KATHMANDU: The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) are jointly organizing a series of webinars on “Recovering Livelihoods and Jobs through Agriculture and MSMEs in the context of COVID-19” on July 20-27.
Comprised of four sessions, the webinars are expected to bring together national and international experts and researchers to interact and exchange knowledge and experiences on a wide range of topics, including availability and access to food, migrant workers, gender equality and job opportunities in the context of the unfolding global pandemic.
The four sessions of the webinar series are titled “Building more resilient food supply systems” (July 20); “COVID-19 and migrant workers” (July 22); “Gendered impact of COVID-19 on livelihood” (July 24); and “Crisis as an opportunity to be back to the farms” (July 27). All the webinars will be organized at the same time: from 11 am to 12:30 pm on the said dates.
Each of these sessions will consist of at least three panelists, representing and bringing different perspectives from the Government of Nepal, Seoul National University, UNDP, UN Women, IOM and other related institutions.
The expected participants of the webinar are students, government officials, SMEs, farmers, migrant workers and other related stakeholders. Interested participants can pre-register to join the webinar.
The webinar is part of the ongoing support KOICA has been providing to Nepal’s development, particularly in the areas of agriculture and value chain development. KOICA has been partnering with the Government of Nepal and UNDP to boost Nepali farmers’ income through the Value Chain Development of Fruit and Vegetables Project, which aims to improve incomes of nearly 10,000 smallholder farmers through strengthening the value chain of fruit and vegetable production.
The special focus of the project is on production maximization, post-harvest technology development and rollout, and improved market linkage. KOICA has supported the US $5 million for the joint initiative, which is being implemented in 40 municipalities of Bagmati and Province 4.
To be continued till 2022, the project is helping Nepal achieve the Sustainable Development Goals with a direct contribution to Goal 1 (No Poverty) and Goal 2 (Zero Hunger).
The webinar also aims to explore solutions to address the new challenges, such as increased unemployment and reduced flow of remittance, Nepal is currently facing with the sudden influx of migrant workers, including from Korea and other counties.
In this context, the webinar is expected to have better understanding of the present situation of migrant workers and identify possible areas of intervention for the benefit of the migrant returnees.
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