Document of

The World Bank

Report No:

PARTNERSHIP INVESTMENT FUND BRIEF

ON A

PROPOSED GRANT FROM THE

GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FACILITY TRUST FUND

IN THE AMOUNT OF USD 25 MILLION

FOR THE FIRST TRANCHE OF A GEF USD60 MILLION

TO THE

Governments of Coastal Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa

FOR A

Strategic Partnership for a Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund in the Large Marine Ecosystems of Sub-Saharan Africa

October 6, 2005

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

AU African Union

CAADP Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Program

CECAF Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic

COREP Regional Fishery Committee for the Gulf of Guinea

CPUE Catch per unit of fishing effort

DFID United Kingdom Department for International Development

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

GEF Global Environment Facility

IDA International Development Association

IBRD International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

LME Large Marine Ecosystem

MaCEMP Tanzania Marine and Coastal Environment Management Project

MPA Marine Protected Area

NEPAD New Partnership for Africa’s Development

PDF-B Project Development Facility Block B

PROFISH Global Program for Fisheries

PRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper

RAC Regional Advisory Committee

SEAFO Southeast Atlantic Fisheries Organization

SRFC Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission

SSA Sub-Saharan Africa

SWIOFC Southwest Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission

UNCLOS United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

UNDP United Nations Development Program

UNEP United Nations Environment Program

WSSD World Summit on Sustainable Development

WWF World Wildlife Fund

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A. STRATEGIC CONTEXT AND RATIONALE

1. Country and Sector Issues

Global Decline of the Fisheries Sector and the WSSD Response

Both the living resources of the seas and the marine habitats that support them are increasingly threatened. The open access nature of these seas and the living resources within them (i.e. resources supporting fisheries) has not only encouraged the build-up of severe over-capacity in the world’s fishing fleets, but has also caused the global decline of the fisheries resource base and threatened the health of the sector in the waters of many coastal countries. Global production from capture fisheries once grew at a rate of 6 percent per year, increasing from 18 million tons in 1950 to 56 million tons in 1969. However, during the 1970s and 1980s, the average rate of the increase in fisheries production declined to 2 percent per year, falling to almost zero in the 1990s, as production has since stabilized at roughly 90 million tons annually. At the same time, the total number of people fishing and fish farming worldwide more than doubled (compared with a 35 percent increase in the economically-active population in agriculture). As a result, FAO estimates that most of the world's fishing areas have now reached their maximum potential for capture fisheries production, with at least 60 percent of the world’s major fisheries over- or fully fished. The last decade of relatively zero growth in capture fisheries production has led FAO to suggest that no increases in total fisheries catch would be obtained in the future, to the contrary, a decline in the total stock, and the production, in particular for the most valuable species is most likely. However, the decline in the resource base is not yet irreversible. Provided concerted action is taken, the prevailing opinion is that stocks can be rebuilt.

Unfortunately, over-fishing and subsequent declining returns from the sector have only reinforced cycles of coastal poverty for millions of rural fishing communities around the world, while at the same time threatening the marine biodiversity and coastal ecosystems that support fisheries. For this reason, the recent World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) felt over-fishing represented a serious crisis meriting a concerted effort by the international community over the next 10 to 12 years, to restore the world’s fisheries to health by the year 2015 (including the coastal ecosystems that support these fisheries). The WSSD further called on donor agencies and stakeholders to create new and flexible partnerships to be able to respond to this growing crisis in world fisheries and implement the target for 2015. At the same time, the WSSD reiterated the poverty reduction targets of the Millennium Development Goals as essential goals for international assistance.

The Global Importance of the Declining Fisheries Sector within the Large Marine Ecosystems in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Linkages to Poverty

Nowhere is the crisis in global fisheries more evident, and the need to implement both the fisheries and poverty reduction targets set by the WSSD greater, than in the five Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) that cover the coastal waters of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).¹ These LMEs possess a wealth of globally significant marine biodiversity and habitats that provide the coastal countries of SSA with some of the world’s most fertile fishing grounds, many of which are transboundary in nature (with either the fish stocks or the fishing fleets migrating regularly across national boundaries, or both). In most coastal countries in SSA, the fishing sector supported by these LMEs is a major contributor to rural income and employment, attracts considerable local and foreign investment, contributes significantly to food security, and in many countries is a substantial source of foreign exchange and funding for public budgets. More specifically, FAO has estimated that some 2.7 million people in the region are engaged in coastal and inland fishing activities on a full or part-time basis, often in labor-intensive small-scale fisheries that include both subsistence and commercial activities. Similarly, in terms of food security, fish provides up to 70 percent of the daily animal protein intake in some coastal countries in the region (e.g. Ghana, Sierra Leone), with an average in the region of about 23 percent in 2000, significantly higher than the global average of 16 percent. Lastly, in terms of foreign exchange earnings, the value of net exports of fish products for the continent as a whole reached the equivalent of roughly US$1.7 billion in 2001, exceeding the net foreign exchange income reported for any other agricultural commodity.

However, as significant as they are for the livelihoods and economies in many countries in the region, and for continued poverty reduction efforts, the fisheries resources supported by the Large Marine Ecosystems of SSA are beginning to feel the cumulative effects of growing populations and over-fishing. Total marine production from these LMEs seems to have reached a plateau since the early 1990s, and the number of overexploited and depleted stocks is rising throughout the region. More specifically:

• In the Canary Current LME, the FAO 10-year trend (1990-1999) shows a decline in the catch from 2.3 million tons in 1990 to 1.8 million tons in 1999. This LME has been characterized by the Global Integrated Water Assessment as highly impacted by fisheries overexploitation.

• In the Guinea Current LME, the FAO 10-year trend shows a catch of 950,000 tons in 1990, a marked decrease to 700,000 tons in 1994, and a recovery to 900,000 tons in 1999. While the LME is rich in living marine resources and commercially valuable fish, it shows evidence of ecosystem stress. There are major fluctuations of commercially valuable species. Significant changes in species composition have occurred over time and several demersal and pelagic fish species are considered over-exploited.

• In the Benguela Current LME, the FAO 10-year trend shows decreasing catches of hakes, herrings, sardines, anchovies and miscellaneous pelagic fishes, but with differences in trends across coastal countries. For example, the Namibian sardine stock has largely stagnated over the last 10 years, but the South African anchovy and sardine stocks increased dramatically between 1995 and 2003. While some commercial stocks are being maintained at productive levels, in some areas there has been severe depletion and even collapse of key stocks.

• In the Agulhas Current LME, the 10-year trend shows a decrease from roughly 284,000 metric tons in 1990 to a level of approximately 220,000 tons in the early 1990s and a recovery to 260,000 metric tons in 1999.

• In the Somali Coastal Current LME, the FAO 10-year trend shows a decrease from 60,000 tons in 1990 to about 50,000 tons in 1999, as the fisheries are predominantly small, traditional and artisanal. Several areas are considered heavily overexploited or at risk from destructive fishing practices.

Fig. 1. The Large Marine Ecosystems of Africa

In addition to the direct over-harvesting of fisheries, the LMEs of Sub-Saharan Africa are also beginning to feel the cumulative effects of growing populations, which threaten habitats such as mangroves and wetlands through a variety of activities including infrastructure development and logging of mangrove forests for fuelwood. As such, the LMEs, and the fisheries they support, are being threatened on two fronts: from the destruction of critical habitat that provides spawning and nursery grounds for many species of fish in the early stages of their life cycle, to over-harvesting of target fish stocks based on inadequate management of fishing effort.

As a result, according to FAO wild stocks of marine fish currently being exploited in the LMEs of Sub-Saharan Africa, with few exceptions (Somalia being one, also the large meso-pelagic stocks around the continent that are unexploited) will not withstand further increases. However, because many of the poorest countries lack the capacity for effective fisheries management based on an ecosystem approach, both local and foreign fleets fish in de facto open access conditions along most of the continent, with fishing pressures continuing to increase. These de facto conditions of open access to African fisheries exist in many cases despite the adoption over 20 years ago of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). This “constitution of the sea” essentially gave countries exclusive rights and control to manage their fisheries resources up to 200 nautical miles from the coast (which includes all of the waters delineated within the five LMEs), yet 20 years later many coastal countries throughout SSA still do not have the capacity to take control of their own fisheries resources nor prevent their overexploitation. The end result is that the fisheries sector contributes far less than its potential to poverty reduction and food security in many SSA countries, due significantly to unsustainable levels of resources exploitation (much of which is illegal) and the skewed allocation of fish resources between small-scale and industrial fisheries. For example, the level of illegal, unreported and unrecorded (IUU) fishing in the Large Marine Ecosystems of SSA was recently estimated by a DFID-sponsored report to include catch volumes worth on the order of US$0.9 billion per year, and in some countries (e.g. Guinea and Somalia) over US$100 million per year. This average annual value of the fish caught illegally, or unreported and unrecorded, in the waters of coastal SSA countries is equivalent to roughly 16 percent of the total value of all fish caught legally in these waters.

