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8-12 May 2023, Kololi, The Gambia – The national ‘gender desk’ in the Ministry of Fisheries, Water Resources and National Assembly Matters, in The Gambia was formally operationalized following a year-long process led by the EAF-Nansen Programme to equip national officers with skills for mainstreaming gender within the country’s fisheries sector.

“The Ministry realizes the importance of mainstreaming gender in the management and development of the fisheries sector,” said Ms Anna Mbenga Cham, Director of Fisheries at the Ministry of Fisheries Water Resources, who also expressed gratitude to FAO for the support of the EAF-Nansen Programme in this process.

Gender is an integral part of FAO and the EAF-Nansen Programme that is set on making gender “everyone’s business” by improving the knowledge and visibility on gender issues. Among the efforts to build capacity in fisheries institutions in partner countries, is the establishment of ‘gender desks’ consisting of a recognized team of officers tasked with producing and leading the implementation of gender-sensitive action plans.

In The Gambia, the process started in May 2022 with training sessions for the designated members, using practical exercises linked to their responsibilities in the Ministry.

“Their role will be to look at all fisheries related activities through a gender lens, ensuring that overall priorities for women’s equal participation, as well as gender equality and equity as necessary, are identified and promoted,” said Mr Yaw Ansah, the EAF-Nansen Programme Socio-economist, who participated in the trainings.

The training sessions were also guided by the lessons learned from Tanzania where the first ‘gender desk’ was formed in 2021, in close collaboration with the FAO Gender Team, the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Division, the FAO Regional Office for Africa, and UN women.

The operationalization of the gender desk in The Gambia involved a meeting dedicated to developing a work plan, the institutional framework and scope, in addition to a list of next steps. Participating were representatives of various Ministries, projects, and organizations working on gender issues within the fisheries sector of The Gambia. As a first assignment, it was suggested that the trained officials identify activities for promoting gender-inclusive activities within the ‘Shared Sardinella Initiative’ of the EAF-Nansen Programme and in other fisheries in the country.

Ms Khadija Diallo from the FAO Office in The Gambia was pleased to see the efforts come to fruition and underlined the need for support from national officers when moving forward: “It is my hope that the collaboration forged here this week among the various partners working to achieve gender equality within the country's fisheries sector will be sustained towards ensuring that FAOs vision for a gender-mainstreamed national fisheries sector becomes a reality.”

About the Programme 

The EAF-Nansen Programme is a longstanding partnership between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Norway, dating back to 1975. It is executed by FAO in close collaboration with the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research(IMR), and funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad).