On the of 30th October 2014, the NESFAS team including Phidarilin Uriah, Janak Preet Singh, Rahul Antao, Bibhudutta Sahu, Markus Rani and Wansalan Passah along with Sara Manetto, Programme Officer of The Indigenous Partnership, Rome, and Fashion Designer, Daniel Syiem, visited the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) office.
There, they met with Fabrizio Felloni, Senior Evaluation Officer, Independent Office of Evaluation, IFAD, and Fumiko Nakai, Evaluation Officer, Independent Officer of Evaluation, IFAD, of the Monitoring and Evaluation team who shared an overview of their own evaluation strategies. The NESFAS team took the opportunity to share their own experience of working with the communities.
The team also met with Miss Antonella Cordone, Senior Technical Specialist Indigenous Peoples And Tribal Issues, IFAD and Anne – Laure Roy, Senior Technical Specialist Farmers’ Organisations, IFAD, to discuss issues pertaining to Indigenous communities. The team touched on subjects like the Youth Food Clubs, Flavour Innovation, Cooks Alliance and the network that NESFAS wishes to build in North East India. They also spoke about activities with children such as school garden and agrobiodiversity walks which help in reconnecting children to their land and local food while also acting as platforms for Inter-generational sharing of knowledge. The eri silk, indigenous to Meghalaya, also gained focus during the discussions, especially with regards to Daniel Syiem’s work on sustainable fashion using this elegant fabric.
The NESFAS team was heartened by the encouragement and acknowledgement that they received, not only for their work with the indigenous communities, but also with the youth.
– Reported by Phidarilin Uriah, Associate Trainee, NESFAS
