Traditional fishing in Africa is a mainstay for food security and the economy of many communities located along the coasts and on the shores of inland freshwaters. Despite the many challenges affecting the sector, including overfishing and competition from industrial fishing that threaten the biodiversity of fish species and marine and lacustrine habitats, it continues to play a fundamental role in African culture and economy.
Over the past two years, E4Impact has embarked on a journey to deepen its understanding and knowledge of the dynamics affecting the actors, public and private, involved in the blue economy sector, with a focus on the socio-economic dynamics existing within local communities.
In particular, thanks to funding from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Foundation launched two multi-country projects in Senegal, Uganda and Tanzania with the aim of strengthening the traditional fishing supply chain through the development of entrepreneurial skills and the consolidation of dialogue between public and private actors.
A step-by-step approach was taken, in order to gradually get in touch with the local ecosystem to understand its dynamics and the relationships between the parties involved.
The first project, named Blue & Green: Boosting Local authorities’ Understanding of coastal Economy & Growing Regenerative Enterprises in the Ecosystem Networks in Dakar and Kampala, involved local municipal officials, who took part in a training program that explored the main challenges and opportunities in the sector, starting from a global perspective and then analyzing critical issues and solutions on a local scale. They were also provided with useful tools to promote local entrepreneurship development, such as the business model canvas and entrepreneurial training models aimed at strategically addressing the challenges of the local fisheries sector.
A first phase allowed to establish a relationship of trust with the local public partner, represented by the Municipality of Yoff in Senegal, and the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) in Uganda, and to co-design the second phase of the intervention addressed to local communities, in particular the different actors (fishermen, processors, traders) engaged at different levels along the supply chain.
This phase gave start to the FISH: Food Industry Strengthening against Hunger project, which aims to develop technical professionalism and entrepreneurial skills in seafood supply chain actors for the sustainability of the fishing system and conflict reduction.
To reach out to local communities, we worked side by side with the local public partner in the activity of analyzing the local fisheries supply chain and mapping the groups that are part of it. The identification of Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), i.e., groups made up of members of the local community who work to meet the needs of the community and some of their representatives, enabled us to engage a number of actors in an initial training session aimed at imparting the knowledge and tools needed to subsequently expand the pool of beneficiary users.
In addition, the “Training of Trainers” training model, aimed at ensuring the effective transfer of skills to trainers and the consequent outreach to a large number of beneficiaries, has been revisited to include, in a participatory approach, both public and private actors directly involved in the fisheries sector.
The results achieved in March during two days of classroom training and dialogue in Kampala, Uganda, were amazing: 65 supply chain actors from 22 different Community-based Organizations, located in three different Lake Victoria fishing sites (Port Bell, Munyonyo and Ggaba), worked together with the support of 8 officials from the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA). Twenty-two business model canvas describing the entrepreneurial activities of the individual groups were developed and discussed by the participants.
The project activity, organized by E4Impact’s on-site team, was reinforced by the presence of the research team from the Milan office, which was responsible for co-managing the training together with KCCA officials and coordinating data collection. The data analysis will provide a detailed insight into the condition and needs of the local community, consisting of the most disadvantaged segment of the Ugandan population, in order to be able to support local actors with interventions aimed at increasing their bargaining power and market access capacity through the strengthening of the cooperative model.
A training for the benefit of the fishing community of Yoff, a municipality part of the City of Dakar, is now underway. Building on the results of these first two experiences, the initiative will be replicated during November in Zanzibar (Tanzania).
The participatory approach taken by E4Impact in implementing the project was decisive in being able to not only gain an in-depth understanding of the challenges and needs of the sector, but more importantly, to actively engage stakeholders along the supply chain. Here is a video interview with Loise Kamau, Country Manager at the E4Impact Entrepreneurship Center in Uganda, and Jude Ayebare, Fisheries Officer at the KCCA – Kampala Capital City Authority, outlining its most successful components.
Erica Negro