Current Efforts to Address the Decline of the Fisheries Sector in SSA and the Need for Additional Assistance to Meet the WSSD Fisheries and Poverty Reduction Targets

The pressures on the marine biodiversity and fisheries resources supported by the LMEs of Sub-Saharan Africa, and particularly the resulting imbalance between catches of fish and sustainable production levels, have been highlighted by the Regional Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture as a priority for the African Union (AU), as well as in the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) agenda developed by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). However, while the existing fisheries governance regimes, including the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, the WSSD, and the NEPAD-CAADP, have provided a mandate, technical direction and targets for sustainable fisheries in the LMEs of SSA, there are still very limited financial resources to implement these mandates. Additionally, the Regional Fisheries Management Organizations created by the countries themselves, in some cases with the assistance of FAO, lack adequate funds to assist individual coastal countries to implement the needed governance reforms in fisheries. Thus, in many coastal countries of SSA, governments still do not have the capacity to take control of their own resources and prevent overexploitation, and specifically to regulate access to these resources and protect the critical habitats that support them.

Process of Proposing this Strategic Partnership

As a first step towards assisting governments of coastal countries in SSA to sustainably manage their fisheries resources and protect the critical habitats that support them, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) sponsored sub-regional LME Programs in each of the 5 LMEs. The coastal SSA countries involved have already provided GEF Focal Point endorsements of each of these 5 LME Programs, and the Programs are now providing a critical knowledge base from which individual countries can improve the governance of their marine resources and protect marine biodiversity and habitats. To complement this ongoing process, additional assistance is being sought at the country level to implement the fisheries-related action programs and recommendations generated by the work undertaken through the LME Programs. Thus, in line with the WSSD targets and the LME projects, the World Bank proposed to explore options for creating a stakeholder-driven funding mechanism to assist individual coastal countries to build on the findings and recommendations provided through the implementation of the LME Programs and meet the targets for sustainable fisheries and poverty reduction set by the WSSD. As a result, the World Bank prepared a concept for establishing a Strategic Partnership for a Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund in the LMEs of Sub Saharan Africa based on the model of the GEF-sponsored Danube/Black Sea Basin Strategic Partnership. Significantly, this Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund (i.e. the Partnership Investment Fund) is part of a larger Partnership that encompasses the Investment Fund , the GEF-sponsored Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) Programs, and a coordinating mechanism to promote interaction and synergy between the two, which will be financed by an MSP grant (see Annex 3).  Coordination between these elements and IA partners will be achieved through a Regional Advisory Committee comprised of the AU, Regional Fisheries bodies, 2 civil society organizations, UNEP, UNDP, FAO and WWF (see section C.1 for further details). This concept for a Strategic Partnership for fisheries was approved by the GEF in mid-2003, and the World Bank asked the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to serve as partners in the preparation of this initiative.

In order to ensure this concept for a stakeholder-driven regional funding mechanism would fit within such regional inter-governmental agreements as the WSSD, the AU priorities, the NEPAD CAADP, the strategies of the Regional Fisheries Management Organizations and the ongoing LME Programs, the Strategic Partnership was prepared through wide consultations within the region. The process began when the First Consultative Workshop with stakeholders from throughout the region was convened by FAO, the World Bank and WWF in Dakar, Senegal, 18-20 January 2005. The meeting attained broad agreement on the goals and objectives of the Strategic Partnership and its operating principals, as well as on eligibility criteria for country level projects to be supported by the Partnership Investment Fund. More specifically, there was agreement among the participants on the premise that inadequate governance of the fisheries resources is the root cause of the current levels of overexploitation in the LMEs, and the Strategic Partnership is a suitable mechanism to generate funds which could assist coastal countries in SSA to take the necessary actions to meet the WSSD fisheries and poverty reduction targets.

After the First Consultative Workshop, a small meeting was held in Dakar with several representatives from the LME Programs, in order to discuss ongoing coordination. The meeting agreed that the LME Programs should be represented at the regional level in the Strategic Partnership, and then would also coordinate in terms of individual country level activities as well.

A Second Consultative Workshop was convened by FAO, the World Bank and WWF in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 22 – 24 June 2005. This workshop was opened by the Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture at the African Union, and the meeting subsequently attained broad agreement on a project cycle that would ensure stakeholder input into a portfolio of roughly 10 to 12 national level projects aimed at assisting coastal SSA countries to implement the WSSD fisheries and poverty reduction targets. More specifically, the meeting agreed that this portfolio and project cycle would be advised by a group of stakeholders led by the AU, and would be complementary to the ongoing LME Programs. The meeting further agreed on the governance framework for such a stakeholder-driven regional funding mechanism. This Brief aims to reflect these two consultations to every extent possible.

2. Rationale for World Bank involvement

The Strategic Partnership is consistent with the goals of the World Bank’s Environment Strategy to support sustainable development, reduce poverty, and improve quality of life by removing the environmental constraints to economic development, and empowering people and societies to manage their environmental recourses. It is also consistent with World Bank’s Rural Strategy, which reflects and reinforces the Bank’s commitment to the UN Millennium Development Goals. At the regional level, it is consistent with the Regional SSA Environmental Strategy and the Africa Region’s Rural Strategy, which emphasizes enhancing the management of natural resources.

The rationale for the World Bank’s leadership in this initiative also follows directly from the Bank’s formally approved Sector Approach Paper: Saving Fish and Fishers. Towards Sustainable and Equitable Governance of the Fishing Sector, as there is (1) the imperative to reduce poverty among 30 million small-scale fisheries families now faced with declining income; (2) the urgent need to address the imminent danger of affected marine ecosystems; and (3) clear and repeated client and donor requests for increased World Bank involvement. This Sector Approach Paper formally recommended that the World Bank re-engage in the fisheries sector with a focus on assisting countries to improve their governance of fisheries resources, utilizing an ecosystem-based approach.

The World Bank has comparative advantages in its convening power to draw global attention to the crisis in the fisheries sector, its experience in economic and sector analysis and strengthening public governance, in developing cross-sector solutions, in organizing decentralized natural resource management and in being able to provide substantial investment funding to support sector strategy implementation.

3. Higher level objectives to which the Partnership contributes (Rational for GEF Funding)

The Strategic Partnership for a Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund in SSA was proposed in order to reverse the depletion of fisheries in the LMEs of Sub-Saharan Africa, and to assist the individual coastal countries bordering these LMEs to meet the fisheries and poverty reduction targets set by the WSSD. The rationale for a partnership is that the fisheries resources supported by the large marine ecosystems of Sub-Saharan Africa are both poorly governed and often transboundary in nature. For this reason, the WSSD has recommended partnerships of donors, technical agencies and NGOs as the best vehicle to assist developing countries to change both policies and practices in fisheries management and the governance of large marine ecosystems.

The Strategic Partnership will act to support and complement, but not duplicate, existing initiatives, allowing multiple Implementing Agencies for the GEF to work together according to their comparative advantages. The Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund, i.e. the Partnership Investment Fund, will encourage county-level investments in the LMEs of SSA, which would complement the ongoing GEF-led sub-regional LME projects. These investments would build the capacity of coastal countries in SSA to implement policy and institutional reforms needed at the national level in order to meet the targets for sustainable fisheries and poverty reduction set by the WSSD, and as well as to support monitoring, surveillance and enforcement of national and international laws and regulations with regard to fisheries and the ecosystems that support them, thereby enabling the countries to more fully collaborate with and participate in the ongoing GEF-funded regional LME projects. Such investments facilitated by the Partnership Investment Fund would be consistent with the principles of the treaty of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), assisting coastal countries in SSA to build their capacity to sustainably manage fisheries resources, while utilizing an ecosystem-based approach that recognizes the importance of the marine and coastal habitats that support these fisheries.

The activities and projects to be funded under the Strategic Partnership for a Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund in SSA could be supported by two of the 15 GEF’s Operational Programs, namely the Coastal, Marine, and Freshwater Ecosystems (OP2) and Waterbody-based Operational Program (OP8). Initially the Strategic Partnership will be supported through the Waterbody-based Operational Program (OP8), and activities within will contribute directly to meeting the targets of the International Waters Strategic Priorities in Sub-Saharan Africa, specifically IW#1: to catalyze financial resources for implementation of agreed actions (e.g. WSSD fisheries targets) and IW#2: to expand global coverage of foundational capacity building. Lastly, it should be noted that SSA countries that will participate will be those that have ratified the UNCLOS.

B. PARTNERSHIP DESCRIPTION

1. Financial instrument

Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund (US$60 million)

The GEF will create a Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund, or Partnership Investment Fund, of US$60 million to be disbursed as grants, which will be available in three tranches over a ten-year period. This Brief seeks approval of US$25 million in GEF funds for the first tranche of the Partnership Investment Fund, with a total of US$75 million in co-financing from other donors expected for this first tranche. Following the model of the Danube/Black Sea Basin Strategic Partnership that was initially approved by the GEF Council on May 9, 2001 (GEF/C.17/7), and the subsequent two tranches that were approved in May 2002 and May 2003, requests for the second and third tranche of this Partnership Investment Fund will be submitted to the GEF Council when the indicators for the previous tranche have been met. The total GEF funds disbursed through the Partnership Investment Fund over 10 years will be US$60 million. This Partnership Investment Fund will be available to co-finance, together with IDA credits and IBRD loans from the World Bank and/or funds from other interested donors, country-level projects aimed at assisting SSA countries to achieve sustainability in their marine fisheries and meet the fisheries and poverty reduction targets set by the WSSD. As mentioned previously, this regional GEF funding mechanism is based on the Danube/Black Sea Basin Strategic Partnership model, in which the GEF Council would approve the overall funding mechanism described in this Brief, and more specifically the criteria that each project must meet in order to be eligible to receive co-financing from the Partnership Investment Fund, so that the subsequent individual project proposals will not have to go back to the GEF Council provided they meet the eligibility criteria, but will only need approval by the GEF CEO.

