Fishmongers
within the Greater Banjul Area on Tuesday concluded a two-day restitution
session for module 4 management of organization, equipment and infrastructure,
communication and advocacy at the fishery department in Banjul.
The
two-day meeting was organized and funded by the West African Association for
the Development of Artisanal Fisheries (WADAF), a sub regional association
based in Senegal.
WADAF
has been implementing the project entitled: “Strengthening fisheries good
governance within the artisanal fisheries professional organizations in the 7
member countries of the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission (CRSP) in West Africa
(Cape Verde, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania, Senegal, and Sierra Leone).
Speaking
at the closing ceremony, the project coordinator of WADAF Aminata Mbengue, said
the three-year project that runs from December 2015 to November 2018, was
co-financed by FDA, CCFD / Terre Solidaire.
WADAF
is part of a vision to strengthen fisheries governance in West Africa and to
improve the participation of artisanal fisheries professional organizations in
public fisheries policies and the sustainable development of fisheries.
She
said the project aims at strengthening the professional and political skills of
Artisanal Fisheries Professional Organization (AFPOs) as well as their autonomy
in order to improve their capacities to influence public fisheries policies in
the 7 countries covered by the Sub Regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC).
According
to her, the training was one of the flagship activities of the project, and in
the framework, twelve training sessions have been organised for 45 fishers,
fish wholesalers and fish processors from AFPOs.
The
training sessions focused on five modules; management of marine and coastal
ecosystem and co-management of fisheries (M1); international, regional,
sub-regional and national trade and impacts on Artisanal fisheries professions
(M2); Management of organizations, equipment and infrastructure (M4) and
Communication and Advocacy (M5).
For
his part, the executive secretary of WADAF, Moussa Mbengue, informed the
gathering that the objective was to enable Gambia’s trained leaders to share
the knowledge gained from the training sessions in Modules 4 and 5 with other
AFPOs members and project stakeholders in order to strengthen their skills in
organization management and improve the functioning of AFPOs.
He
said that the aim was also to strengthen the skills of the participants in
communication and advocacy in order to help them actively contribute to public
policies on artisanal fishing.
He
said one of the expected outcomes of the training was to educate the
participants about the environment of artisanal fisheries professional
organization in West Africa in general and The Gambia in particular.
In
declaring the forum open, Biran Faye, deputizing for the director of fisheries,
thanked WADAF for bringing the project to The Gambia with the aim to enhance
the knowledge of fishmongers on the management of fisheries sector.
He said the importance attached to the project
could not be over emphasized as it would address some of their burdens at the
fishing sector.
