This prestigious award was handed over to Dr. Shatadru Chattopadhayay and Selim Reza Hasan of Solidaridad Network Asia by Dr. Harsh Vardhan, the Honourable Minister of Science and Technology, Earth Sciences, Environment, Forest and Climate Change from the Government of India.
Sustainable Agriculture, Food Security & Linkages
The SaFaL programme was selected as the best programme in South Asia under the category ‘Community-based Mitigation & Adaptation in Water Resources and Agriculture.’ The Jury commended the efforts of Solidaridad for its landscape approach in helping to improve resilience and food security of local communities in the South-West Bangladesh landscape.
Enhacing Food & Nutritional Security
Since 2012, Solidaridad has been implementing the Sustainable Agriculture, Food Security and Linkages (SaFaL) programme in South-West Bangladesh to enhance food and nutritional security of smallholder farmers and landless workers. The SaFaL programme supports over 100,000 smallholder farmers and landless worker families in the Delta region of Bangladesh to improve food security and develop resilient livelihoods through the adoption and adaptation of climate-smart and nutrition sensitive agriculture market linkages.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsgPOCFfhfo&feature=youtu.be
A Business Model for Climate-Smart & Sustainable Food Systems
The SaFaL programme has developed business models for inclusive supply chains and enabled smallholder farmers to become successful agricultural entrepreneurs in aquaculture, horticulture, soy and dairy. The programme has increased productivity and income for more than 58000 smallholder families. It is the hope that the business model for climate-smart and sustainable food systems, developed by the SaFaL programme, will trigger larger contractual agreements by public and private stakeholders.
The Power of The Market For Change
Dr. Shatadru Chattopadhyay, Managing Director of Solidaridad Network Asia said that markets are legitimate channels for social and ecological change in place of traditional NGO approaches.
“This award is a recognition of Solidaridad’s decade-long efforts across Asia towards developing climate mitigation and adaptation techniques integrated with a solution-oriented, market-based approach.
This programme reduces climate-related vulnerabilities and enhances food and nutrition security of smallholder farmer families and landless workers. I dedicate this award to our team, the Dutch Embassy in Bangladesh, the grassroots level partners and the community in Bangladesh."
Selim Reza Hasan, Country Manager, Bangladesh said:
“The market is the driver of change for sustainability. Solidaridad is investing in the market system to strengthen eco-system services that build a resilient economy and food security for producers and consumers at local, national and international levels."