Strategic Partnership’s Role

In order for the Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund to be a stakeholder-driven regional funding mechanism, it will be advised by a partnership of stakeholders in the region (led by the African Union), i.e. a Strategic Partnership for a Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund in Sub-Saharan Africa. These stakeholders will include representatives of governments, civil society and donors, and will help ensure that the projects proposed for support by the Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund reflect the priorities of the region and are in line with the eligibility criteria approved by the GEF Council, as well as complement existing initiatives such as the GEF-sponsored LME Programs. In addition, the partnership of stakeholders will promote lessons learned from the individual projects throughout the region, in order to encourage replication and the prioritization of sustainable fisheries in national development policies such as Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, as well as the development planning of the World Bank (e.g. in relevant Country Assistance Strategies). These activities of the Strategic Partnership of stakeholders will be funded separately from the Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund, through a Medium-Sized Project Grant from the GEF given for each tranche of funds disbursed to the Partnership Investment Fund.

World Bank’s Role

As mentioned previously, the Partnership Investment Fund will be implemented by the World Bank as the Implementing Agency, and co-financed by IDA credits and IBRD loans and through funds from other interested multilateral and bilateral donors. In addition, any upstream technical assistance that might be required by a country in order to prepare a Concept Note for submission to the GEF could be supported by the World Bank’s Global Program on Fisheries (PROFISH), which includes an already existing multi-donor trust fund as well as technical assistance to support the World Bank’s ongoing country dialogue for development of regional and country programs. As a co-financing ratio of one GEF dollar to every three dollars from the World Bank or any other donors is being targeted by the GEF for each of the three tranches, the total anticipated funding volume of the Partnership Investment Fund is US$240 million.

FAO and WWF’s Role

FAO and WWF have been partners with the World Bank in the preparation of the Strategic Partnerships for a Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund in SSA. As a continuation of their roles as partners, and in addition to their active roles as members of the Strategic Partnership of stakeholders, FAO and WWF will be requested to provide support to the African Union (who will lead the Partnership of stakeholders) for communications, awareness building and information dissemination of the Strategic Partnership and the lessons learned from individual projects co-financed by the Partnership Investment Fund (see Annex 3: Overview of the Medium-Sized Project Request for the Regional Activities of the Strategic Partnership). In both cases, the Strategic Partnership will leverage the organization’s comparative advantages. FAO will provide support to the African Union based on its primacy for fisheries within the UN system and its global experience, knowledge of fisheries, and mandate and mechanisms for serving FAO members on matters related to fisheries. WWF will provide support to the African Union based on its global experience and knowledge of fisheries management gained through its marine conservation initiatives, in particular the development of marine protected area networks.

2. Partnership development objectives and key indicators (See Annex 1. Logframe)

The common Global Environmental/Development Objective is to promote the sustainable management of fisheries resources in the LMEs of Sub-Saharan Africa in order to assist coastal countries to make concrete progress towards achieving the fisheries and poverty reduction targets set by the WSSD. This objective combines the sustainable use of fisheries resources and the marine ecosystems that support them, with the need for effective poverty alleviation and sustainable income growth of fishing communities in SSA.

The two broad results indicators of the success of the Strategic Partnership in achieving the Global Environmental/Development Objective are based on the WSSD targets:

• Sustainable use of fisheries resources achieved in at least 10 countries in the LMEs of Sub-Saharan Africa by 2015; and

• Poverty alleviation and vulnerability reduction in coastal and fishing communities in at least 10 countries of-Saharan Africa.

The more specific objectives of the Strategic Partnership are to:

1. Accelerate country-level investments and actions in the fisheries sector in accordance with the WSSD fisheries targets and consistent with the emerging priorities of the GEF-sponsored Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) Programs, in order to assist individual coastal countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to undertake the necessary governance (i.e. policy, legal, and institutional) reforms and sector adjustments to sustainably manage their fisheries in a way that ensures a distribution of benefits that will contribute to poverty reduction and food security;

2. Assist individual coastal countries to build the capacity to participate in the ongoing GEF-sponsored LME Programs and other regional and sub-regional initiatives as well as collaborate through these projects to implement management measures for the marine ecosystems and the transboundary fisheries resources and/or fishing fleets that would be more appropriate at the sub-regional scale (e.g. sub-regional monitoring, control and surveillance systems, management of fishing capacity, sub-regional research initiatives, networks of marine protected areas (MPAs), etc.);

3. Promote learning, information exchange and capacity building at the regional level, to ensure that the lessons from successes and failures of country and LME level investments are adequately disseminated; and

4. Encourage direct financial support to the fisheries sector in order to meet the sustainable development objectives in fisheries and a reduction in poverty.

Progress towards achieving these specific objectives will be measured quantitatively on a project/country basis and aggregated to the regional level. However, the types of results indicators that would be used by each project can be presented here in a generic form:

1. Increase in benefits e.g.

• Economic benefit

• Social benefit

• Environmental benefits

2. Distribution of benefits, e.g.

• allocation of resources - small scale/ industrial

• distant water/ coastal state benefits

• national PRSP (poverty) monitoring

• national (fish) food security tracking

3. Sustainability of benefits, i.e. of national and transboundary fisheries, e.g.

• sustainable fisheries indicators being developed by FAO

• other possible indicators (e.g. FAO ecolabeling guidelines)

4. Good governance at national and regional levels, e.g.

• implementation of the Code of Conduct and best practices in national fisheries

• World Bank governance indicators applied to the fisheries sector (includes transparency)

• national consensus/partnership with key donors

• human and institutional capacity indicators

In order to achieve the Global Environmental/Development Objective and the more specific objectives above, the Strategic Partnership will, within a regional context, encourage at least 10 country level investments in SSA over the next 10 years. The results of each of these individual country investments will be aggregated to the regional level in order to measure progress towards the two broad results indicators and the indicators for the specific objectives. Thus, if the Strategic Partnership is successful, the fisheries resources in the LMEs bordering at least 10 SSA countries, i.e. the global environmental good, will be replenished to sustainable levels by the end of the Partnership, and the poverty and vulnerability of the communities dependent on these resources will be measurably reduced.

3. Partnership Components and Outputs

The Strategic Partnership for a Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund in SSA will include the following components, which are linked to the specific objectives described in section B.2:

Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund

1. Country-Level Projects: the Project Cycle for Investments co-financed by the Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund (i.e. Partnership Investment Fund)

This component will aim to implement the first two specific objectives listed above, encouraging country-level investments and assisting individual countries to build the capacity to participate in the LME Programs. The output from this component will be at least 10 country-level projects to assist SSA coastal countries to meet the fisheries and poverty reduction targets set by the WSSD. For each country, the basic project cycle will include:

1.1. Project selection

1.2. Project design (preparation)

1.3. Project implementation

Strategic Partnership

2. Regional Coordination, Communications and Capacity-Building

This component will aim to implement the third and fourth specific objectives above, in order to promote learning, information exchange and capacity building at the regional level, and encourage direct financial support to the fisheries sector as a result of good practices and lessons learned. The output will be dissemination of the lessons from successes and failures of country and LME level investments (i.e. to at least 75 percent of SSA countries), as well as the scale of replication throughout the region. This includes the following sub-components:

2.1. Coordination

2.2. Communication

2.3. Linkage and cohesion with LME programs

2.3. Mobilization of co-finance

3. Monitoring and Evaluation

The output from this component will be the information necessary to measure the success of the Strategic Partnership towards achieving its Global Environmental/Development Objective and the more specific objectives. This includes the following sub-components:

3.1. Project level (processes)

3.2. Country level (results)

3.3. Program level (results)

4. Lessons Learned and Reflected in Partnership Design

The design of the Strategic Partnership as a stakeholder-driven regional funding mechanism is based in part on the experiences of the GEF Strategic Partnership on the Danube/Black Sea Basin (Danube/Black Sea Basin Strategic Partnership) and, in general terms, the GEF LME Programs.

The Danube/Black Sea Basin Strategic Partnership, through the Nutrient Reduction Investment Fund included within the Partnership, leveraged a large envelope of both World Bank and GEF funds for nutrient pollution reduction investments on a country-by-country basis in more sustainable wastewater treatment and agriculture. In terms of implementation, the GEF Council approved a first tranche of US$20 million in May 2001, a second tranche of $16 million in May 2002 and a third tranche of US$24 in May 2003 to the Partnership Investment Fund, which was administered by the World Bank to be available for country-specific nutrient reduction activities. Once each tranche of money disbursed to the Investment Fund was approved by the Council, individual projects administered by that Fund did not require further Council approval, so long as they met the original criteria set for projects co-financed by the Fund.

While the Nutrient Reduction Investment Fund was the model for the Partnership Investment Fund, i.e. the Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund, the intent was not just the mobilization of additional funding to achieve the Global Environmental/Development Objective, but also to ensure that such a funding mechanism is stakeholder driven, hence the Strategic Partnership. A lesson from the Danube/Black Sea Basin Strategic Partnership was that this regional stakeholder participation and information exchange between individual projects will require an additional funding source from the Partnership Investment Fund. In the case of the Danube/Black Sea Basin Strategic Partnership, the Nutrient Reduction Investment Fund encouraged even larger investments and faster disbursements than originally envisaged, but funding for the regional element was insufficient. Based on these experiences, the Strategic Partnership will include a request for a GEF Medium-Sized Project Grant, in parallel to each tranche of funds for the Partnership Investment Fund, in order to ensure that the regional coordination and information exchange is undertaken. However, because this is a time-bound initiative, no new institutions will be created to implement the regional activities. Rather, these activities will be undertaken through capacity-building for existing institutions, i.e. the African Union, to eventually lead the regional coordination and stakeholder participation, with FAO and WWF providing assistance as needed.

