Launch of EnGenDER Pilot Project – Strengthening the Adaptive Capacity of Young Farmers and Fisherfolk

11 August 2022 |Video Recording of Message, 3 August 2022

SALUTATIONS
•    Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Honourable Pearnel Charles, Jr, MP 
•    High Commissioner of Canada to Jamaica, Her Excellency Emina Tudakovic
•    Head of Jamaica Political and Development Team and Senior Governance Adviser (Caribbean), British High Commission, Mr. Oliver Blake
•    Honourable William Shagoury, Custos Rotulorum, Clarendon
•    His Worship the Mayor, Counsellor William Maragh, Mayor of May Pen
•    Director, Jamaica 4-H Foundation and Chairman, Board of Directors Jamaica 4-H Clubs, Mr. Collin Virgo
•    Director, Jamaica 4-H Foundation, Dr. Ronald Blake 

Good morning.

I am delighted to mark this important milestone in our shared journey to advance Jamaica’s climate resilience through the Enabling Gender-Responsive Disaster Recovery, Climate & Environmental Resilience in the Caribbean project (EnGenDER).  

Agriculture forms one of Jamaica’s key productive sectors and is also one of the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change and natural disasters. 
Fishers and farmers play a vital role in food security. But there are current imbalances that can limit their potential contributions to growth. 

Only 20% of farmers are young people 18 to 35 years of age. And only 31% of youth farmers are female.  In the fisheries sector, this is further reduced to 5.9%.
The inequalities run deeper than participation, they also touch on access. In the crucial period following a disaster, women face greater challenges in accessing resources for recovery.

The numbers are clear: 
We need more young people and more young women to participate in these sectors. 
We need to ensure the playing field is level …for all to access capital and support for resilient livelihoods and recovery in the event of a climate-induced disaster. 
We need greater investments in gender sensitive resilience programming to strengthen Jamaica’s climate resilience. 
 
A gender equal approach integrating youth, women, men, Persons with Disabilities, and other groups at risk of being left behind, will maximise the resilience and productivity of Jamaica’s fisheries and agricultural sectors.  

It is with this principle in mind, that I am pleased to celebrate the launch of this pilot project in partnership with our donors Global Affairs Canada and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, United Kingdom.
This ground-breaking initiative will seek to model gender equality in access and opportunities to climate resilient resources for young farmers and fisherfolk. 

It will be implemented by our invaluable partner, the Jamaica 4H Foundation, and directly aligns to the 4-H Clubs’ Youth in Agriculture Programme, within the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. 
This  21.3 million Jamaican Dollar grant will reach more than 600 young people through skills building, business development, contributing directly to sustainable and climate smart livelihoods within the Agriculture & Fisheries sector. 

The work to be undertaken holds much promise for transforming our beneficiary communities, particularly the youth. 

Results will directly contribute Jamaica’s National Development Plan “Vision 2030” and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.  

UNDP remains committed to our national partners in supporting this critical work to adapt and mitigate the impacts of Climate Change on our sectors.

And to our Youth who will be implementing and benefiting from this project, remember:  Climate Change is on course to affect your generation in unprecedented ways.  This is not to scare you, but to challenge you to rise to the occasion. Adaptation and mitigation practices work. I charge you to absorb the resources of this project, apply, and add value to what you have learned. Innovate new methods of securing your outputs and energizing your business ideas as overcomers of climate change. Then come back and teach us what you have learned. 

Today and tomorrow’s generation of leaders await your stories of triumph to inspire us to new heights in resilience to crisis. I know you can do it.

All the best.