A stronger wffp eng

Afrika Kontakt April 24, 2015

A STRONGER WFFP Challenges and opportunities for WFFP and its members With this document we want to share some of the findings from our study about knowledge and advocacy capacity of WFFP.

The study was carried out by Afrika Kontakt in 2014.

It is based on 12 interviews with CC members and member organizations, and observations of WFFP activities.

A stronger WFFP - challenges and opportunities �1

WFFP members happily marching together in South Africa, September 2014.


Knowledge sharing and communication We have identified a range of challenges in regards to knowledge and communication.

Current issues

Knowledge sharing: Generally knowledge appears to be concentrated amongst the CC, especially in regards to critical understanding of important institutions such as FAO and GEF, the SSF guidelines, and democratic resource management.

Digital divide: Current communication channels between WFFP and its members do not fit the needs and infrastructure of all organizations. There is inequality in the access, use and knowledge of information and communication technologies across members. Meanwhile WFFP's current communication is mostly internet based.

Dominance of top-down communication: The communication between WFFP's leadership and the member organizations is primarily one-way. Although it is possible to reach the Co-chairs, CC and secretariat, members rarely approach them.

Knowledge gap: There is also a lack of knowledge on the politics around issues of food sovereignty and aquaculture among the member organizations.

Illiteracy: For some organizations high levels of illiteracy rates in local communities pose challenges for effective outreach strategies and mobilization.

Language barriers: Members of WFFP have different language backgrounds and therefore the official languages of WFFP are French, Spanish and English. But currently most communication is done in English.


Digital tools in use at the GA 2014.

“Illiteracy rates in our fishing communities are as high as 85%” ABDUL KOROMA (SLAFU, SIERRA LEONE)


Inspiration for possible solutions WFFP could explore and develop new strategies to increase sharing of knowledge and good practices. These are some suggestions:

An Activist Exchange Program: WFFP could benefit even more from their members diverse expertise. For example activists could be sent to spend time in another organization. This could provide an opportunity to learn about other organizations’ work, enrich each other's skills, strategies and strengthen the social relations.

Alternative Communication: Written communication (via computer, sms or print) is not the only way to reach out to local fishing communities, especially because some of these have high rates of illiteracy. Organizations could use community radio, local storytellers and mobilizers - as some already do successfully.

WFFP Basics for Newbies: Its hard for new activists to catch up with the amount of topics the WFFP deals with. To address the knowledge disparity among activists more experienced members could introduce others to basic knowledge in crash courses or similar. A great place to hold such courses could be the GA.

Learning circles: Given the few in-person meetings, knowledge sharing via Skype or phone might be a practical approach to overcome the long distances between the members. There are many different themes that can be explored (we listed few above).

Support-group: The help offered by friends of WFFP could be increased through a new form of membership. Support Members could, for example, be on stand-by for services like translation or other legwork.


“WFFP is a platform where we have the chance to share our experiences and benefit from the success of others” CHRISTIANA LOUWA (EL MOLO FORUM, KENYA)


Many thanks to all participants in this study:

Abdul Koroma (Sierra Leone, SLAFU)

Arthur Bull (Canada, Bear River First Nation)

Christiana Louwa (Kenya, EMF)

Dawda Foday Saine (Gambia, NAAFO)

Diarra Diaffara (Mali, Association des pêcheurs du Mali)

Herman Kumara (Sri Lanka, NAFSO)

Jorge Valera Marquez (Honduras, APAGOLF)

Naseegh Jaffer (South Africa, Masifundise)

Natalia Laiño Lojo (Spain, AGAMAR / Associatio Galega de Uartscadaras)

Patrick Fortuno (Mauritius, FAS)

Seremos Kamuturaki (Uganda, UFFCA)

Sherry Pitctou (Canada, Bear River First Nation)

Sid Ahmed Abeid (Mauretania, Federation Nationale de Peche, Mauritania)


One of the interviews during the GA 2014.

A stronger wffp eng

Government & Nonprofit

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