The GEF LME Programs also provide useful examples of sub-regional projects, particularly in terms of the small projects supported by each LME Program. A project cycle for projects supported by the LME Programs (largely similar to the Danube/Black Sea Basin Strategic Partnership) is based on identification of projects by the proposing country, with assistance from the World Bank and/or other eligible financiers. All eligible countries have an equal opportunity to benefit from the GEF allocation and are encouraged to submit project proposals. Project proposals are considered based on merit, and are reviewed on the basis of a standard template. Funds are made available on a “first come first served” basis. These principles of equal opportunity to benefit from the GEF allocation and the use of a standard template for project proposals have been incorporated into the project cycle for the Partnership Investment Fund, i.e. the Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund.

5. Alternatives considered and reasons for rejection

1. Creation of a Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund alone, with no Strategic Partnership: The World Bank considered the option of creating a regional funding mechanism that would simply augment existing donor activities in the sector and LMEs, without providing for stakeholder leadership or exchange at the regional level. In that sense, the initiative would only have included component 1, in order to support a portfolio of country-level investments. However, the Strategic Partnership and the regional activities have been designed as an integral aspect to the success of this initiative, in order to ensure that stakeholders not only have a voice in the selection process for projects to be supported by the Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund, but also help exchange lessons learned and good practices, as well as advocate on a wider basis throughout the region for the need for sustainable fisheries. Thus, the Strategic Partnership can serve as a mechanism to help replicate the experiences gained from the activities supported by the Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund (see section C.6).

2. Support for both Sub-Regional and Country-Level Investments: Another option considered was to establish a funding mechanism that would support investments at both the sub-regional and country level. However, this option was rejected for two reasons: (i) the World Bank as one of the key partners and likely co-financiers of projects, disburses to individual countries, even if part of larger sub-regional projects; and (ii) the sub-regional LME projects and regional fisheries management bodies are already working at the sub-regional level, and what is needed most is increased capacity of individual countries to govern their fisheries resources and in many cases to work together at the sub-regional level.

1. 3. Potential Sources of Funding for the Regional Activities of the Strategic Partnership: Several options were considered for pursuing funding for the regional activities of the Strategic Partnership, including requesting additional funding from other donors for these activities, as well as adding a regional funding element (i.e. a charge) on each individual project. However, these options were rejected because there is already a Global Program for Fisheries (PROFISH) housed at the World Bank, with which the Strategic Partnership would compete for funding from other donors, and the World Bank did not wish to dictate specific activities or regional funding required of the individual country-level 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of representatives from the LME Programs at least once a year to ensure coordination and exchange of lessons learned,

2. ensuring coherence between the country-level projects supported by the Strategic Partnership,

3. advising each proposed project,

4. allowing for independent analysis and evaluations of projects,

5. identifying synergies and disseminate common lessons that could be shared between different projects, and

6. formulating strategies to replicate similar projects in the region;

7. raising awareness of the importance of sustainable fisheries in development policies and strategies such as Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers and World Bank Country Assistance Strategies, and

8. assisting countries in the mobilization of co-funding.

The Regional Advisory Committee will have the following 13 permanent members:

1. The African Union (as the Chair);

2. The Regional Fisheries Bodies;

   • Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC)

   • Regional Fishery Committee for the Gulf of Guinea (COREP)

   • Southeast Atlantic Fisheries Organization (SEAFO)

   • Southwest Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission (SWIOFC)

   • Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic (CECAF)

   • The Ministerial Conference of the African States bordering the Atlantic

3. 2 Civil Society Organizations (on a rotational basis to be decided by the RAC, should include professional organizations);

4. United Nations Development Program (UNDP), on behalf of LME Programs;

5. United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), on behalf of LME Programs;

6. FAO; and

7. WWF.

In addition, representatives with an observer status will be invited from each of the 4 GEF-funded LME Programs, the World Bank, the GEF Secretariat, PROFISH, additional civil society organizations and other donors.

The RAC will be serviced by a small Secretariat, whose overall role will be to support the RAC to undertake the functions described above. More specifically, the Secretariat will:

1. provide assistance to countries for preparation of proposals;

2. support the activities of the RAC, on communications, coordination and exchange of information from lessons learned;

3. assist in informing countries, stakeholders, potential co-financiers, and other relevant parties of the objectives and requirements of the Strategic Partnership; and

4. assist in the preparation of annual reports, progress reports, work plans and budgets for approval by RAC.

Through a phased approach, the Secretariat will eventually be established in the African Union, funded (along with the costs of the RAC) by a GEF Medium-Sized Project Grant for each tranche of the Partnership Investment Fund. However, during the first tranche, FAO will be requested to provide secretarial services to the RAC and its Chair the AU. In addition, FAO and WWF, will be requested to provide support in communications, awareness building and information dissemination of the Strategic Partnership. At the end of the first tranche of GEF funds disbursed for the Partnership Investment Fund, the RAC will commission an independent evaluation of the Strategic Partnership, and based on the outcome of the review, consider and recommend when and how to move forward in establishing the Secretariat at the African Union.

Institutional Arrangements for the Strategic Partnership

2. Type of Sub–Projects (Country- level Investment projects) supported by the Partnership Investment Fund

Coastal countries in SSA are expected to request support from the Partnership Investment Fund, i.e. Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund, for projects that would be designed to assist them to meet the fisheries and poverty reduction targets set by the WSSD, i.e. to pursue the Global Environmental/Development Objective of the Strategic Partnership. Project proposals would clearly reflect the countries’ own vision of sustainable fisheries and the key priority actions necessary to achieving that vision, as developed through a participatory process with the key stakeholders. Depending on the existing effectiveness of sector governance and the nature of sector restructuring required, these projects will differ in terms of the combination of activities implemented. However, the following menu of the types of sub-projects and activities will be supported, provided they meet the eligibility criteria discussed in section C.3:

• Strengthening or improving sector governance (i.e. policy, legal, and institutional reforms) to sustainably manage fisheries in a way that ensures a distribution of benefits that will contribute to poverty reduction and food security, including: (a) supporting or strengthening a long-term strategy for the fisheries sector, (b) supporting an effective legal and administrative framework and related human resources, and capacity-building (c) adjusting the regulatory framework of the sector – including on-shore activities - comprising fish quality control, investment, fiscal, funding and trade aspects.

• Strengthening stakeholder consultation processes and institutions for fisheries governance at the national and local level, including: a) fostering public and private participation in the management of the fisheries, b) strengthening or establishing conflict resolution mechanisms, and (c) enhancing the capacity of civil society organizations to participate in fisheries resources management.

• Promoting the conservation of ecologically important areas for fisheries and the wider marine environment in general, including: (a) supporting the establishment and/or expansion of effective networks of marine protected areas that assure benefits to coastal communities, (b) protecting threatened marine species, and (c) supporting measures to reduce fisheries by-catch.

• Strengthening resource management systems for industrial and international fishing fleets, including: a) facilitating equitable rights-based fisheries management, b) improving integrated fisheries assessment and strengthening Monitoring, Control and Surveillance of all fisheries in the country’s waters, and (c) strengthening the capacity to negotiate equitable fishing agreements.

• Supporting industrial fishing effort reduction programs, specifically: a) fishing vessel/gear buybacks, b) time-bound fishing effort reduction measures, c) livelihoods diversification (including appropriate sustainable aquaculture), and d) economic incentive/disincentive systems.

• Supporting the creation and/or expansion of co-management programs and area based management programs for small-scale fisheries, including: (a) establishing adaptive frameworks of management measures in support of fisheries and biodiversity targets including the use of marine protected areas, (b) strengthening the capacity of artisanal fishers and fishworkers to participate in co-management programs.

• Freezing and/or reducing small- and medium scale fisheries fishing effort where and when necessary and compensating or otherwise assisting those affected; including: (a) introducing license reduction schemes, (b) facilitating access to micro-credit, (c) expanding vocational training and education programs, and (d) promoting alternative sources of income.

• Strengthening the effectiveness of local and national Monitoring, Control and Surveillance of fisheries, including improving safety at sea for fishers.

• Strengthening the institutional and financial effectiveness of Ministries, fisheries extension services, fisheries training institutions and research institutes, including a) supporting training in relevant subject matters and at all levels including communities, (b) communicating and sharing lessons learned and best practices, (c) facilitating technology development and transfer, (d) strengthening fisheries research capacity, and (e) supporting assessment of fishery resources.

• Providing direct financial support to meet the sustainable development objectives in fisheries through: a) improving financial sustainability and viability of the sector, b) creating or strengthening credit and savings programs with emphasis on micro-finance schemes, especially for women, (c) strengthening formal and informal insurance schemes, (d) implementing or promoting measures to enable increased domestic value-added for fishery products, product quality improvement and export growth, reducing post-harvest losses.

