Training organised to enhance capacity of officials

Kathmandu, Oct. 28: With an aim of strengthening the capacity of the Technical Task-Force and contractors to integrate gender analysis methods and tolls in climate risk assessment and adaptation planning in the agriculture under the Nepal’s Integrating Agriculture National Adaptation Plans Programme (NAP-Ag), a workshop was organised.

The three-day workshop on the topic was held in Kathmandu as part of the activities of the United Nations Development Programme-Food and Agriculture Organization (UNDP-FAO)’s NAP-Ag programme.

According to the organisers, the training sought to strengthen the gender and adaptation capacity of participating government officials in terms of monitoring and evaluating the NAP-Ag project, and more importantly in terms of their adaptation work over the longer term.

The programme is funded by the International Climate Initiative of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety.

The training tried to establish a common understanding of key gender concepts and linkages between gender and climate risk assessment and adaptation planning.
“The training included working through a gender-sensitive situation analysis using tools such as the Capacity and Vulnerability Assessment (CVA) framework and Problem Tree. The CVA framework helped participants to identify women’s and men’s strengths and weaknesses that determine the impact of a crisis on them as well as their ability to respond,” reads a statement issued by the organisers.
“Following the session, I feel that the workshop has enabled me to strengthen my previous concept of gender integration in programme planning, and monitoring and evaluation’’ said Suresh Babu Tiwri, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and National Focal Person of the project.
In Nepal, the NAP-Ag Programme seeks to enhance the understanding of climate change impacts on the agriculture sector.
The project aims to build the technical capacities of Ministry of Agriculture Development (MoAD) and other relevant ministries to integrate climate change concerns into relevant national and sectoral plans and budgets.
Over 25 participants attended from ministries of Agricultural Development, Livestock Development, Forestry and Soil Conservation, Population and Environment, Information, Federal Affairs and Local Development, and Home Affairs as well as the National Agricultural Research Council, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, National Planning Commission, Department of Food Technology and Quality Control, Department of Agriculture, Department of Livestock Services, Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, FAO Nepal, and UNDP Nepal. Association for Development of Environment and People in Transition-Nepal (ADAPT-Nepal) and PricewaterhouseCoopers Limited, the service providers engaged to undertake the climate risk assessment and adaptation planning initiative at the local level also participated.