Working with partners important to research

Working with many stakeholders and partners concerned with climate change and improving

people’s livelihoods in the provinces are important to ensure best research oriented activities; technologies and useful information is accessible and translated into positive outcomes.

NARI Strategic Planner and Agriculture Systems Programme Director Dr Birte Komolong expressed

this at the close of a European Union supported three-day workshop on “Strengthening food production capacity and the resilience to drought of vulnerable communities”.

The workshop was attended by provincial agriculture extension officers, rural development officers and NGO partners.

The workshop is the last of the capacity building sessions under the EU Climate Change Resilience project to strengthen partnerships and ensure that vulnerable communities are knowledgeable

in using some of the strategies and technologies to be climate smart and responsive to changes around them.

Dr Komolong implored that there had been a lot of interaction during the life of the project and wished more could be done.

Participants were urged to be proactive and ensure less people are dying, or sick, or suffering during drought and other natural disasters.

The only female participant and officer with World Vision, Shareena Tanabi, expressed that such workshops was an indication of a good network and working relationship between NARI and partners, to sustain such initiatives into the future.

Rigo District Rural Development Officer Ken Leka thanked NARI for the high level capacity building workshop which broadened his knowledge.

“This workshop has really imparted a lot of knowledge based information related to climate change, risk assessment and resilience.

Such information can be tailored into future projects to convince donors on climate change related information”, added Mr Leka.

Fellow participants were urged to work together and find a way forward to develop the agriculture sector.