• Integrating fisheries in national poverty reduction strategies, through: a) improving fisheries stakeholder participation in PRSP processes, b) strengthening fisheries agencies interaction with planning and finance ministries, and c) enhancing food security.

• Building the capacity to participate in the ongoing GEF-led LME projects and other regional and sub-regional initiatives to implement management measures for the marine ecosystems and the transboundary fisheries resources, including advancing applicable fisheries science, and promote learning, information exchange and capacity building at the regional level (e.g. through programs such as the GEF-supported IW: LEARN).

In terms of implementing the above activities or types of projects, a hypothetical package of components and co-financiers for a country level project supported by the Partnership Investment Fund might include:

• Institutional strengthening, technical assistance for policy reform (e.g. World Bank technical assistance loans, sector improvement maintenance programs/loans);

• Fishing fleet reduction, management infrastructure for monitoring, control and surveillance of the fisheries (e.g. World Bank specific investment loans);

• Alternative income opportunities for displaced fishers, economic diversification in rural fishing communities (e.g. World Bank financial intermediary loans, specific investment loans, for community-driven development activities);

• Extension, education and institutions for co-management of small-scale fisheries (e.g. GEF Partnership Investment Fund); and

• Establishment of effectively managed networks of marine protected areas (e.g. GEF Partnership Investment Fund).

For more concrete examples of the types of country level projects that the Partnership Investment Fund would support, see Annexes 4 and 5. Annex 4 provides a description of the Tanzania Marine and Coastal Environment Management Project (MaCEMP), the first project that will receive GEF co-financing under the Strategic Partnership (but not as part of the current request of US$60 million). The second project, from Senegal, is among the first proposals that will be submitted for support from the Partnership Investment Fund.

Investment Program Eligibility

Project Eligibility Criteria

All projects eligible to receive GEF funds from the Partnership Investment Fund must comply with the following criteria (i.e. any of the types of projects listed above):

• As the context for the proposed project, the country must complete and endorse the Sector Strategy and Stakeholder Participation Template (as the first annex to the Project Concept Note, see Annex 3 of this Brief), describing the country’s long-term vision for a sustainable fisheries sector and its contribution to poverty alleviation, as well as the key activities needed to achieve that vision, including those that are or would be supported by other donors, and those that would be supported by the Strategic Partnership. This Template has been developed from the goals and objectives, Operating Principles (see Box 1) and Project Eligibility Criteria of the Strategic Partnership as agreed upon in the two consultative workshops. The Template will be subject to review and amendment by the RAC, as appropriate.

• The proposed project must identify ongoing or planned donor initiatives affecting the country’s fisheries sector, and demonstrate how the project would complement and not overlap with them, e.g. the LME Programs.

• The proposed project must demonstrate that GEF funds will be used to cover the incremental costs of activities with environmental benefits that extend beyond national borders.

• The proposed project must demonstrate that project financing meets the three (donor dollars) to one (GEF dollar) co-financing ratio.

• T

  Box. 1. Operating Principles of the Strategic Partnership

  All activities of the Strategic Partnership, whether regional coordination activities or individual country-level projects supported by the Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund, will operate according to a basic set of principles, i.e. the Operating Principles of the Partnership. As mentioned in section C.3, all proposed projects must be consistent with these Operating Principles. According to the Operating Principles, the Strategic Partnership shall:

  
  

  (i) Ensure that fisheries sector strategies are consistent and in harmony with broader national development policies and strategies, and contribute to poverty eradication.

  (ii) Facilitate and strengthen regional cooperation in relation to the implementation and management of sustainable fisheries programs and activities to make the best use of available financial and governance capacities.

  (iii) Create opportunities to ensure long-term sustainable livelihoods and gender equity in coastal communities that may reach beyond the fisheries sector.

  (iv) Assist countries in building the capacity of public institutions, community associations and civil society to ensure well managed, productive and healthy fisheries.

  (v) Assist countries in addressing issues related to overexploitation of fisheries including development of recovery plans, the ecosystem approach to fisheries management, and alternatives to capture fisheries production.

  (vi) Ensure country level capacity to conserve critical habitats and threatened and overexploited species in the waters of SSA countries.

  (vii) Assist countries in creating sustainable market opportunities for fisheries sector while at the same time addressing competing interests, including issues related to foreign exchange.

  (viii) Strengthen country capacity to provide transparent, collaborative management structures with broad stakeholder engagement including community participation.

  (ix) Enable country level capacity to achieve and maintain food security, inter alia, by enhancing the supply of food fish products at affordable prices to ensure food security.

  10. Ensure that country level projects are consistent with existing international instruments for sustainable fisheries and poverty eradication, specifically the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.

  
  

  he proposed project must be consistent with and support the implementation of the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and be in line with the Operating Principles of the Strategic Partnership (see Box 1).

Institutional and Implementation Arrangements

As mentioned previously, as the Implementing Agency for the Strategic Partnership for a Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund in SSA, the World Bank will carry the legal and fiduciary responsibilities for the Partnership Investment Fund, including ensuring that projects supported by the Fund meet the GEF Council-approved eligibility criteria (see section C.3 above) and advance the Global Environmental/Development Objective of the Partnership, as well as the management, monitoring and reporting on these projects. In most if not all projects, the World Bank will provide IDA credits or IBRD loans to co-finance the GEF funds from the Partnership Investment Fund, and will also coordinate with other donors to help secure the required co-financing. The World Bank will also disburse the GEF Medium-Sized Project Grants for the regional and coordination activities, including regional monitoring and evaluation, and will report to the GEF Secretariat on the results of an independent evaluation of the first tranche of funds for the Strategic Partnership.

For the regional activities and monitoring and evaluation, the African Union will chair the Regional Advisory Committee and host a small Secretariat to help implement the decisions of the Committee and carry out these activities on its behalf, including coordinating with the LME Programs. During the first tranche of funds disbursed for the Partnership Investment Fund, FAO and WWF will provide secretarial services to the African Union until the capacity is in place for the AU to undertake these activities independently. As mentioned previously, these regional activities will be supported by a GEF Medium-Size Project Grant disbursed through the World Bank.

In summary, the World Bank will be responsible for the implementation of all three components of the Strategic Partnership (see Section B.3), directly managing the implementation of the country-level projects under component 1, and supporting the African Union (assisted by FAO and WWF) to implement components 2 and 3. As mentioned in section C.1, the World Bank will be joined by other bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors, as well as PROFISH, on a project-by-project basis for the implementation of component 1, and the African Union will chair a committee of stakeholders from across the region to assist in the implementation of components 2 and 3.

Monitoring and Evaluation of Outcomes (see Annex 1. Logframe)

As discussed in section B.2, the Strategic Partnership aims to achieve a Global Environmental/Development Objective, with two broad results indicators, and four specific objectives. Progress of the Strategic Partnership towards achieving these objectives will be monitored and evaluated by the Regional Advisory Committee. The Regional Advisory Committee will solicit the collection of data for these indicators by: (i) aggregating the results of the individual country-level projects supported by the Partnership Investment Fund, and (ii) conducting an independent evaluation roughly every three years on the impact of the regional activities. The RAC will provide these results to the World Bank as the Implementing Agency in both cases, and the World Bank may also conduct supplementary evaluations as needed. Furthermore, the RAC will work with the World Bank and the GEF to hold a mid-term ‘stock-taking’ review meeting after year 5 with representatives from all of the coastal countries in SSA (similar to the participants in the two consultations for the preparation of the Strategic Partnership). This meeting would allow the RAC to report on the progress of the Strategic Partnership towards meeting the two broad results indicators and four specific objectives, and to make any ‘mid-course corrections’ that might need to be taken.

In terms of evaluating the results of the regional activities, the RAC will use the independent evaluation conducted roughly every three years to monitor the success of the Strategic Partnership in coordinating among projects and among donors, in advocating for the prioritization of sustainable fisheries in Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, World Bank Country Assistance Strategies and other key development policies and strategies, and in disseminating good practices and experiences from projects and LME programs. Three output indicators that will be used include (see Annex 1. Logframe):

• Awareness of recent developments and proven approaches to management for sustainable fisheries, of the status of global fisheries, and of the dialogue between developing and developed countries and distant water fishing interests on sharing benefits promoted in at least 75% of all Sub-Saharan African countries.

• Examples of support for sector strategy design and development of tactical programs to implement the sector strategy documented and distributed to all SSA countries.

• Examples of programs to effectively provide more remunerative alternative employment to fishermen (including creation of vocational training, education, micro-credit programs and the introduction of social security programs) documented and distributed to all SSA countries.

In terms of aggregating the results of the individual projects in order to provide the data for the broader results indicators of the Strategic Partnership, each of the 10 to 12 projects will include a monitoring and evaluation component that will produce annual monitoring reports collected by the RAC through the Secretariat. While the specific objectives and results indicators will be designed on a project-by-project basis, below are some indicative project objectives and indicators that would likely be included in many of the types of projects described in section C.2, which have been developed based in part on the Monitoring and Evaluation Indicators used for GEF International Waters Projects:

In terms of measuring the impacts of the country-level projects towards the two broad indicators for the Global Environmental/Development Objective of the Strategic Partnership, it is important to note the different types of impacts that can be made in terms of the fisheries targets of the WSSD and the poverty reduction targets. While individual projects are expected to make differences at a national level and beyond on the status and health of fish stocks and the sustainability of the fisheries in the LMEs, it is unlikely that they will make such impacts at a national level on the reduction of poverty. Rather, the projects are much more likely to make significant impacts on poverty reduction in project areas and in the communities that are the beneficiaries. For this reason, the projects would include more localized poverty reduction indicators.

