FAO and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Provincial Fishery Office of Misamis Occidental train small-scale fisheries women’s organizations

Sinacaban, Misamis Occidental | From 11-13 December 2024, FAO, in collaboration with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Provincial Fishery Office of Misamis Occidental,conducted a  training on Values Formation and Team Building for the “Women in SSF of Libertad Bajo Association”. This activity forms part of the FAO Project, “Implementing the Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines for gender-equitable and climate-resilient food systems and livelihoods - Phase 2”. 

The training was attended by 25 women members of the Libertad Bajo Association from Sinacaban, Misamis Occidental, alongside three representatives from the Local Government Unit (LGU) - Municipal Agriculture Office (MAO) of Sinacaban (two women and one man) and seven BFAR personnel (four women and three men).

The training aimed to: increase their understanding of the importance of having a right perspective as an individual and as a member of a group working together towards a common goal, including leadership qualities; improve their understanding of the values necessary to succeed as an individual, as a member of a team and as a woman-leader, regardless of the role held; emphasize the importance of time management and the effective use of opportunities; and do a practical exercise in action planning to develop their skills by applying the lessons they have gained from the training.

The training utilized modules developed by BFAR for values formation and team-building activities. These modules aim to build capacities of fisherfolks in personal, leadership and organizational development. 

The key topics covered during the three-day training included:

• Life Begins Today: focused on personal growth and motivation.
• Values Enrichment and Leadership: Road to Success:  focused on understanding core values that drive success in leadership and community building, especially for women in small-scale fisheries.
• Respect and Inclusion: Highlighted the importance of respecting diversity, promoting gender equality, and building cohesive communities.
• Bank Account of Life: Focused on financial literacy, savings, and managing personal and group finances to support long-term projects. This module provided practical skills for establishing income-generating activities, both individually and as a group
• The Value of Time: Taught effective time management skills for balancing personal development, work, and community activities.
• Leadership in Action: Applying What We’ve Learned: Engaged participants in group discussions and role-playing exercises to reflect on leadership challenges and apply the values and skills learned.
• Action Planning for Community Projects: Participants worked together to develop concrete action plans that incorporated training principles, actual experiences, and their association’s context. These plans outlined steps to enhance leadership, sustainability, and community engagement, along with monitoring and evaluation strategies. They attempted to create a group action plan, identified steps they can take to improve leadership, sustainability, and community engagement. In addition, they also discussed how they will monitor and evaluate their progress.

Presentation of their outputs followed that allowed feedbacking from other groups as well as from the resource persons.

Next steps 

The Women in SSF of Libertad Bajo Association pledged that they will continue to work as a group and made commitments to settle differences, support each other, and make initiatives that will strengthen the association. The Local Government Unit  (LGU) committed to continue supporting the association to strengthen it and include them as beneficiaries of local government interventions. BFAR committed to include the association as beneficiaries of livelihood interventions if the members exhibit commitment to work as a group as can be seen by the progress in their small group income-generating activities. 

The association expressed interest in further training on technical skills, particularly post-harvest handling and fish processing techniques, to support their small-scale fisheries livelihoods.

A group game that allowed the members to apply the values they have learned from the lectures.	Presentation of their group outputs during the exercise in Action Planning.

To learn more access:

The FVC-phase 2 project webpage

The Philippines webpage