PSC Meeting (c) FAO_Irwan Hidayatullah

The IFish project has been running for more than 3 years with a number of contributions in mainstreaming biodiversity conservation and sustainable use into Inland fisheries practices in freshwater ecosystems of high conservation value. This effort is in line with the mandate of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in improving food security and livelihood for local communities whose lives are supported by inland waters. In term of the Government of Indonesia priorities, the project also serves Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) priority program to develop fish villages based on local wisdom.

To ensure the project runs according to its initial objectives, Project Steering Committee (PSC) meetings attended by stakeholders at the national level and representatives from local governments at the five IFish project locations are held regularly. The PSC becomes the final decision-making body regarding policies, evaluations, follow-up plans, as well as discussion of issues that affect the achievement of project objectives.

For 2022, the PSC meeting were held on 23^rd February. The meeting was opened by Rajendra Aryal, FAO Representative for Indonesia and Timor Leste; Antam Novambar, Secretary General of MMAF and Laksmi Dwanthi as operational focal point of the Global Environment Facility (GEF). In his remarks, Rajendra conveyed about the longstanding cooperation between FAO and the Government of Indonesia, as well as the role of PSC meetings in fulfilling IFish project’s objectives.

In his remarks Antam emphasized his support for the IFish project, as it is in line with MMAF priority programs. He understood that the COVID-19 pandemic has been the main obstacle to project implementation. Therefore, KKP invited local governments through relevant agencies to foster collaboration within IFish project, for conservation efforts and sustainable fisheries implementation in inland waters.

As part of GEF 5, Laksmi stated that the project needs to lean towards innovative strategy so that the remaining funds can be utilized as much as possible for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of inland aquatic resources.

At the end of the meeting the committee approved the proposed IFish project work plan and budget for 2022-2023, with several proposals to be discussed technically in separate discussions. Some follow-up actions after the 2022 PSC meeting included: registration for the extension of the IFish project duration to the Ministry of Finance, staff recruitments for IFish project management unit for the positions of Gender and Livelihood Expert and Monitoring and Evaluation Expert, as well as further discussion of work plans at the activity level, which includes making LoA with partners in the KKP so that activities can be carried out and completed according to a predetermined deadline.