Proceeding to the Second Tranche

In addition to the outputs and results indicators that will be used to monitor and evaluate the impacts of the regional activities and country-level projects, a World Bank-led review of the tranche will be used to track when enough progress has been made during the first tranche to proceed to the second. As the Implementing Agency, the World Bank will make a specific request to the GEF Council for disbursement of the second tranche (following the model of the Danube/Black Sea Basin Strategic Partnership), with a Progress Report that includes the results of the Independent Evaluation conducted by the RAC, as well as any additional evaluations carried out by the World Bank. To track progress a benchmark will behas been developed based on the expectation of a 2 to 3 year first tranche, in consideration of realistic targets for this time period.

This benchmark for when enough progress has been made to proceed to the second tranche, will be that at least 75 percent of the GEF funds allocated for the Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund during the first tranche have been committed.

In addition, as mentioned previously in this section, once the benchmark is reached the World Bank will work with the RAC and the GEF to lead a mid-term ‘stock-taking’ review meeting, in order to review progress of the Strategic Partnership and to ensure that any needed adjustments can be made.

Sustainability and Replicability

Sustainability

The sustainability of the country-level projects supported by the Partnership Investment Fund will be assured by the nature of these investments, which will be focused on institutional capacity-building and national policy and regulatory reforms that would enable sustainable management of the fisheries resources of the LMEs long after the completion of individual projects. Based on the eligibility criteria and operating principles, as well as the suggested types of projects and monitoring indicators, each individual project will be designed to implement long-lasting reforms in the fisheries of the LMEs. In addition, each project will include a sustainability and replication plan in the design, in order to ensure that the outcomes of the projects supported by the Partnership Investment Fund are sustained. These outcomes of the individual projects would be sustained not just at the country level, but also at the wider level of the entire LME, as some of the types of projects envisioned, such as support for MCS systems and policies based on a wider ecosystem approach to fisheries management, would enhance the ability of the country to participate in the larger LME Programs.

The regional Strategic Partnership activities, e.g. the coordination between countries and LME Programs, the dissemination of lessons learned, and the promotion of sustainable fisheries as a development priority, will be sustained by the African Union long after the completion of the Strategic Partnership. As the Chair of the RAC and the eventual host of the small Secretariat to the RAC, the capacity of the African Union to take a leadership role on sustainable fisheries in the region will be significantly enhanced over the 10 year span of the Strategic Partnership. The African Union is expected to remain the leading regional voice for African nations, and by building up the levels of staff, training and individual success stories at the disposal of this institution, the Strategic Partnership will have empowered the African Union to permanently serve as a leading advocate for sustainable fisheries in the region.

Replicability

One of the key objectives of the Strategic Partnership is to promote the replication of successful reforms and management measures implemented by countries with the support of the Partnership Investment Fund (see specific objectives in section B.2). The Regional Advisory Committee, funded by a separate Medium-Size Project Grant from the GEF and serviced by a small Secretariat in the African Union, will formulate strategies to replicate successful projects and examples throughout the region, for example by utilizing existing resources such as the GEF-sponsored International Waters Resources Center (IW:Learn Program) and website (www.iwlearn.net) to share the lessons from one country-level project supported by the Partnership Investment Fund with other current or prospective projects, or to assist the wider LME Programs to promote the reforms made by one country more broadly throughout the LME, etc. As the RAC will include members and observers from the LME Programs, the Regional Fisheries Bodies, civil society and donors, it will be well placed to communicate success stories throughout the region, particularly through the African Union.

Project Cycle

Individual Projects (sub-projects/investment projects) receiving GEF funding from the Partnership Investment Fund would go through the following project cycle, in compliance with the existing rules and procedures of the World Bank and GEF:

1. The Country prepares a Project Concept Note (including the Sector Strategy and Stakeholder Participation Template) in line with the Operating Principles and Eligibility Criteria of the Strategic Partnership, with upstream analytical and technical support provided as needed (e.g. from PROFISH or any other organizations or groups). At this stage, the Country and Project Concept Note should give an indication of the likely sources of co-financing, although firm commitments would not be required yet;

2. The Country submits the Project Concept Note, with the Sector Strategy and Stakeholder Participation Template, to the World Bank as the Implementing Agency;

3. The World Bank sends the Project Concept Note and Sector Strategy and Stakeholder Participation Template to the RAC for comments and advice;

4. The World Bank submits the Project Concept Note (if PDF-B is needed the Concept note includes PDF-B request) and Sector Strategy and Stakeholder Participation Template to the GEF for approval on a fast-track rolling basis, after giving full consideration to any comments from the RAC;

5. Once the Project Concept Note has been approved, the World Bank will notify the Country and the Country can avail GEF Block B preparation grant of up to US$350,000 (and/or if application had not been made alongwith concept note then PDF-B application can be submitted for preparation work);

6. The Country prepares a detailed Project Brief and submits it to the World Bank along with GEF focal point endorsement letters. At this stage, i.e. the Project Brief, firm commitments for the required co-financing, a STAP review and the incremental costs analysis will be included.

7. The World Bank submits the Project Brief to the GEF for approval; Projects will not be submitted to GEF Council for approval through standard work programs but go to GEF CEO for endorsement following streamlined procedures.

8. Once approved by GEF, the Project Document (PAD format) will be processed to the World Bank Board of Directors for final approval through expedited streamlined procedures.

9. Once approved by the GEF, and the World Bank’s Board of Directors the World Bank sends the approved Project Document to the RAC for information;

10. The implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Project begins; and

11. The results and any monitoring and evaluation findings of the Project are sent to the RAC as inputs to its regional monitoring and evaluation function.

All project proposals (i.e. Concept Notes with the Sector Strategy and Stakeholder Participation Template) will be reviewed based on merit and their compliance with the eligibility criteria described in section C.3. Provided that project proposals meet the criteria, they will be given priority by the Strategic Partnership on a first-come, first-serve basis.

8. Stakeholder Participation

Stakeholder participation is one of the central features of the Strategic Partnership, at the level of individual countries, LMEs and the entire SSA region. First and foremost, the Strategic Partnership will be guided by the priorities and needs of the coastal countries themselves, in order to build their capacity to sustainable manage the fisheries of the LMEs. These priorities and needs will be reflected in the Sector Strategy and Stakeholder Participation Template that will be completed and attached to each Concept Note submitted to the World Bank for support from the Partnership Investment Fund, i.e. the Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund. This Template (see Annex 2) has been developed from the goals and objectives, operating principles (see Box 1) and project eligibility criteria of the Strategic Partnership, based on the consensus of the two regional consultations held during preparation. The Template has been designed for use by the Strategic Partnership to ensure that Concept Notes, i.e. project proposals for the Partnership Investment Fund, clearly reflect the countries’ own vision of sustainable fisheries and the key priority actions to achieving that vision, as well as the various stakeholders involved in the fisheries and the degree of consultation the Government has with them. By completing the Template, countries submitting Concept Notes to the Strategic Partnership will have already identified and consulted with key stakeholders in the sector. For those countries who will need additional resources and technical assistance to support the development of Concept Notes and particularly the completion of the Sector Strategy and Stakeholder Participation Templates, the Global Program for Fisheries (PROFISH) is already in place and committed to providing such upstream assistance for project design.

At the regional level stakeholder participation will be ensured through the Regional Advisory Committee, a body that will be created to represent stakeholders in the fisheries of the LMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa. Through the RAC, the Strategic Partnership will allow stakeholders to advise the World Bank and GEF on the design of country-level projects to be supported by the Partnership Investment Fund, representing a commitment by the World Bank towards enhanced stakeholder participation in project design. As mentioned in section C.7, stakeholders represented in the RAC will review Concept Notes that are submitted to the World Bank for support from the Partnership Investment Fund, advising the Bank on the proposed project and also ensuring that it will complement existing activities (e.g. the LME Programs) and include appropriate stakeholder consultation. In essence, the entire portfolio of projects that will be supported by the Partnership Investment Fund will be advised upstream by stakeholders, and each individual project will include a Stakeholder Participation Plan specific to the situation in that country.

Annex 1. Logframe for Strategic Partnership for a Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund in Sub-Saharan Africa

Annex 2. Fisheries Sector Strategy and Stakeholder Participation Template

As mentioned in section C.8, in addition to submitting the standard GEF Concept Note for entry into the pipeline, countries wishing to receive support from the Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund will also submit the below Sector Strategy and Stakeholder Participation Template (as an annex to the Concept Note). The purpose of this template is to provide a means for the Government to work together with the key stakeholders to state clearly a vision for sustainable governance of the fisheries sector and resources, and to highlight the key activities that would be needed to achieve that vision. Thus, the countries themselves, and the key stakeholders in the sector, would define the specific parameters for measuring sustainability in the fisheries sector, i.e. achieving the WSSD fisheries targets, as well as contribution to poverty alleviation, and the key needs for donor assistance. In addition, the Template would allow the Strategic Partnership to pursue a programmatic approach for fisheries in each country that is supported by the Investment Fund, as the countries would define their vision for the sector, where other donor activities and the LME Programs fit into that vision, and where additional assistance would be needed from the Partnership.

