USAID's ECOFISH II has organized a day-long "Women Congress" with the participation of the women members of artisanal fishinghouseholds in Teknaf, Ukhiya, Cox's Bazar Sadar, Kutubdia, Maheshkhali, Charfassion, and Patuakhali on September 10.
The event is celebrated with the slogan "Women are becoming aware of biodiversity conservation, contributing to life and livelihood!"
Since 2020, ECOFISH II has been working in coastal regions of Bangladesh to improve fishing families' quality of life and livelihoods. The project has supported 15,000 artisanal small-scale fishing households along the Bay of Bengal, providing them with training, economic and technical assistance, technological knowledge, and access to services.
Rezwana Sharmin, Gender specialist, provided key speech on the overview of ECOFISH's initiatives on Gender equality and women's empowerment.
One of the key objectives of ECOFISH II is to raise awareness among fishers about marine resource and biodiversity conservation. The project involved various volunteers, forming the Landing Center-based Fisheries Co-Management Committee, creating awareness to compliant with the fishing bans, discouraging the use of illegal nets, and fostering a commitment to environmental balance and ecosystem conservation.
To empower women, encourage savings behavior, and promote greater participation in economic activities, ECOFISH II collaborated with 222 Women Income and Nutrition Groups (WINGs) and Community Savings Groups (CSGs). The congress was attended by officials from the Department of Fisheries, government and non-governmental stakeholders, ECOFISH II project personnel, female Blue Guards, representatives from partner organizations, service providers, media professionals, and members of the marginal fishing community. The event included detailed discussions on their success on their economic activities, advancement in business literacy, good nutrition behavior, women empowerment and the contribution to the biodiversity conservation for women.
Mr. Syed Safkat Ali, Assistant Commissioner (Land) was present as the chief guest in the women congress and he said that women should change their dream alongside the NGO's assistant and tanked WorldFish Bangladesh to organize the Women Congress.
Mr. Md. Delwar Hossain, Senior Upazila Fisheries Officer(SUFO) and Mr. Zakirul Islam, Upazila Agriculture Officer (UAO) were present as special guests and assure to improve fishers livelihoods from their respective departments.
Mohammad Mokarrom Hossain PhD, Chief of Party of the ECOFISH II Activity urges them to transform their livelihoods by adopting the skills gained from the projects to change their family nutrition and livelihoods by throughclimate smart technologies. He also applauded the spontaneous participation of women.
Md. Nahiduzzaman, Climate resilient livelihood Scientist facilitated as an open discussion with the Women leading WING & CSG's members and linked with up with key govt. services department like DoF, DAE&DLS.
There are also present Ms. Israt Zahura, Training Specialist and Ms. Rezwana Sharmin, Gender Specialist of WorldFish Shaheed Nasrullah Al Mamun, Research Associate delivered the welcome speech and Research Assistant Sohel Rana moderated the event.
