Workshop on Local Knowledge and Gender as it relates to Biodiversity and Food security

Workshop on Local Knowledge and Gender as it relates to
Biodiversity and Food security

In the concept of resources and actions leveraging, the UNDP GEF East African crossborders Biodiversity Project, Tanzania component organised and hosted a workshop on Socio- Economic and Gender Analysis (SEAGA) during the period
16- 26 October, 2000.

The two weeks workshops was held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture ( SUA) Training Forest - Olmotonyi, Arusha - Tanzania. It was jointly organized by the Crossborders Biodiversity Project, Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre and the FAO LinKS project where, participants expenses were jointly covered and most of the workshop facilitation costs came from the FAO LinKS Project.

Each District Executive Director - Same, Monduli and Bukoba Was asked to nominate four people from amongst project partners ( local NGOs and government departments) to participate into the workshop. Other NGOs who each brought one participant include the Evangelical Lutheran Association Church of Tanzania ( ELCT), Tanzania and Maasai land Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (MARECIK).
The National Environment Management Council ( NEMC) and UNDP Dar es Salaam also were each represented by one participant. Five participants, two and three Came from Uganda and Kenya project site respectively.

The National Project Manager and the National Technical Officer of the Biodiversity project ( Tanzania) Took a key role in organisation and also participated fully into the workshop.

The workshop was structured and conducted in a manner as a participatory process whereby all participants and facilitators acted as partners in the learning environment and had all responsibility for the workshop outcome and their own participation.
Objectives of the workshop
1. To create awareness about:

The value of Biodiversity and indigenous Knowledge for food security.
An overview of the biodiversity conventions and farmers rights issues ( benefit and risk sharing)
Biodiversity, socio-economic and gender issues in food security

2. To build capacity in how to;

Use gender analysis and its tools for research into who, why, how and what of sustainable agrobiodiversity use.
Document and record in participatory manner, men and women farmers' indigenous knowledge systems related to biodiversity management and conservation.

3. To foster a participatory approach to networking between
LinKs partners at national and regional Level.

Mr. Lotta Melamari Officiating the Opening Ceremony
Representatives from the United Nations Development Programme-Tz, Technical Staff of the UNDP-GEF Crossborder Biodiversity Project and FAO LinKS Project,
The management of Sokoine University Training Forest Workshop facilitators and participants,

It is my great pleasure to open this two week UNDP-GEF-NEMC with FAO workshop on local knowledge, Biodiversity and Gender Food Security, with you here this morning.
First let me welcome our colleagues from Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe and FAO headquarters in Rome, who have traveled here to participate in this workshop. For my fellow Tanzanians, I would also like to extend a warm welcome to Arusha, to you all.
A am sure you are all aware of the global concern on the degrading environment.

You will also recall the Rio meeting 1992 where the earth summit endorsed the global Environment Facility fo become the mechanism for facilitating Global Environment Conservation issues through ( at least) parties to the Convention and all three are now contributing to the conservation of biodiversity through NEAs ( National Environmental Agencies) that coordinate, manage and link environmental issues.
The UNDP - GEF East African Crossborder biodiversity Project is one the programmes that enable us to implement some elements of the Convention. The three national environment Agencies;

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