Preparation of the Template is not meant to require significant new research or an extensive amount of time, rather the compilation of existing data and information, and a summary of existing donor-funded activities in the country. The process of ensuring that the responses included in the Template represent the consensus of the key stakeholders in the sector is the more important element. For countries that need financial and/or technical support in preparing the Concept Note and Template, the Global Program for Fisheries (PROFISH) is available to provide upstream analytical assistance, as well as various other groups and organizations that the Strategic Partnership can contact.

Annex 2. Table 1. Fisheries Sector Strategy and Stakeholder Participation Template

Annex 3. Overview of the Medium-Sized Project (MSP) Request for the Regional Activities of the Strategic Partnership

Background: MSP Proposal for the Strategic Partnership

As mentioned in the Partnership Brief, in order for the Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund to be a stakeholder-driven regional funding mechanism, it will be advised by a partnership of stakeholders in the region (led by the African Union), i.e. a Strategic Partnership for a Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund in Sub-Saharan Africa. These stakeholders will include representatives of governments, civil society and donors, and will help ensure that the projects proposed for support by the Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund reflect the priorities of the region and are in line with the eligibility criteria approved by the GEF Council, as well as complementing existing initiatives such as the GEF-sponsored LME Programs. In addition, the partnership of stakeholders will promote lessons learned from the individual projects throughout the region, in order to encourage replication and the prioritization of sustainable fisheries in national development policies such as Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. These activities of the Strategic Partnership of stakeholders will be funded separately from the Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund, through a Medium-Sized Project (MSP) Grant from the GEF given for each tranche of funds disbursed to the Investment Fund (i.e. an expected total of three tranches and three MSP Grants).

Objectives of the MSP

The objective of each MSP Grant will be to support the Strategic Partnership contributions to the larger initiative, and more specifically the implementation of the following objectives of this larger initiative:

• Strengthen regional coordination in order to ensure complementarity among country-level and regional projects, in particular in respect to management of transboundary resources;

• Promote learning, information exchange and capacity building at the regional level, to ensure that the lessons from successes and failures of country and LME level investments are adequately disseminated; and

• Encourage direct financial support to the fisheries sector in order to meet the sustainable development objectives in fisheries and a reduction in poverty.

Components of the MSP

Regional Coordination, Communications and Capacity-Building. The output of this component will be dissemination of the lessons from successes and failures of country and LME level investments in sustainable fisheries (i.e. to at least 75 percent of SSA countries), as well as the scale of replication throughout the region. This includes the following sub-components:

2.1. Coordination

2.2. Communication

2.3. Linkage and cohesion with LME programs

2.3. Mobilization of co-finance

Monitoring and Evaluation. The output from this component will be the information necessary to measure the success of the larger initiative towards achieving its Global Environmental/Development Objective and the more specific country and project level objectives. This includes the following sub-components:

3.1. Project level (processes)

3.2. Country level (results)

3.3. Program level (results)

Institutional Arrangements for the MSP

The Strategic Partnership supported by the MSP will consist of a Regional Advisory Committee (RAC), which will operate as an advisory body and be served by a small Secretariat. The RAC will meet as needed, at a minimum of once a year, to review Concept Notes and undertake any of the other functions listed below, including receiving the full Project Briefs for information once they have been approved. These functions of the RAC will include:

• ensuring that country-level projects are in agreement with the decisions and recommendation of regional fisheries management organizations and in support of agreed upon regional goals,

• coordinating with regional fisheries management bodies and with the GEF-sponsored LME Programs, e.g. by developing and maintaining an inventory of all LME and GEF fisheries projects in the region and by convening a meeting of representatives from the LME Programs at least once a year to ensure coordination and exchange of lessons learned,

• ensuring coherence between the country-level projects supported by the Strategic Partnership,

• advising each proposed project,

• allowing for independent analyses and evaluations of projects,

• identifying synergies and disseminating common lessons that could be shared between different projects, and

• formulating strategies to replicate similar projects in the region;

• raising awareness of the importance of sustainable fisheries in development policies such as Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, and

• assisting countries in the mobilization of co-funding.

The Regional Advisory Committee will have the following 13 permanent members:

1. The African Union (as the Chair);

2. The Regional Fisheries Bodies;

   • Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC)

   • Regional Fishery Committee for the Gulf of Guinea (COREP)

   • Southeast Atlantic Fisheries Organization (SEAFO)

   • Southwest Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission (SWIOFC)

   • Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic (CECAF)

   • The Ministerial Conference of the African States bordering the Atlantic

3. 2 Civil Society Organizations (on a rotational basis to be decided by the RAC, should include professional organizations);

4. United Nations Development Program (UNDP), on behalf of LME Programs;

5. United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), on behalf of LME Programs;

6. FAO; and

7. WWF.

In addition, representatives with observer status will be invited from each of the 4 GEF-funded LME Programs, the World Bank, the GEF Secretariat, additional civil society organizations and other donors.

The RAC will be serviced by a small Secretariat, whose overall role will be to support the RAC to undertake the functions described above. More specifically, the Secretariat will:

5. provide assistance to countries for preparation of proposals;

6. support the activities of the RAC, on communications, coordination and exchange of information from lessons learned;

7. assist in informing countries, stakeholders, potential co-financiers, and other relevant parties of the objectives and requirements of the Strategic Partnership; and

8. assist in the preparation of annual reports, progress reports, work plans and budgets for approval by RAC.

Summary of the MSP

For each tranche of GEF funds disbursed to the Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund, an MSP Grant will be disbursed for the Strategic Partnership aspect of the larger initiative described in this Partnership Brief. The MSP will be disbursed through the World Bank as Implementing Agency, to the African Union who would serve as the Executing Agency as well as both the Secretariat and Chair for the RAC. These funds would allow the African Union to pay for the costs of the RAC, as well as carry out the functions of that Committee on its behalf as directed by the Committee, i.e. the Strategic Partnership functions. However, due to current capacity levels, this Secretariat will be established at the African Union through a phased approach. During the first tranche, FAO will be requested to provide secretarial services to the RAC and its Chair the African Union. As a continuation of their roles as partners during the preparation phase of the Strategic Partnership for a Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund in SSA, and in addition to their active roles as members of the Regional Advisory Committee, FAO and WWF will be requested to provide support to the African Union for communications, awareness building and information dissemination of the Strategic Partnership. At the end of the first tranche of GEF funds disbursed for the Investment Fund, the RAC will commission an independent evaluation of the Strategic Partnership, and based on the outcome of the review, consider and recommend when and how to move forward in establishing the Secretariat at the African Union.

Next steps

In order to prepare and submit the MSP proposal to the GEF for the first tranche, the three partners (using PDF Block B funds) will meet with African Union, as well as representatives from the LME programs, the GEF Secretariat and other relevant stakeholders, in October/November 2005. This meeting will be used to:

• Establish the institutional and operational arrangements for the first MSP, i.e. will the African Union submit the proposal and then request and sub-contract FAO to provide secretarial services, or will FAO submit the proposal, etc.;

• Establish specific terms of reference for each of the agencies involved in the implementation of the MSP, including the three partners, FAO, WWF and the World Bank;

• Establish a work program and schedule for the implementation of the MSP;

• Ensure formal coordination arrangements with the GEF-sponsored LME programs; and

• Draft the MSP proposal.

Annex 4. Example of a Country-Level Project: Tanzania Marine and Coastal Environment Management Project

Tanzania

Marine and Coastal Environment Management Project

PROJECT CONCEPT NOTE

Africa region

AFTS4

Date: July 21, 2005

Country Director: Judy M. O’Connor

Sector Manager/Director: Karen Mcconnell Brooks

Project ID: P082492

Lending Instrument: Specific Investment LoanTeam Leader(s): Indumathie V. Hewawasam

Sectors: General agriculture, fishing and forestry sector (100%)

Themes: Environmental policies and institutions (P) , Biodiversity (P), Other environment and natural resources management (S)

• Project Financing Data:[ ] Loan [X] Credit [X] Grant [ ] Guarantee [ ] Other:

For Loans/Credits/Others: 10.0

Total Project Cost (US$m.): 62.75 Cofiancing: 1.75

Total Bank Financing (US$m.): 51.0SourceLocalForeignTotalBorrower

IBRD/IDA

Project Preparation Facility Advance

GEF

Others0.75

40.75

0.85

7.52

1.000.00

9.25

0.15

2.48

0.000.75

50.00

1.00

10.00

1.00Borrower: Government of Tanzania

Responsible Agency: Ministry of Natural Resources and TourismProject implementation period: 2005 - 2011

Key development issues and rationale for Bank involvement

Growing coastal populations and persistent foreign interests in marine fisheries are placing increasing pressures on fisheries and the marine and coastal habitats that support them. Local fishermen and – to a much larger extent – foreign fleets are fishing in de facto open access conditions in most of Tanzania’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and territorial seas. Marine and coastal ecosystems are being threatened from pressures such as destruction of critical habitats that provide spawning and nursery grounds for fish and other marine biodiversity, from over-exploitation of some key commercial and vulnerable species, and form inadequate management of fishing methods and fishing effort. Sustainability of near-shore and transboundary fish stocks is further determined by inadequate information about the stress-level on and the resilience of the resource base. The lack of clear access rights in near-shore waters continues to exacerbate the ongoing poverty in coastal communities and thwarts potential for substantial government revenue in the EEZ.

