ABSTRACT
This
issue of Dimitra is devoted – as all our newsletters are – to
the empowerment of women and men living in
rural areas..
FAO’s efforts in the Great Lakes Region highlight
the fact that Farmer Field Schools can be
instrumental in addressing a range of problems
such as food insecurity, HIV/AIDS and violence
against women. In Kenya, a number of Farmer
Field Schools in the Coastal Region around
Mombasa have broadened their curricula to
include – in addition to a module on reproductive
health – legal empowerment activities
for the local population, who expressed great
interest in this kind of initiative in the course
of a field survey.
In Lubumbashi (Democratic Republic of
Congo), two capacity-building workshops on
extension work, communication skills and
development advocacy will pave the way for the
creation of several radio listeners’ clubs in the
province of Katanga, following the success of
similar projects in South Kivu.
The Codex Alimentarius Commission is an intergovernmental
body with over 170 members, within the framework of
the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme established
by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the
United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The main result of the Commissions’ work is the
Codex Alimentarius, a collection of internationally
adopted food standards, guidelines, codes of practice
and other recommendations, with the objective of protecting
the health of consumers and ensuring fair practices
in the food trade.
The FAO-sponsored Rural Finance Learning
Centre (RFLC) has developed a dedicated website
which may be of great value to all.
As part of its ongoing reform process, FAO aims
to become an exemplary agency in terms of sharing
knowledge and experience. Last January, in
cooperation with its sister agencies in Rome
(CGIAR, Bioversity International, IFAD and
WFP), FAO organised a Knowledge Share Fair
in the Italian capital. This meeting confirmed
a principle that Dimitra has been upholding for
years, namely, that real strength lies in the ability
to share knowledge.
This issue includes the first in a
series of “Women’s Portraits”. The aim of this
column is to introduce our readers to various
individuals who, in different ways, are working
to eradicate poverty and promote gender
equality and sustainable development in their
communities. Our first interviewee is Mariam
Sow, Coordinator of Enda Pronat-Senegal, a
longstanding partner of Dimitra.
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