Shillong, May 20: The North-East Slow Food and Agrobiodiversity Society (NESFAS) on Monday inaugurated the TIP Indigenous Youth Fellowship Programme organised by The Indigenous Partnership for Agrobiodiversity and Food Sovereignty (TIP) at the office premises.
NESFAS partner communities will also host two fellows – NofriYani from Indonesia and Edgar Osvaldo from Mexico. MerryshaNongrum and Chenxiang R.Marak, who are also part of the programme, will join the two in several programmes that will be hosted by NESFAS across Meghalaya till June 17.
The initiative for the field work that is being held in Meghalaya is supported by the Rural Electrification Corporation Limited of India and the Government of Meghalaya. The four fellows will then travel to Rome, Italy where they will continue with their programme for another month.
The fellows will get a chance to interact and communicate with community members throughout the month-long programme in Meghalaya. The programme will also give them a chance to access to committees and projects that have tested and worked with interesting local initiatives and some of the best known names in different fields relating to indigenous food, livelihood systems and leadership training.
NESFAS chairman Phrang Roy said, “The programme is important to build a cadre of young indigenous people who can uplift the well-being of their indigenous communities and work towards defending the indigenous food systems.”
Yani said, “I want to teach children about the importance of farming. People are forgetting their traditions, so I want to take back home all that I will learn from the programme and implement them back home.”
“I am expecting to learn in depth about the environment and its impact on food systems. By being part of the 2019 TIP fellowship programme, I will get the chance to understand better the concept of agrobiodiversity and agroecology in relation to food and nutrition security,” Marak said.
Nongrum, on the other hand, said, “Through this programme, I expect to learn enhance skills and develop myself as a leader through action programme in the communities to bring about social change.”
This Indigenous Youth Fellowship Programme initiative was first piloted in the year 2017 where two fellows from Meghalaya were part of. This is the second time that the programme is being held.
Dr. Kevin Gallagher, an expert in Agroecology and one of the founding authors in Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations on Farmer Field School, was also present at the inauguration. Gallagher is one of the mentors for the fellows for the first part of the fellowship programme here in Meghalaya.
He said, “I want to connect the ambitions of farmers with the current economy. I look forward to visiting the communities and meet the farmers to know more about the work that they are doing in their respective fields.”
