By Modou Kanteh
The Ministry of Fisheries Water Resources National Assembly Matters (MoFWR-NAMs) in collaboration with stakeholders held its first project steering committee meeting on 19th September 2022 at the Department of Fisheries in Banjul.
The meeting was aimed at strengthening gender adaptive capacities of climate change through capacity building for small-scale businesses in the Gambia in supporting and promoting quality and safety standards of environmental safeguards.
In his opening remarks at the occasion, Omar S M Gibba the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Fisheries Water Resources National Assembly Matters (MoFWR-NAMs) pointed out that the aim and objective of the project are to address the critical issues of climate change which are in line with the fisheries policy and development strategies and to support the policies and development strategies of other sectors such as environment, gender, trade among stakeholders.
PS Gibba who doubles as the chairperson of the steering committee said at the end of the project the national capacities would be strengthened to mainstream climate change adaptation and gender equality in sectorial policies and development strategies. Increase resilience and adaptive capacities of enterprises and communities along the coastal fisheries value chain among other things.
“I wish to draw your attention to the gender dimension of the project because this is something I like to hail about the project,” PS Gibba said.
According to him, the fisheries sector is in a demographic structure with significant gender roles with supply value chains. He said women dominate the fisheries sector in occupying the post-harvest fisheries segment, involving various small-scale enterprises from fish landing, processing, marketing, and providing consumers with fish of quality and safety standards for consumption.
He observed that the project is very gender inclusive and empowering to both men and women in the post-harvest fisheries sector.
“As the climate change and its devastating effects are not going anytime soon I do not doubt that the lessons gathered from this meeting will contribute immensely to the approach of climate change adaptation in the future agenda,” the chairman told committee members.
Other institutions that participated in the meeting were the Ministry of Environment, Parks and Wildlife, Ministry of Trade Industry and Employment, National Environment Agency, and Food Safety Quality Authority among others.