Opening Remarks for SIFWaP Inception Workshop

Thank you Assistant Secretary Menoleen Oswald for starting off the inception workshop.

I would also like to acknowledge the presence of:

• Traditional Leaders
• Members of the Government
• Development Partners

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Kaselehlie, Mogethin, Ran Annim, Len Wo,

I am pleased to join you at today’s workshop to launch the Small Islands Food and Water Project for Federates States of Micronesia, or SIFWaP as we call it.

I speak on behalf of the whole UN system in Micronesia and acknowledge and appreciate the work undertaken by IFAD in close collaboration with the Government of FSM and in particular with the National Department of Resources and Development (R&D) in getting this important project started.

SIFWaP is a multi-country project covering 4 Pacific countries: FSM, Kiribati, RMI and Tuvalu. These countries are among the smallest, most isolated and fragile of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Countries that include coral atolls scattered over a vast area of ocean with a high population density that combined with the low productivity of agro-ecological systems and remoteness contribute to a precarious food, water and nutrition security. It is important that for such small and infertile low-lying islands, non-traditional and innovative farming techniques are considered that include vertical and food cube farming, effective ways of raising taro patches and consider techniques to ensure healthy breadfruit trees in the face of rising sea levels and increased saltwater intrusions.

Small Islands Food and Water Project is funded through a contribution from the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme and from the Government of New Zealand.

Although agriculture, including fisheries, has been mainstay of sustainable livelihoods in the North Pacific for centuries, it has eroded in recent decades with consequences for food and nutrition security. An important factor thereof is related to water security that has been exacerbated by increasing temperatures, rising sea levels and periodic droughts. The reason why the project main objectives is to improve food, nutrition and water security within small island communities and households and thereby enhance their livelihoods and strengthen resilience to shocks.

To achieve its main objective, the SIFWAP project anticipates to intervene through three pathways:

• Enable communities to diagnose, prioritise and develop Community Action Plans to address food, nutrition and water security.
• Invest in Projects at both community and private levels to strengthen resilience by addressing food, nutrition and water security at community, group or household level.
• Develop an Enabling Policy Framework for addressing food, nutrition and water security.

Without exception, food and nutrition security is an absolute priority in National Development Plans, along with adaptation to climate variability and climate change across the 4 target countries.

The benefits of investments in the agriculture sector are substantial, including through financing and institutional capacity building to in turn provide more effective support to farmers and the private sector.

Food and nutrition security are central to SIFWaP’s objectives and proposed interventions. There is a deteriorating status of nutrition and health in the participating countries. There are countries that have witnessed a rapid food system transformation and a nutrition transition characterised by an erosion of traditional lifestyles and food systems and diets, reduced dietary diversity, and increased dependence on imported foods, often of poor nutritional value.

The project will support Federated States of Micronesia through investments in food, nutrition and water security. A matching grants program will be established under the project, providing grants for both private good investments and public/communities.

The project will focus on equitable and inclusive engagement with beneficiary communities and households. It will do so through community-based awareness raising and participatory planning to support nutritious food production and consumption. It will take into consideration water supply management. And it will address gender and youth considerations and skills development to enable social inclusion and empowerment of vulnerable groups.

By engaging with communities, this project will ensure: that the investments made are relevant, with local ownership and sustainable; that local knowledge on local food will be revived; that households are better equipped to prepare, preserve and store healthy and nutritious foods.

In line with the country socio-cultural context, the Project will adopt an inclusive approach to targeting whereby the rural communities and households as a whole will be targeted. It will do so, while ensuring that some groups receive specific attention. Groups such as the most vulnerable, and groups that include young people, women and persons with disabilities.

In the end, I would like to pay special thanks:

• to the National Department of Resources and Development (R&D) for leading the implementation of the project;
• to our Development Partners: GAFSP and New Zealand Government for providing the necessary resources;
• to IFAD for coordinating, supervising, and providing technical support; and
• to the SIFWaP partners: Pacific Islands Farmer Organization Network (PIFON), Live & Learn, and Sophia University, for supporting the Project.

Thank you.