The Federal Government of Nigeria, Niger Delta Development Commission and International Fund for Agricultural Development assisted Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises in the Niger Delta Project has organised a Training of Trainers workshop on integrating Gender Action Learning System in Nutrition and Financial Action Learning System in Cross River State.
By Victoria Omini- CALABAR
The workshop brought together project beneficiaries, nutrition champions and field officers to strengthen financial inclusion, gender equity and household nutrition among rural farmers, women and youths across communities in the Niger Delta.
Speaking during the programme, the National Project Coordinator, Dr. Abiodun Sanni, represented by the National Financial Inclusion Specialist, Ms. Empress Stella Ekwelie, said the initiative was designed to help rural farmers, youths and women develop sound financial habits capable of improving their businesses and living conditions.
According to her, the training focused on record keeping, savings culture, access to credit, investment opportunities and the use of digital financial platforms for agribusiness development.
“When we talk about FALS, it is about helping people in business, especially farmers in rural communities, to understand behavioural change regarding savings, record keeping, accessing credit and using financial tools that will make them successful business persons,” she said.
Ekwelie explained that participants were guided on how to track income and expenditure, set financial targets and make intentional savings towards achieving financial stability.
She further disclosed that the LIFE ND Project maintains a monitoring structure through state coordinators and local government officers who regularly supervise beneficiaries and monitor their progress.
According to her, since the inception of the project in 2018, over 32,000 incubatees have benefited across the nine Niger Delta states, with several emerging as champion incubatees based on outstanding performances in agribusiness.
“Some of these champions have travelled to other African countries for conferences and exposure programmes that have further improved their agribusiness capacity,” she added.
Also speaking, the National Nutrition Mainstreaming Specialist of the FGN/NDDC/IFAD LIFE ND Assisted Project, Mrs. Chioma Obasi, said the project had integrated nutrition into agribusiness development to ensure healthier households and improved productivity.
She explained that the Gender Action Learning System in nutrition is a participatory and community led methodology that uses simple visual tools to help households analyse gender roles and inequalities, improve decision making around food and income, strengthen household collaboration and achieve better nutrition outcomes.
Obasi noted that the methodology focuses on empowering women while engaging men and the entire household in promoting better nutrition practices.
She said the project also implements nutrition sensitive agriculture interventions including school nutrition clubs, home gardens, integrated homestead food production and the promotion of biofortified crops such as orange fleshed sweet potato, yellow cassava and biofortified maize.
According to her, participants at the workshop were expected to develop shared household visions for nutrition, improve gender equity in decision making, increase dietary diversity and food security as well as strengthen community led learning and scaling.
She added that the GALS in Nutrition Manual was presented to participants during the training to support step down training in their communities.
“We are using food based approaches to fight malnutrition. Through this programme, households are encouraged to improve their diets, redirect wasteful spending and prioritise nutritious food for their children,” she said.
Some participants commended the FGN/NDDC/IFAD LIFE ND Project for positively impacting their lives through training and empowerment opportunities.
An incubatee under fish production, Mr. Efion Levi Okun, described the project as beneficial to youths, noting that it had equipped him with practical knowledge in fish farming and agribusiness.
“I was a novice when I joined, but now I understand fish production better and can even manage my own pond,” he said.
Similarly, a poultry incubatee from Urwandon community, Miss Emmanuela Etim, said the training had exposed her to better financial management and nutrition practices.
The participants called for the sustenance and expansion of the project to enable more youths and women benefit from the initiative.
.jpeg)
0 Comments