Actionaid
International-The Gambia, Actionaid Senegal, Actionaid USA and Actionaid
International Secretariat will conclude a three-day regional meeting on
agro-ecology and resilience today, 11 May 2017.
The
meeting, aimed at sharing experiences on the work around agro-ecology and
resilience in The Gambia and Senegal, was held at the Senegambia Beach Hotel.
Buba
Khan, Africa Advocacy Officer at AAI, said Actionaid promotes climate
resilience, sustainable agriculture and would help by giving opportunies to
women, smallholder farmers and the farming community in general.
He
said the meeting would help them learn from each other and also learn from the
challenges they face in the project.
Omar
Badjie, Actionaid International-The Gambia Executive Director, , said the
meeting was meant to bring them together to highlight achievements, successes
and challenges but also listen to other stakeholders that are doing similar
work.
He
encouraged active participation from everyone as agro-ecology is a very complex
area and they need a very strong approach.
Mr
Badjie thanked Actionaid USA, Senegal, The Gambia andActionaid International as
well as donors, partners and communities. He added that with the new government
they have an opportunity as a civil society to rise to the opportunity.
“We
have the democratic space and freedom of speech; everything we need as a civil
society, to function effectively. We should seize that opportunity,” he said.
Ifeoma
C. Monwuba, Country Director Actionaid Senegal, said the project looks at three
different objectives; disaster risk reduction, climate resilience and
agriculture as well as documentation.
She
said in the Sahel region you would now expect a maximum of 3 to 4 months of
rainfall, thereby taking away people’s livelihoods and putting them in a
vulnerable state.
“As
such, it is important that the project looks at how they prepare communities
ahead of these incidents by working with government to help them,” she
concluded.