in post, was the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work, established a Scottish Government electricians working group to bring industry and other representatives such as UNITE, such as those with responsibility for trading standards and so on, bringing them together to discuss this matter fully and thoroughly. I will use today as an ideal opportunity to update Parliament in the group's discussions, but before I do that, I will give way to— Alexander Burnett. I thank the minister for taking the intervention. As his colleague Tom Arthur pointed out, this is a matter that has been long overdue. Could the minister give some indication of a timescale when he would like to see this conversation happen? Again, I heard this idea that this is an issue that is long overdue. Clearly, the fact that there has been no protection of title put in place before, you could arguably say, well, this is a matter that is long overdue. However, I would go back to the point that the group that I have referred to was established less than a year ago, has been meeting, has been undertaken in those discussions. I came into this office in June and met Select only a few weeks later. We are having this debate now. I think that the idea that we are resting on our laurels, this has been kicking around and has been punting into the long grass, is not one that can be held to be true. Let me make it very clear that this is a matter that I do, because it is a serious one. We are not trying to hold up anything at all. I suppose that I would just emphasise the point again that it is important that, considering any specific proposition, we engage fully and thoroughly in considering what the implications of that might be and what the best way forward will be. I can see Mr Halcro Johnston's reaction to intervene, so let me pre-empt that and say that I will give way. I saw that too when he was preparing himself. I am very grateful that the minister has ahead of me on this one. Can I just ask that you support the principle of protection of title in this case? Let me say, and hopefully it has been clear, that I am not unsympathetic to the concept. I think that there is merit in looking at that as a proposition considering it thoroughly, and I have made the point already that that is very firmly on the table. I will be happy to meet any member who wants to advance that proposition. Let me be as gently as I can. I have had two written questions from Mr Halcro Johnston at this point. He has laid a motion on the matter that we are debating today. Mr Finlay has laid a motion before this Parliament, and I have had two letters in this matter from two elective representatives. I have not been inundated with people in this chamber coming to me to talk about that issue. I could see that that is causing some disconsertion. The only reason that I make that point is, and I would hope that it would be held, that I am a pretty approachable guy. If people want to come and speak to me about that issue, I am happy to do that. My door is open, and having opened the door, I will give way to Mr Finlay, who I am sure will be happy to open. Mr Finlay? I was not aware that the way that Government works is by way of emails, mailbag responses to ministers and parliamentary questions. I could put down 500 parliamentary questions tomorrow. That should not be how we decide whether we do things that are right or wrong. I think that the point that the minister makes is, frankly, nonsense. I was not trying to make a nonsensical point, Mr Finlay. The point that I was trying to make was that I have not had an overwhelming sense of people coming forward as a priority issue for them, but my door is open, and I am willing to consider it and discuss it with people. Mr Finlay would be very welcome to come and speak to me about it as well. Mr Halcro Johnston. You did say that you had an open door. I think that we would have this good. Yes, it's open. Mr Halcro Johnston made a rod for your own back minister there. Sorry, the minister has made a rod for his own back. Obviously, Neil Findlay and I have put down motions on that, but the minister and the minister's predecessor role have had representation from industry bodies about that for some time. It is not just a question of what MSPs have been doing. There have been representatives from the industry contacting about that for a long time. Minister. That is right. I suppose that the point is that industry is not speaking with one voice. We know, for example, that the National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation contracting takes a different view. The point that I am trying to make is that, when different views are expressed, it is incumbent on us as a Government to sit down, hear those different voices and work out the best way through it. That is the only point that I am making. If members of this Parliament want to be part of that process, the door is open. We have probably got a little sidetrack there in terms of me opening the door. It does remain open. I had hoped to update the Parliament a little more in terms of where the group has got to. Let me just make the point. The group is in place. It is continuing to discuss the matter. There is no delay. That work continues. We will come back. We will have a final proposition within the Parliament to determine whether it will agree with that proposition. Mr Halcro Johnston suggested that he may bring forward legislation. That is his, as it is indeed any member of this Parliament's, prerogative to do so. I will be happy to consider that if the determination is necessary to do so. However, I take the issue seriously, and I am actively exploring it with an open mind. Thank you very much. That concludes the debate. I suspend this meeting of Parliament until 2.30.