@fao rne the workshop of Strengthening the resilience of crisis-affected people and their communities for food and nutrition security in Syria

Damascus, 14 June 2016 -   Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN FAO) Representation Office in Damascus held the two days inception workshop for the project “Strengthening the resilience of crisis-affected people and their communities for food and nutrition security in Syria”.  The Euro 6 million project funded by the European Union enables the Organization to scale up food and agriculture support to the most vulnerable rural households in Syria, in a context where food insecurity affects some  9 million people.  In Syria, where the agriculture sector has been fragmented by almost six years of conflict, maintaining small-scale food production at household level whilst boosting incomes and reducing dependence on external aid is increasingly important and constitutes a core element of FAO resilience building approach.  

“The generous and invaluable contribution from the European Union, over a two-year project timeline, allows FAO to promote  a resilience-based approach by addressing both the immediate needs through provision of emergency agriculture inputs and training as well as by helping rebuild resilient agro-eco systems and restore livelihoods of vulnerable rural communities in Syria. Crucially, the project also enables FAO and its partners to address some of the underlying systemic risks that the country has been exposed to, such as drought, through supporting national drought early warning capacities”, said Eriko Hibi, FAO Representative in Syria, in her opening speech.

Project interventions aim  to  boost  agricultural crop production,  strengthen natural resource management capacities and promote access to alternative income resources of 8 260 households (some 50 000 beneficiaries) in the Governorates of  Damascus, Hama, Homs,  Latakia,  Rural Damascus and Tartous. In addition, project activities will also strengthen the risk management capacity of targeted communities and key food security stakeholders through improved drought early warning and resilience knowledge management.

The purpose of the workshop was to launch the project activities and raise the awareness amongst key stakeholders of the project objectives, expected results and activities as well as to define partnership arrangements. Technical working groups were established around the following macro areas constituting the main pillars of  the project :

1. Crop and Livestock production
2. Natural resources management
3. Nutrition sensitive agriculture
4. Rural employment and income generating activities
5. Risk governance and institutional capacity building and resilience programming network  

Technical working group discussions focused on defining project intervention areas along with the input requirements, implementation arrangements as well as identifying areas of complementarity with activities undertaken by WFP and UNDP.

The workshop brought together technical staff from the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Ministry of Water Resources, State Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Health, Chamber of Agriculture and Syrian Veterinary Association, as well as representatives from European Union, UN Agencies (WFP, UNICEF, UNDP, UN Habitat), International Organizations (ICARDA, ACSAD), Civil Society Organizations, beneficiary groups and field practitioners.