Building resilience in Kavango West region
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The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), with funding from the Government of Japan, donated a variety of agro-inputs and gardening tools to the Diworoka Ruhepo Roge Community Garden in Tondoro constituency, Kavango West region.
The donation forms part of the FAO project “Emergency response and resilience building to improve livelihoods, food security and nutrition in locust affected regions of Namibia” that seeks to build resilience at household and national level by addressing post-disaster needs in regions that were most heavily impacted by locust outbreaks that began in February 2020.
During the handover ceremony, Japan’s Ambassador to Namibia, Hisao Nishimaki reiterated his government’s commitment to support vulnerable communities in Namibia through resilience building initiatives that seek to improve the livelihoods and overall quality of life of Namibians.
“I am certain that the community members who are beneficiaries of this project will take ownership of their livelihoods and achieve food security, healthier lives, and attain means to provide quality education to their children for a brighter future for all,” said the Ambassador.
Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, Sirkka Ausiku, Governor of the Kavango West region, appreciated the support received from FAO and the Government of Japan, highlighting agriculture as one of the key sectors that hold the potential to address poverty in the region.
“The people of Kavango West region, and Namibia in particular, are very pleased by this generous support from our development partners as it will greatly contribute to government’s efforts to address hunger and poverty in our region and our country,” she said.
Meanwhile the Assistant FAO Representative for Programmes, Ferdinard Mwapopi, noted FAO’s commitment to support Namibia’s government to achieve the 2030 Agenda through the transformation to MORE efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems.
This, he said, will be achieved through FAO’s “Four Betters” approach (i.e. better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life for all, leaving no one behind) as conveyed within its newly adopted Strategic Framework 2022-2031.
“FAO remains dedicated to address the needs of the most vulnerable groups in Namibia through joint efforts such as this in order to achieve diversified, resilient and market-driven livelihood systems.”
The Diworoka Ruhepo Roge Community Garden consists of 23 members, of which four are men while the rest (19) are women. Items donated to the horticulture project included agro-inputs such as fertilizer and seeds, gardening tools such as rakes, spading forks, wheelbarrows, a water tank, and irrigation and water saving technologies amongst others.
The FAO led project aims to enhance livelihoods and dietary diversification while ensuring sustainable and resilient food production systems by targeting 2 640 beneficiaries across four poverty stricken regions that were hardest hit by locust outbreaks namely: Zambezi, Kavango West, Ohangwena and //Karas regions.
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