Dhiraagu Partners With Maldives Fishermen’s Association To Support ‘Young Fisher’s Club’

Yesterday, Dhiraagu announced the partnership between the company and the Maldives Fishermen’s Association to support the newly established ‘Young Fisher’s Club’ in Ha. Ihavandhoo. The purpose of the club is to educate young leaders on the basic knowledge and understanding of fisheries, marine environment and the sustainability practices employed in the field.

To mark the inauguration of the pilot programme, a special ceremony was held at Ha. Ihavandhoo School. At the ceremony, the ‘Young Fisher’s Club’ was incepted with 52 students from grades 7-8 from the school, with a gender representation of 30 girls and 22 boys. As per the programme, the enrolled participants will receive 1-year education and training on relevant areas, supported by practical sessions.

Areas covered in the coursework include the history of Maldives’ fisheries industry, marine environment, weather, climate change, disaster management, biodiversity and fisheries management. Moreover, focus will be supplied to emerging areas like post-harvest technology, navigation, communication skills and safety and first aid at sea as well. In addition to this, the structured course will also help students to develop transferrable skills such as swimming, snorkelling, leadership, time management and teamwork.

Speaking on the partnership, CSR Manager at Dhiraagu, Bishara Hameed commented “Empowering young people is a key focus area in Dhiraagu’s CSR strategy and it is our pleasure to support this key programme. We are hopeful that this initiative will allow young people to adapt sustainable practices, technologies and understand the challenges to the marine environment, forming the right mindset and inspiration to take on further opportunities in the key industry”.

Secretary General of Maldives Fishermen’s Association, Abdulla Shakir Mohamed said “We are grateful for Dhiraagu’s trust in this programme and supporting this very new initiative to step ahead a new milestone in empowering the younger generation into the Maldivian fisheries industry. This initiative is a much-needed kick-start that would shape the future of our fisheries industry with a more professional, reliable and enthusiastic work force”.

The multi-faceted programme will be conducted throughout the academic year with a central focus projected on prominent areas such as fisheries harvesting, post harvesting sectors and sustainability practices. Furthermore, the programme also strives to instill important life skills in youngsters through this initiative.