Maputo, 31st May 2023 – Our Blue Future partners, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Mozambican Blue Economy Development Fund (ProAzul) collaborated with the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SwAM) to implement this Sustainable Blue Economy training pilot in Mozambique. The three-day training Funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) brought together key stakeholders from government and civil society organizations, marking the beginning of inclusive sustainable blue economy training program for the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region. The training program aims to build a common implementation vision on Sustainable Blue Economy (SBE).
The WIO countries have respective conception of SBE but operationalization or implementation requires a common vision and understanding of what SBE means for a specific sector and actor, and how everyone can contribute to it. The training focused on identifying the institutional, financing and technical barriers in relation to SBE implementation, as well as outlining options and solutions to overcoming them. Importantly, it brought together various stakeholders to gain a deeper understanding of what a SBE could represent and accomplish for Mozambique at local, national and regional levels.
This first training was based on the adapted SBE course materials developed by the Blue Solutions Project to help practitioners and decision-makers discuss conceptual knowledge on SBE. In addition, the course materials cover interactive work sessions that provide participants with opportunities to practice methodologies and tools that they can take away and use subsequently to address or strengthen their contribution to an SBE.
Participants described the three-day training as successful, as it gives more skills and knowledge about Blue Economy and the need to address sustainability issues within this new area for Mozambique. Read more here.
Cover photo credit: @ProAzul