In March this year, a joint UNDP, WFP, FAO, ILO programme was launched to enhance Rural resilience in Yemen was launched. The programme, funded from the European Commission, will touch four of Yemen’s governorates over 2016-2019. The overall objective of the programme is to enhance the resilience and self-reliance of crisis-affected rural communities through support to livelihoods stabilisation and recovery, local governance and improved access to sustainable energy. As part of the programme, FAO will provide technical expertise to introduce sustainable and efficient practices in agriculture, livestock, and fisheries and train programme participants to improve production, productivity, resulting in improved incomes, self-employment through value chain development.

Focusing on vulnerable populations, the FAO will use farmer field schools to develop women and men skills in agricultural value chains. Farmer field schools (FFS) will be established at the start in each target community to enhance the farming and production capacity as well as managerial ability of farmers. These groups will entail seasonal learning and experimentation. In close connection to established FFS groups and needs and demands articulated by the groups’ farmers, engagement in value chain and trade will be enhanced. Value chain assessments in selected enterprises will advise and inform group learning activities and help in framing a commercial-oriented production. This will be achieved through: (a) training “value chain master trainers”, (b) developing knowledge products, (c) supporting institutionalization of the value chain capacity building process, and (d) creating value chain development (VCD) learning networks aiming at demonstrating practical and systematic approaches to poverty reduction through a market-led approach for indigenous products. The key activities include training group members on VCD management, enterprise and market development, savings and credit management as well as on M&E.

The first session of Training of Facilitators took place in Hodeidah, Yemen, for two weeks from 9 to 20 October. Dr. Ashraf Al Hawamdeh, an international Master trainer from Jordan, facilitated the training of selected extension officers of the Ministry of Agriculture from Hodeidah and Hajjah Governorates focusing on horticultural crops (mainly tomato). The training followed a first series of seminars on FFS conducted by Mr Alfredo Impliglia (FAO RNE) for the decision makers of the MOA and Governorates of Sana’a and Hodeidah. Another training session will be conducted on FFS livestock in December.

For more information, contact: Alfredo Impiglia (FAO RNE) or Mohamed Sallam (FAO Yemen)