The e-consultation will be conducted until 3rd December, 2013.
NAFSO was able to collect views from the membership, the leaders of NAFSO through partner organization, key leading activists through email consultations, national gathering and came up with a following actions to engage in the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines of the Small Scale Fisheries known as VG-SSF.
Following are the key areas of our responses:
ISSUES AND QUESTIONS
1. Partnering
for implementation
The implementation of the SSF Guidelines will require engagement
and partnerships across different institutions, organizations and actors as the
SSF Guidelines implementation does not only require the involvement by fishers
but takes into consideration also the role and needs of those around them.
Fishing communities, CSOs, academia, NGOs, governments, regional organizations,
donors and international agencies and organizations all need to work together -
but different actors may have different roles to play to address issues in
relation to fisheries governance, gender, post-harvest, consumer interests,
wider societal interests, etc. Please share any experiences, both good or bad
as well as lessons learned related to partnerships in the implementation of
international instruments
·
How do you see the role of your organization and others in the implementation of the SSF Guidelines?
As an organization work for establish sustainable small scale fisheries
in Sri Lanka and work for protects
people’s rights, National Fisheries Solidarity Movement (NAFSO) play major role
in advocacy and policy lobbying.
In
implementation of SSF guideline (VG-SSF), NAFSO work as mediatory organization
for Sri Lankan government, community and other stake holders to take the
message to grass root level from the international level and also to work with
the people to prepare background to implementation of the guideline.
Building
of required people’s pressure for the State to act in people centered manner
and bring the marginalized peoples voice to upper level is also among the
NAFSO’s role in implementation of the SSF guideline.
Other
Stake holders are also should participate to build awareness among wider
community in the country to build well educated citizens in the country to
pressurize decision makers to implement VG-SSF.
NAFSO will
Translate the VG-SSF in to local languages[Sinhala and Tamil] and bring to
grass root level through its activists and community leaders. In fact, the
available negotiated text also already being translated in to both Sinhala and
Tamil languages and discussed among NAFSO membership and received the feedback.
Aware the
Organizations work with sectors other than fisheries. E.g. Women, Farmers,
workers union etc.
Build
required pressure with the people, for adopting required policies for
implementing VG-SSF by the government.
·
How can partnerships be fostered and
strengthened to include the ‘voices of the marginalized
·
To make proper connection with
marginalized people in the society, partnerships must be properly educated.
·
Prepare educational materials on VG-SSF,
which can understand by people with lowest educational level/illiterate.
(visuals/simple cartoons)
·
Issue based campaigns with the people together
with relevant organizations such as Women related, Human rights, environment,
labor etc.
What
will be required at local, national, regional and global levels to ensure
effective and efficient partnerships?
·
For effective and efficient partnership, better build an
organizational network working on the subject with partners of local, National
and international level and provide proper guidance on VG-SSF. In some cases,
we may need to build up links and network on various issues, such as groups
work on access rights, post harvest, women rights, disaster mitigation, rights
of the IDPs etc.
·
Need national level Committed leadership to internalize the
important subjects and articulate with clear understanding.
·
Adopt effective communication methodologies.
·
Share of relevant information regularly as they coming from
regional and international levels,
Critical Analysis on the
partnerships and wider awareness on how VG-SSF affect to the people life. E.g.
for food security etc
Need a team devoted to work on
VG-SSF implementation and bring it to other sectors/groups/communities.
Improved
media relationship
State and Non-state actors must work
together with mutual understanding.
2. Information
and communication – promoting experience sharing and collaboration
Continuous learning and sharing of experiences will be of utmost
importance for effective implementation. Available lessons learnt, best
practices and tools should be used and reinventing the wheel avoided, but at
the same time the local context may differ to such a degree that specific tools
and solutions must be developed. Monitoring of progress will be important to
keep track of what is working (and what is not) and participatory monitoring
and evaluation systems and relevant statistics can help making information
available and shared.
·
What best
practices with regard to communication would you recommend for SSF Guidelines
implementation at local, national, regional and global level?
Case studies related to VG-SSF.
Share People’s Struggles for sustain
their lives, livelihoods and basic human rights,
Documentation of successful co-
management practices among people practiced for considerable time period.
Small documentaries on success
stories after implementation of VG-SSF
Using of web and social media for
publicize the VG-SSF-[You Tube, Face Book]
Using of Comic arts, cartoons to
bring VG-SSF to various levels of the society.
·
What are
your experiences from participatory monitoring and evaluation?
Inter organizational participatory
monitoring and evaluation is very difficult while internal monitoring is
possible.
However, this is very important to
assess the progress and keep the right track of implementation of any
international instrument.
