First steps to creating an inclusive and participatory National Plan of Action for small-scale fisheries in Madagascar

The SSF Guidelines promote governance reforms to ensure food security and the eradication of poverty in small-scale fishing communities. Their development has been facilitated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and was endorsed by the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) in 2014.

In the context of FAO's SSF Umbrella Program, the FAO is developing a "toolkit", which identifies and describes the phases, approaches and tools to develop and implement a National Plan of Action in support of the implementation of the SSF Guidelines  (NPOA-SSF). A training program focusing on the NPOA-SSF tool kit has also been developed and was delivered virtually for participants from Madagascar from Monday 16 to Friday 20 November 2020 in five half-day sessions.

This training was attended by members of the Small-Scale Fisheries National Task Force (SSF-NTF) to coordinate activities for the development and implementation of an NPOA-SSF in Madagascar. The SSF-NTF is composed of fifteen  members from the Fisheries Administration, the platforms of marine and continental fisheries stakeholders (fishermen, women processors, fish collectors/vendors), NGOs (WWF and Blue Ventures), and various members of the research community. Colleagues from FAO HQ and FAO Madagascar also participated as observers. The training aimed at developing and strengthening national capacities through a process of sensitization and ownership of the contents of the tool kit and the requirements to launch, develop and implement the NPOA-SSF.

The training explained the modalities of stakeholder consultation and engagement, the initiation, the implementation and  monitoring of the NPOA-SSF, and the next steps to be taken and the evaluation of the training.  The training was positively received by the participants who acknowledged its importance and usefulness to ensure sustainable small-scale fisheries in Madagascar.