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Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries

in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication

First Inter-Institutional Group for Social Protection for Fisheries and Aquaculture (GIPRO) meeting, a participatory exercise for the social protection of the country's fishing and aquaculture sector

25/04/2022

On Tuesday, April 5th, the First Meeting of the Inter-institutional Group on Social Protection for Fisheries and Aquaculture - GIPRO, was held. This group is made up of key public and private entities in the fisheries and aquaculture sector and social protection in the country. It was created within the framework of the project "Social Protection for Fisheries and Aquaculture (SocPro4Fish) in Colombia," funded by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO, and implemented in partnership with the Institute of Marine and Coastal Research, INVEMAR.

The event was attended by entities such as: FAO Headquarters, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Aquaculture and Fisheries Authority (AUNAP), the National Planning Department (DNP), Conservation International, Marviva Foundation, the Maritime General Directorate (DIMAR), Caritas Norway and Colombia, the National Training Service (SENA), the Colombian Federation of Aquaculture (Fedeacua), the Confederation of Artisanal fishing of Colombia (Comenalpac), the Department of Social Prosperity (DPS), the University of Magdalena, and of course, representatives of FAO Colombia and INVEMAR, who will form the executive board of the GIPRO.

The objective of this group is to generate a space for articulation that will allow influencing the decision making process to promote social protection in the country's fishing and aquaculture sector and to generate articulation with other groups that are already discussing the different components of social protection.

"From the GIPRO, we hope to join efforts to contribute to strengthening the government's capacities in social protection and generate joint mechanisms with the government to establish social benefits for the country's fisheries and aquaculture sector," said Daniela Kalikoski, FAO Rome's SocPro4Fish project officer.

During this first meeting, relevant data was socialized associated with:

  • The current situation in Colombia in terms of social protection, including that 95% of fishers do not have access to a pension; or that 9 out of 10 fishers do not have a registered boat.
  • The regulatory framework of social protection in Colombia, where social gaps in health, pension, social assistance, formality and labor risks existing in the sector were identified.
  • The diagnosis on social protection given fishing closures, carried out among the 800 member organizations of Comenalpac, where the challenges that the closures represent in the face of the limited access to social protection mechanisms by fishers are evidenced.
  • Background information on the GIPRO’s objectives, methodology, scope and lines of work.
  • The advances made with the National Commission on Safety and Health at Work (CNSST) and the Table of Dignities (Mesa de Dignidades).
  • The inventory of social protection schemes through a participatory exercise with the entities where they socialized the strategies and activities led from their institutions to protect, preserve, prevent and transform in favor of social protection.

Finally, the roadmap for the GIPRO was established, through a work plan.