March 18, 2019, Cairo – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), with the support of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), is organizing a four-day technical training in Cairo from 18 to 21 March for IsDB project managers. 

This training aims to address the technical, social and institutional issues that challenge the wide scale uptake of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) in member countries and discuss implications of the new IsDB’s Climate Change and Agriculture policies on IsDB operations and projects lifecycle, where the linkages and interconnections between these policies and their operationalization are detailed. 

“There is an urgent need to scale up climate-smart agricultural investments worldwide to stop climate change impacts from seriously compromising food security and nutrition, and exacerbating conflicts and distress migration. This is a priority both for FAO, through its Strategy on Climate Change, and for the Islamic Development Bank, through its Climate Change Policy. FAO and the IsDB are proud to bring this 4-day training on Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) to the IsDB’s Staff from around the world, to support the development of climate-smart agricultural investment projects, especially through the IsDB’s Climate Change Policy,” said Alexander Jones, the Director of the Climate and Environment Division of FAO. 

This specific training, funded by the IsDB, is a result of technical assistance to FAO by the Bank to strengthen the capacities of its agriculture project managers from 57 countries from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and North Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean in the area of climate-smart agriculture. 

"The NENA region is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to the effects of climate change. Farmers – especially small-scale family farmers – are on the frontline of this challenge because of their direct dependence on natural resources. Their livelihoods, and consequently the food security of the region, are under threat from the impacts of climate change. Climate-smart agriculture is a key solution that will help build their resilience to the anticipated, adverse impacts, “said Mr. Abdessalam OuldAhmed, FAO Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa. 

In October 2018, the IsDB and FAO Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa collaborated to deliver the first Regional Workshop on Climate-Smart Agriculture in Khartoum, Sudan for agriculture project managers in NENA. The IsDB now aims to ensure that all their offices are aware of CSA and are able to make investments that meaningfully take CSA and its principles into account.

To continue the momentum of the partnership between FAO and IsDB, the two organizations saw this 4-day training as a priority for FAO’s Strategy on Climate Change and the IsDB’s forthcoming policy documents. The IsDB is finalizing two policies to support the agriculture sector in adapting to the impacts of climate change, one focused on agriculture (Agriculture and Rural Development Policy 2018-2023) and the other on climate change (Climate Change Policy 2018-2023).

This four-day training will unpack the key concepts and approaches associated with climate action in the agricultural sectors, especially climate-smart agriculture. It will be structured around the five-step CSA implementation approach, from building evidence base to the implementation and dissemination of locally suitable practices and context-specific technologies, while addressing barriers at the institutional, policy and financial levels. This training will also introduce preliminary guidance on how to integrate climate change concerns into agricultural investment projects/programs.

For further information and details of the training please see our dedicated publication: Climate-Smart Agriculture in action: from concepts to investments dedicated training for staff of the Islamic Development Bank Cairo, Egypt | 18-21 March 2019