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About us »
Food Security Working Group..
The Food Security Working Group (FSWG) is a
network of NGOs that are actively exchanging
their experiences in supporting food
security in Myanmar. The working group
started in 2003 from a group of seven
non-governmental organizations, both Myanmar
and international. True to the character of
agriculture and forestry people, the group
decided to organize activities, rather than
just have meetings. Over the past years,
many seminars, workshops and training events
have been organized.
FSWG sees as its role the provision of a
range of capacity building services in the
areas of:
» learning &
exchange
» networking &
collaboration
» exploration
of new areas of intervention
» advocacy.
It aims to provide services that are in
clear demand by its member organizations,
enabling them to become more effective in
improving food security in Myanmar.
Naturally this mainly includes activities
that build on what member organizations are
doing, but where a larger number of
organizations working together provides
advantages.
Membership of the FSWG is open to
non-governmental organizations operational
in Myanmar and to interested individuals.
The FSWG is directed by a Steering Committee
of representatives of member organizations.
Its secretriat is currently taken care of by
the CBFS Project Coordinator.
Early activities of the FSWG included a
project that resulted in a written review of
food security issues as perceived by
participating NGOs and two exchange
workshops on community forestry and
sustainable agriculture issues . Since 2006,
the FSWG operates the "Capacity Building for
Food Security" project that promotes
farmer-led Agricultural Extension and
Community Forestry, and enhances partnership
between actors active in Food Security. See
[CBFS link} for more information.
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About us »
The CBFS Project.
 The Food Security Working Group (FSWG) has
started a three year project, named
"Capacity Building for Food Security
Project" earlier this year. It has as the
purpose to help organizations in Myanmar
carry out effective agriculture and
community forestry work.
The project mainly aims at enlarging
opportunities for reducing food insecurity
of the rural poor and enhancing partnership
for environmentally sustainable food
security to meet its longer-term goal;
"rural communities of Myanmar are able to
sustainably produce sufficient food".
To meet its goal and objectives, the project
has already started implementing various
activities to strongly support
community-based natural resource management
and livelihood activities of the member
organizations. One of the key activities is
operation of Farmer Field Schools which will
assist and train farmer facilitators to
diagnose their potential problems and to
identify promising land technologies in a
sustainable manner. Farmer Field Schools
supported are ranging from sustainable
agriculture schools to community forestry
schools, to livelihood schools that address
an array of agriculture, forestry and
livelihood issues.
 The project also initiates to establish
national and local information networks to
exchange and disseminate resources,
technologies, best practices, etc. on food
security issues resulting from the
implementation of FSWG member organizations.
The project set up a resource center where
you are most welcome.
Project Sites:
The activities are currently being
implemented in a wide range of country areas
including Kachin, Shan, Chin, Rakhine and
Dry Zone where the majority of member
organizations are working on food security
issues.
If your organization is interested to
partner with the FSWG to support food
security and natural resource management in
Myanmar, make sure to contact one of the
following contact persons:
 U
Shwe Thein
FSWG Representative
Daw Win Win Myint
CBFS Project Coordinator
C/O World Concern Myanmar, 11/A, Golden
Valley Block 2,
Kabaraye Pagoda Road, Bahan Township,Yangon,
Myanmar
Phone: 01-549760/557471/559320
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About us »
Highlights from 2006 CBFS Activities.
 The CBFS project is one of the first large
scale projects based on collective effort of
a number of NGOs in Myanmar. It has a strong
emphasis on strengthening local institutions
and building capacities of people in order
to improve access to food and secure the
livelihoods of the local communities. The
project focuses on four main areas; capacity
building, cooperation and networking,
information sharing and policy advocacy to
meet the goal of FSWG.
The CBFS started implementing its field
level activities in sustainable agriculture
and community forestry in April 2006.
Efforts were also put on the process of
project start-up, drawing project policies,
strengthening partnership and networking
with member organizations over the past nine
months.
The project adopts cost effective
technologies by investing technical
expertise and financial resources to sustain
the long-term impact of those on improved
food security and civil society development.
Through farmer field schools (FFS), farmers
can learn how to make more efficient use of
land, forest and agricultural resources. The
major advantage of the FFS is that locally
appropriate technical options and local
ecological knowledge can be effectively
shared and disseminated among local farmers.
Interest of partner NGOS in FFS trainings
has increased as upland agricultural
systems, community forestry and
agro-forestry have gained in importance for
food security.
At the same time, CBFS promotes sustainable
land use practices and provides a promising
way of land tenure grantee for the rural
communities. Currently, CBFS is implementing
19 community forestry micro projects in
Kachin, Northern Shan and Chin States. In
line with project policies, CBFS is
providing technical backstopping as
necessary and financing to the project
communities for critical needs in
establishing forest nurseries and developing
land maps and management plans.
Resource centre activities are also now
started to build an information exchange
network and forum to share promising
sustainable agriculture and community
forestry technologies and extension
strategies among all stakeholders in the
country. IEC materials published are being
widely distributed among project communities
and partner organizations.
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