The African Confederation of Professional Organizations of Artisanal Fisheries (CAOPA) in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Regional Office for Africa (FAORAF) and the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council (GNCFC) are organizing an “Information Sharing and Awareness Raising Workshop on the FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries”.
The objective is to exchange on the content and approach of the SSF Voluntary Guidelines… for an upgrading of the stakeholders; and to reflect on the development of a national action plan for sustainable artisanal fisheries”.
This two-day workshop (21 and 22 June 2021) will bring together some forty artisanal fisheries professionals, civil society support organizations, representatives of the administrations concerned (research, administrations in charge of fisheries, the environment, education, etc.), and FAO staff.
During 48 hours, participants will examine the situation of artisanal fisheries in Ghana, reflect on the ways and means of implementing SSF Guidelines at the national level (National Action Plan), in particularly: [identify the most urgent aspects and issues to be taken into account such as: food security, poverty eradication, job creation and consolidation, governance with emphasis on equity, mainly with regard to women, sustainable management of resources in an enabling environment]; to identify possible priority areas of intervention and stakeholders; and finally to think about setting up of an operational mechanism for coordination and monitoring and assessment of activities.
What are the SSF Guidelines?
The concept note for the event states that the Guidelines are voluntary, focused on the needs of developing countries, and specific to marine and inland fisheries and apply to both fishing and related upstream and post-harvest activities. They support regional and international initiatives for poverty reduction and equitable social and economic development, with the aim of improving fisheries governance.
The orientations and measures contained in the Guidelines are relevant tools which, if well implemented, can help to improve the current performance of this sub-sector and the fisheries sector as a whole in member countries.
Based on this conviction of the relevance of the content and approach of the Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries, CAOPA is committed to their dissemination and application by States and FAO according to the specificities of each member country in Africa. Hence the organization of this workshop in Ghana.
The expected outcomes of the meeting include: “the launch of the development of the National Action Plan for the implementation of VGs for Ghana; the priority areas of the National Action Plan for Ghana and the proposal approved by the relevant authorities; and a clear roadmap on the process of developing and finalizing the National Action Plan for the implementation of the VGs”, the terms of reference of the workshop state.
Aliou DIALLO