Progress

Inception workshop: A regional inception workshop was held on May 4-5 2021. The purpose of this workshop was to introduce the project and to present proposed operational work plans and implementation arrangements. The first Project Steering Committee Meeting of the SWIOFC –Nairobi Convention project will follow the May 2021 inception workshop. The PSC will be held in collaboration by the two regional project executing agencies (SWIOFC/FAO and Nairobi Convention Secretariat/UNEP), as well as the funding agency, Sida.

Activities will promote responsible and integrated ocean governance, as well as fisheries and environmental management, within blue economy initiatives

This project will also provide adaptive and integrated management approach in the WIO region. Member countries should acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to address the issues facing the small-scale fisheries and environmental management sectors- with women and youth being the focus.

Together with the SAPPHIRE project, this project is supporting the University of Nairobi Maritime Center, to create a series of sector reports and a draft Synthesis Report An assessment of the status of blue economy sectors in Kenya. The assessment will be finalized after further fieldwork and interviews with key experts, researchers and other stakeholders. A  Validation Workshop, which will include a wide spectrum of stakeholders, is planned for 2022, after which the assessment will be used to prepare policy briefs for submission to the Kenyan Government for consideration. 

This project, together with the WIOSAP and SAPPHIRE projects, is supporting Lloyd Capital and Prime Africa to undertake an economic valuation of the value of a Transboundary Conservation Area (TBCA) between Kenya and Tanzania. The valuation will provide policy oriented information in support of this collaborative approach in management.   

Climate change: 

Together with the WIOSAP project, this project is supporting the undertaking of climate change vulnerability assessments in four sites in Kenya, Mozambique, Madagascar, and Tanzania. 

The project is coordinating the Nairobi Convention Science to Policy Platform and the SWIOFC processes by integrating scientific evidence and findings to help countries to protect, manage and develop their coastal and marine environment.

The integration should promote a Fisheries Management-Environmental Conservation Policy dialogue that could generate relevant policy recommendations presented as proposed policy decisions to corresponding regional bodies during the conference of parties (COP) meeting.

A GIS consultant was recruited to create a database and visualization to support activities at pilot sites and to collate data being generated by other demonstration project at the pilot sites. A back-end web designer and database management consultant was recruited in October 2021 to provide for a functional, populated, and updated clearinghouse and website with data from all active projects, local, national, and regional datasets, portals, and repositories in the WIO region, secured with data backup. 

There will be targeted trainings to coordinate the development and implementation of regional, sub-regional and national initiatives to improve job opportunities and livelihoods, especially for Youth and women. The project will collaborate with inter-governmental, non-governmental, or universities and other academic institutions.

Ecosystem Management – The proposed Fisheries-Environment framework will provide an evidence-based approach for policy reform. This will help policymakers understand the impact of their interventions and to track progress towards improved holistic fisheries and ecosystem management outcomes.

Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) developments: The first virtual meeting of the MSP technical working group was held in July 2020. An assessment was performed of the contribution of Maritime Sectors to Kenya’s Blue Economy: Values, Potentials and Governance Frameworks, including as mapped through MSP process, which provided recommendations on the sectors with the highest potential.

Critical Habitats Outlook: Following the launch of the Outlook, the project will conduct case studies in Madagascar, Tanzania and Mozambique. They will also raise awareness of specific case studies in the Outlook on ecosystem services, habitat protection, habitat restoration, fishery resources in critical habitats, mitigation of bycatch, eradication of invasive species, and future scenarios of the habitats.

The SWIOFC – Nairobi Convention partnership project carried out its inception workshop on May 4 – 5, 2021.

The objectives of the meeting were: 

• To introduce the project and present project operational work plans and implementation arrangements to participating countries and project partners,
• To engage with participants to share knowledge and identify further potential for synergies or collaboration, with the aim of maximising the potential of achieving project objectives while aligning with national and regional priorities.

Regular regional project monitoring unit (RPMU) meetings were held monthly on 05 July, 6 and 13 September, 04 and 27 October, 01 November, and 06 December 2021 on progress in project implementation at national and regional level. The meetings followed through into national Steering Committees meetings held to prepare narrative workplans and budgets for demonstration projects: Mozambique on 29 June, 13 August, 15 November. Tanzania on 27 July, 26 August. Madagascar on 6 May, 17 August. The meetings have reaffirmed national project implementation structures and defined activities, including preparation of funding agreements. 

In November 2021, the SWIOFC Nairobi Convention Partnership Project hosted a panel discussion on Fisheries and Marine Environment Collaboration for Sustainable Blue Growth, as part of the Second Edition of the Growing Blue Conference organized by the government of Mozambique.

They discussed key issues that the fisheries and environment sectors need to collaborate on more closely to address policy and management priorities for the region; Working arrangements that can enable this collaboration in practice and what is needed to establish these; and Examples and opportunities to learn from and capitalize on. This was in context of current developments in the Western Indian Ocean.