Hence, there should be mechanism to
monitor the progress of the implementation through cross checking when
reporting back and challenge the State reports by non State report/s,
·
How can
progress in implementing the SSF Guidelines be measured and reported in a useful way?
To
measure:
If VG-SSF implemented, VG-SSF based
regulation/ policies will be adopted and be activated by the relevant
authorities.
The level of investment, increased
percentage of welfare on small scale fisheries will show progress in
implementation
The level of understanding of VG-SSF
among the State actors, mainly the fisheries officials in national State
agencies and regional offices of FAO,
The level of change programs in
favor of SSF than before,
When it is reporting back to a COFI
or any other relevant forum, there should be a parallel reporting process to
the State report from civil society should be considered. There should be
mechanism adopted to this which should be integral part of the VG-SSF it self.
3. Challenges
and opportunities – needs for support and interventions
There will be implementation challenges (e.g. financial,
political, institutional, cultural) to address but also opportunities to
capitalize on. These may vary from one context to another and also differ
between the global, regional, national and local levels. Understanding these
challenges and opportunities will be important for identifying and designing
support activities. The implementation of the SSF Guidelines will need a mix of
different types of interventions, including – but not necessarily limited to –
the strengthening of political commitment and awareness raising, changes in
policies, revisions of legislation and/or regulations, development of capacity
and empowerment, improving and sharing information, and strengthened research
and communication.
·
Political will is the major challenge for Sri Lankan SSF. State
strategy is to develop mega scale fisheries while giving less importance to the
small scale fisheries sector development or continuation.
·
Political leaders who work with profit motive instead of food
sovereignty/ food security, poverty alleviation, rural development, address
issues and development of marginalized people or environmental protection won’t
see any importance of VG-SSF too.
·
Until now, our experience is negative once there are instruments
which are not legally binding and voluntary in nature. Unfortunately, all the
FAO based instruments are voluntary in nature and States are not binding to
implement them in national level,
·
Some of the States considering Civil society organizations as who
work against the government and not ready to work with the CSOs for social development,
food security, poverty alleviation etc.
To Overcome such barriers:
·
Build up a social movement and Campaigning together with
community, mass media, researches, Civil society networks and academia etc. to
pressurize the government
·
Equip the community leaders, activists in the organizations with
knowledge and basic capacities to raise the important aspects of the VG-SSF,
may be with the politicians, officials, media and researches etc. This will
help to press the policy makers to consider the people’s voice and implement
what they agreed at FAO level,
·
Organize some face to face dialogues with the policy makers and
the State actors and Community leaders and independent actors,
What
are your experiences of addressing these types of challenges and what have been
successful or unsuccessful strategies and approaches?
·
We have experienced of preparation of sustainable fisheries policy
with the bottom up approach and submitted to the government authorities with
the half million signatures of the community. Conducted a series of discussion
with the government policy makers to get establish the policy while lobby work
with the people to pressurize the government.
·
With the power of the community, building of Sea plane landing
site in Negombo lagoon(25 Km North to
Colombo) was stopped even after starting of project work. Awareness and strong
leadership was behind the success in the campaign.
·
With the fisher people’s pressure, government had to grant fuel
subsidiary for the fishing people after increase of fuel price in 2012
February.
·
In some cases we identified that, it is difficult to unifying
people. e.g, Fight against acquisition of lands for development of tourism in
Kalpitiya islands and resettlement in Mullikulam (Mannar district -250Km North
to Colombo) .
How
would interventions vary, depending on the time frame (e.g. what can be done
within the next 12 months, in the next 5 years, in the long term) and depending
on the existing resources (e.g. small/medium investments or
large/transformative investments)?
·
Educate fisher people, Fisheries organizational leadership, within
one year. For this material productions to bring the VG-SSF to tips of the
people’s hand is utmost important.
·
Preparations of materials, popular manual in local languages is
important within the 1st year.
·
And develop agreeable policies together with the people in five
years. Based on the VG-SSF, policies should be developed and bottom up approach
should be promoted among policy makers. Unless, there is a substantial change
of attitudes of the policy makers on SSF matters, there is no an effective
implementation of VG-SSF too. So, we are careful about this process within the
5 years after adoption of VG-SSF.
·
In long term, work for include the developed policy matters to
government policies together with people and policy makers in the government.
·
There should be national mechanism adopted and a civil team formed
to monitor the implementation of the VG-SSF and to guide the policy makers to
keep the track.
·
National Fisheries advisory body should be formed to evaluate the
progress and guide the State mechanisms to implement VG-SSF.
·
FAO, COFI should be adopt a mechanism to evaluate the progress
being made after 5 years of the adoption of VG-SSF and take necessary steps to
guide the States to address the issues of SSF in accordance with the VG-SSF.
