KOHIMA — A two-day capacity building workshop on ‘Building resilient communities-women and sustainable ecosystem in Nagaland’ has highlighted that non-timber forest products (NTFP) can be prospective income-generation source for indigenous women of Nagaland.
The workshop, organised by the Nagaland State Commission for Women (NSCW) and supported by the National Commission for Women (NCW), got underway on Tuesday at the State Institute of Rural Development in Kohima.
Addressing the inaugural session, the advisor of Social Welfare, Wangpang Konyak, emphasised on creating awareness among indigenous women on climate change and how they can contribute positively to the environment by using non-timber forest products (NFTP) to generate income.
He acknowledged that NTFP could play a vital role in supporting livelihoods, especially in rural areas, and that their collection and marketing can boost women’s economic empowerment.
Konyak said that building resilient communities involve creating social, economic and environmental structures that can absorb, adapt to and recover from both chronic stresses and acute shocks such as natural disasters, economic deflation or social turmoil.
Saying that women constitute nearly half of the world's population, he called for sensitising alternative income-generation activities through knowledge on sustainable and resilient management of natural and agricultural resources adding that such initiatives will have a positive impact on their economic growth and the ecology.
The advisor also maintained that when it comes to women's participation in climate action, their roles at the grassroots level are crucial.
“In Nagaland, women often manage household resources by adapting to climate changes such as water scarcity or food insecurity. Their leadership in these contexts can lead to community-driven solutions that are sustainable and resilient, tailored to local needs,” he said.
The member secretary of National Commission for Women (NCW), Meenakshi Negi, encouraged women to take up eco-tourism activities, given the rich flora and fauna of the state.
She shared that in the journey of past 30 years of the NCW, they realised that it was not enough to talk about women’s grievances, but to bring about complete resolution to their problems.
“Economic empowerment is one of those without which it cannot really redress their grievances or bring them into the mainstream of the economy,” she said.
She added that women’s stories and issues across India are similar given the patriarchal nature of the society but solutions to their similar problems are different.
The chairperson of NSCW, Nyeinyei Konyak, said that the objective of the workshop was to integrate the outcomes of key initiatives of all the departments and agencies to promote entrepreneurship among women based on NTFP.
“This workshop also aimed to create a unified framework for further capacity-building across Nagaland, ensuring that complement in empowering women and enhancing community resilience,” she said.
It also aims to promote sustainable economic development through NTFP-based entrepreneurship, storage, value addition and marketing and develop gender-responsive strategies for disaster relief, response and climate action.
The workshop was aligned with the several sustainable development goals.
The secretary of Social Welfare department, Martha Ritse, pointed out that Naga women have always played an important role in the economy and held in high esteem.
Citing recent study about women’s contribution in the state’s economy, she said, women in Nagaland accounted for 44.7% of the state’s workforce and own 21.6% of enterprises, most of them self-employed and informal micro businesses. She, however, stated there is still much scope for further growth as the component of sustainable ecosystem is yet to be incorporated.
As Nagaland's hilly topography and the high dependence of the population on natural resources and the state's undeveloped status make it highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, she observed that the usage of NTFP by women entrepreneurs can be one step towards mitigating climate change.
The workshop is being organised in collaboration with 12 other departments including Forest, Urban Development, NSDMA, NEN, NSRLM, MSME, Industries and Commerce, Bio-Resource, Neida, WRD, Nagaland Bee Keeping and Honey Mission, Life Connect and Bank.