From 14 to 16 October, the capacity-building workshop for artisanal fishers in Yoff - an activity conducted in the context of the small-scale fisheries academy in Senegal - brought together some thirty professionals. They reflected on their reality, analysed their economic activities and identified concrete measures to improve their livelihoods.
The workshop was the second opportunity for fishers, divers, wholesalers, women micro-fishmongers and boat painters to conduct a series of analyses, visualisation exercises and exchange sessions for a sustainable fishery.
During the workshop sessions the participants produced a vision of what constitutes a happy life for them and a one-year action plan for improving livelihoods. They identified priority actions for a positive change in each one's professional activity. In addition, they collectively built an overview of the socio-ecological adversities and their effects on the artisanal fishery.
The workshop allowed the participants to better master the visual tools and to deepen their analysis through practice thanks to the exercises and diagrammes already used in the first workshop in June.
In addition, participants exchanged views on the importance of sharing with others in the community the information and learning they have benefited from within the academy. They agreed on the next steps that will enable them to build on these skills relevant to the emergence of leadership and governance of the group engaged in the Small-Scale Fisheries Academy (SSF academy) in Yoff.
Among the planned activities, the sharing of tools with family members and community groups, the election of an office that will work as a local committee of the academy in Yoff and will define a work plan for the year 2020, were prominent next steps.