When a disaster strikes, the emergency response addresses immediate basic needs. Longer term assessments then pave the way for reconstruction. Often, in this longer term process, the real needs of fisherfolk and fishing communities are not met or respected. In fact, they can actually be undermined through the well-meaning, yet unsuitable, provision of vessels, fishing gear and landing sites and infrastructure.

FAO’s ‘Fisheries and Aquaculture Response to Emergency’ (FARE) training package course addresses this very issue. FARE is a tailored effort to specifically bring together fisheries officers and disaster risk reduction specialists to ensure the fisheries’ perspective in embedded and included in longer term response. 

This training package was originally developed by FAO (Food & Agriculture Organisation) and piloted in 2015. We have been working with FAO Fisheries department in Rome since late 2017, supporting the revision and improvement of the FARE training course and associated Training of Trainers. This important and interesting work directly links to our support to sustainable development goals 2 (Zero Hunger) and 14 (Life below Water).

Under the FAO CC4Fish project, the revised  FARE course was recently piloted in Grenada in the Caribbean. Chris and Silvia worked with trainers from the University of West Indies and the Grenada Red Cross to facilitate the 3-day FARE course and the associated FARE Training of Trainers. The project enabled fisheries officers and disaster risk reduction specialists from 6 countries to work together, share experiences and perspectives, and understand how to best implement best practice outlined in two key FAO publications Fisheries and aquaculture emergency response guidance? and Guidelines for the fisheries and aquaculture sector on damage and needs assessments in emergencies .

The aim was to foster a cohort of regional FARE trainers able to deliver the FARE course nationally and in the region, and who can support the assessment and planned response to any emergency affecting the fisheries and aquaculture sectors in the Caribbean.

Our innovative, hands-on continuous mini-session practice during the Training of Trainers allowed participants to practice presentation and facilitation skills using the very FARE materials they had been introduced to in the previous 3 day FARE course. Not only did they become familiar with content and methods, but they also worked in their country teams to develop country strategies for taking FARE forward in their countries and in the region. 

We look forward to supporting FAO in 2019 in taking this important FARE training package to other regions affected by disasters.