On the occasion of the World Fisheries Day, held on the 21st of November 2012 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, the African Confederation of Small Scale Fisheries Professional organizations (CAOPA) and the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives in Ivory Coast (FENACOPECI) organized a meeting with experts and women representatives of the small scale fishery sector of 16 African countries on the following topic: “Improving the contribution of artisanal fisheries to food security: The role of women”.

This workshop was organized from the 18th until the 21st of November 2012 in Grand-Bassam, Ivory Coast, with the support and collaboration of CFFA, Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC), Pain pour le Monde, International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ISCF) and Journalists network for sustainable fisheries in West Africa (REJOPRAO)

During these three days, participants made some field visits (aquaculture site and landing/processing site) and proceeded to debates and exchanges which allowed to elaborate recommendations to include in the Voluntary guidelines for sustainable small scale fisheries, in the framework of the consultation process, directed by FAO. The Abidjan Declaration, which was read on the World Fisheries Day was also written on the basis on the work from the working groups.

On November the 22nd, a meeting was organized by ICSF in order to improve the work on FAO voluntary guidelines.

See the full report and the Abidjan Declaration.

On the occasion of the meeting organized by CAOPA in Ivory Coast on the role of women in small scale fisheries and the contribution to food security, the network of journalists for responsible and sustainable fisheries in West Africa (Réseau des journalistes pour une pêche responsable et durable en Afrique de l’Ouest – REJOPRAO), published a news bulletin on CAOPA’s women, ‘La poissonnière d’Abidjan’, in two volumes.

Since few years, the Rejoprao joins CAOPA in its meetings in order to ensure a certain visibility of its major activities, thanks to the writing of articles by members of the network who are invited to take part to the events. In practical terms, CAOPA gets the members of the network to come to the meetings (World fisheries day, Mbour forum, sub-regional workshops, etc.). On the occasion of this workshop in Ivory Coast, CAOPA and its partners invited four members of Rejoprao in order to have a cover by the media of the event: two francophone journalists (Senegal and Mauritania), one Portuguese-speaking journalist (Cape-Verde) and one Anglophone journalist (Gambia). In return, Rejoprao had to propose to CAOPA an accurate work program. That is how Rejoprao came up with the idea of a bulletin, entitled ‘La poissonière d’Abidjan’ in reference to women fishworkers and the capital city of Ivory Coast where the meeting was held.

The journalists dealt with the major events and themes of the meeting, keeping in mind the necessity to provide an accurate debrief of the discussions. They therefore chose the subjects freely. They followed the field visits, the debates and could interact with the actors and actresses. A press conference was also held on the 18th of November, at the end of the two days of work. The edition work was done away. That was an innovation. The journalists on site wrote and send their articles to an occasional editor-in-chief, who was not attending the workshop, who was in charge of editing the texts and carrying out the set-up of the bulletin.

The bulletin is spread out through a mailing list and also put online on the website of Rejoprao. During the COFI in July 2012, a bulletin was edited both in French and English but unfortunately, they only did a French version this time.

For Rejoprao, this process should lead to the production of a periodical magazine on fisheries.

Information gathered thanks to the contribution of Maïga Inoussa and on the website of Rejoprao : http://rejoprao.blog4ever.com/blog/...

See the two bulletins in joint document (in French) here and here.