Webinar : SWALIM -18 Year Journey in Somalia
SWALIM’s services remain highly relevant to help Somalia preserve and manage its natural resource base – including diminishing groundwater, tree cover and soil fertility – and to protect its people against the impacts of recurrent climate shocks. Most recently, SWALIM’s information and early warning systems were critical in informing Somalia’s successful famine prevention and drought response in 2017.
The principle underpinning SWALIM has been that SWALIM act as “knowledge guardian,” until the Somali Government is recovered enough to re-establish core country systems with viable, strong institutions. Under auspices of the AU led AMISOM mission, since the elections of 2016, the Somalia Federal Republic has re-engaged in regional economic cooperation with neighboring states. In response, FAO Somalia is currently relocating its program to Somalia. The new phase of SWALIM thus has a significant responsibility towards effective capacity building and transfer key data, information and the methods of collection, validation and analysis to the line ministries of the Somali government, and key knowledge partners/Somali Universities. At the same time, FAOSO has to work to maintain its comparative advantage as a trusted, independent knowledge manager of water and land resources for agriculture. The balance of imperatives, therefore, has to be worked out as SWALIM begins its journey into Somalia over the next few years.
The recording and presentation can be found here: http://www.fao.org/e-agriculture/webinars/e-agriculture-webinar-swalim-18-year-journey-somalia or you can directly listen to the recording at https://youtu.be/UStCA2lpVSQ