National Task Force Members during the virtual training workshop on the NPOA-SSF Toolkit held in Otjiwarongo, Namibia (9-13 November 2020) comprising FAO, the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Academic institutions and NGOs.

The Government of Namibia has embarked upon the process of developing a National Plan of Action (NPOA) in support of implementing the Voluntary Guidelines on Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines). 

The process commenced with the establishment of a National Task Force which comprises key stakeholders in the small-scale fisheries sector who will provide guidance to the NPOA development process. As part of the process, a series of national activities have been undertaken to lay the foundation for this work. This includes inception and introductory meetings between FAO and the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources held in September and October 2020, respectively.

These meetings contextualized the FAO SSF Umbrella Programme for the promotion and application of the SSF Guidelines and  the role of the Namibian Government role in developing the NPOA-SSF. Thereafter, a week-long virtual national training workshop was held in November 2020, which trained the National Task Force on one of the key resources – the NPOA Toolkit which has been developed by FAO, and which identifies and describes how to develop and implement a NPOA-SSF through various key steps and stages.

The training workshop was successful and equipped the National Task Force participants with the resources, skills and knowledge to lead and guide the NPOA-SSF development process at the national level.  Over the next six months the National Task Force will focus on implementing the steps and phases as outlined in the NPOA Toolkit to develop Namibia’s NPOA. A draft National Plan of Action in support of the SSF Guidelines is expected by August 2021.