As such, the coastal districts remain among the poorest in Tanzania. For this reason, the Marine and Coastal Environment Management Project (MACEMP) provides an opportunity to target these populations directly through acting concurrently on their environmental and economic vulnerability. The underlying development hypothesis of the project is that sound management of coastal resources, many of which are currently open access and are thus over-exploited or sub-optimally utilized, will contribute directly to improved incomes and to reduced vulnerability to external shocks. A second hypothesis (acting in a reverse causal direction from the first), is that increased local empowerment, through enhancing community management of the resource base and through better definition of coastal and marine property rights and responsibilities, will in turn lead to more sustainable use of the resource base through, for example, improved commercial fish stocks, reduced by-catch wastes, and reduction in destructive fishing practices. These two causal links are mutually reinforcing, contributing over time to a concurrent reduction in poverty and improvement in the quality of the resource base.

The MACEMP will not act alone in supporting the country to more sustainably manage the fisheries and marine and coastal habitats. International donors have been active in this sector for about one decade. The United States Agency for International Development has supported coastal district planning and the development of the National Integrated Coastal Environment Management Strategy on mainland Tanzania, adopted officially in December 2003. The European Commission (EC) has concentrated on strengthening the United Republic of Tanzania’s (URT) capacity in the Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) of the country’s EEZ through providing technical assistance and equipment to facilitate offshore management. Numerous donors and NGOs (WWF, IUCN, Ireland, Norway, Finland, Sweden) are providing site-specific support for marine protected area management along the coast, including a wide spectrum of ecosystems on the mainland and the Zanzibar islands. At a regional scale, multi-country efforts to improve sustainable management and exploitation of the resources of the South West Indian Ocean are being supported through Southwest Indian Ocean Fisheries Project (SWIOFP). Scientific knowledge of selected coral reef ecosystems is being improved through the GEF-supported Global Coral Reef Targeted Research and Capacity Building for Management Project. Sustainable management and improvement of cultural resources and assets along the coast have been the focus of attention by French assistance and UNESCO.

The gaps in the current assistance are primarily as follows:

lack of support for a common governance regime in the EEZ between Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania, although achieving and implementing such a regime is a policy priority and has supporting legislation such as the Deep Sea Fishing Authority Act.

lack of a systemic approach to developing a network of marine managed areas consistent with URT’s 2003 commitment at the World Parks Congress to increase its level of protection of the territorial seas from less than 4% now to 10% by 2012 and to 20% by 2025.

lack of explicit interventions that comprehensively tie coastal community livelihoods within a framework of empowerment and local resource management, such as that contemplated in the National Integrated Coastal Environment Management Strategy and in similar Integrated Coastal Management policies on Zanzibar.

The World Bank has a comparative advantage in addressing some of these gaps, and in providing unique contributions that could not be addressed by other donors or other means, as follows:

the Bank is seen as an impartial facilitator in developing and implementing a common governance regime in the EEZ. For example, the European Commission is concurrently negotiating a commercial fisheries agreement with Tanzania while also providing technical assistance in areas that would influence the monitoring of that agreement.

the Bank can coordinate activities in MACEMP with those in its other operations, consistent with the intent of the Tanzania Assistance Strategy which is to “raise the effectiveness of development assistance and reduce the transactions cost of aid delivery.” Specifically, one of the components of MACEMP will deliver coastal community demand driven sub-projects through a social fund dedicated for coastal communities.

URT can optimize the use of its borrowed resources by leveraging grant resources from the GEF-supported Strategic Partnership for a Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund in the Large Marine Ecosystems of Sub-Saharan Africa through the World Bank, which provide for financing of incremental costs associated with conservation of biodiversity in coastal and marine ecosystems and protection and sustainable use of fish stocks in the territorial sea and EEZ.

Proposed project development objectives

The project development objective is to improve sustainable management and use of the URT’s Exclusive Economic Zone, territorial seas, and coastal resources. Sustainable management and use will be reflected in enhanced revenue collection, reduced threats to the environment, improved livelihoods of participating coastal communities and improved institutional arrangements.

The project’s global objectives are: (i) to develop an ecologically representative and institutionally and financially sustainable network of marinee protected areas, and (ii) to build URT’s capacity to measure and manage transboundary fish stocks.

III. Preliminary project description

The MACEMP has four components:

Component 1. Sound Management of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), with the objective to establish and implement a common governance regime for the EEZ that contributes to the long-term sustainable use and management of EEZ resources. Planning and policy support is provided to harmonize domestic legal and policy instruments, with a view to operationalizing the Deep Sea Fisheries Authority through: improved licensing of foreign vessels; enhanced monitoring, compliance and surveillance; establishment of a sustainable financing mechanism; and improved fishery stock assessments on near-shore stocks. Partnerships with neighboring countries, local communities and the private sector are strengthened so that URT can better meet its regional obligations for improving the sustainable use of trans-boundary fish stocks and for decreasing post-harvest losses through reducing by-catch and enhancing opportunities for domestic value added processing.

Component 2. Sound Management of the Coastal Marine Environment, with the objective to establish and support a comprehensive system of managed marine areas in the Territorial Seas, building on Integrated Coastal Management strategies that empower and benefit coastal communities. Planning and policy support will be provided at the national, local government, and village levels to improve spatial planning along the coastal margin, to develop a national system plan for marine managed and marine protected areas (MPAs), and to promote marine zoning that encourages local co-management and decreasing open access conditions. Support is provided to strengthen the existing network of marine managed areas, and to increase the area under effective management to meet the URT’s objective of achieving 10 percent protection of its seas by 2012. Domestic partnerships are developed with local communities and the private sector to improve co-management efforts and to improve the overall cost efficiency of marine area management. Regional partnerships are enhanced to pursue joint marine management initiatives, including establishment of regional MPAs with bordering Kenya and Mozambique.

Component 3. Coastal Community Action Fund, with the objective to empower coastal communities to access opportunities so that they can request, implement and monitor sub-projects that contribute to improved livelihoods and sustainable marine ecosystem management. The component mirrors the structure of the Tanzania Second Social Action Fund (TASAF 2). It establishes a ring-fenced Coastal Village Fund (CVF) within TASAF 2 to deliver Community Demand Driven sub-projects to coastal populations in mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar islands. A Coastal Community Capacity Enhancement sub-component supports villages and local government authorities in ensuring that the CVF delivers sub-projects consistent with overall MACEMP objectives, using TASAF 2 access protocols.

Component 4. Project Implementation Unit, with the objective to provide efficient project implementation services. The Project Implementation Unit will support two Project Management Units to implement project activities on the mainland Tanzania and in Zanzibar, while providing technical oversight and liaison with TASAF 2. A comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy and Development Communication Strategy will be managed through the Project Implementation Unit.

IV. Proposed arrangement for project implementation and coordination

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism in Tanzania mainland and the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Cooperatives in Zanzibar will have overall responsibility for project implementation. Both Ministries will coordinate closely with the Vice President’s Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Lands, and the National Environment Management Council for specific project activities.

At the national level a Project Steering Committee composed of the Permanent Secretaries responsible for Natural Resource, Finance, and Local Administration from both sides of the Union as well as the Permanent Secretary of the Vice President’s Office will guide on policy, institutional, and regulatory reform as well as strategies for implementation. The Project Steering Committee will also adopt the annual work plan and corresponding budget and semiannual update there of.

A Technical Committee composed of Directors of key ministries and institutions as well as private sector representatives will monitor and guide project operations, advise on research needs, and review annual work plans and budget as well as annual progress and performance reports prior to submission to the Project Steering Committee. Responsibility to review and clear the procurement process below set thresholds is delegated to the two Directors of Fisheries. Short-term support for quality control, risk mitigation, and technical and scientific guidance would be available from a Roster of Experts on the basis of an honorarium agreement.

One joint Project Coordination Unit will facilitate coordination between Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar and be responsible for consolidated reporting on all aspects of project implementation to the Technical Committee and the World Bank. It will serve an advisory function for Project Management Units in Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar on all operational aspects such as monitoring, disbursement, financial management, procurement, and reporting.

Implementation at local level will follow the current decentralized administrative structure, which provides for significant delegation of control to the regional and district level as sector district officers answer directly to the local District Council instead of the line Ministry. Coastal Community Subprojects financed via the Coastal Community Action Fund would be implemented according to the TASAF 2 implementation structure through Local Service Providers and Community Management Committees under supervision from Village or Shehia Advisory Council. To interact with the TASAF 2 sub-project approval mechanism, a CCAF Technical Committee (CCAFTC) is established to meet quarterly and participate in TASAF 2 Sector Experts Team which reviews subproject eligibility against sector norms.

Potential risks and mitigation

The following key issues have been raised as potential risks:

Implementation of decentralization in the country slows down.

Conflicts arise between Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania in executing activities.

Delays realized in operationalizing of Deep Sea Fishing Authority.

Appropriate alternative income generating opportunities are difficult to identify.

Target communities are unable to access TASAF 2 funding window.

Delivery capacity is constrained because of unavailability of qualified staff.

Unclear standards for acceptable rehabilitation of cultural sites.

Parallel activities in deep sea stock assessments (planned under SWIOFP) not undertaken.

Conformity with the goals, objectives and eligibility criteria of the Strategic Partnership

The proposed project complies with all eligibility criteria as proposed in the Strategic Partnership:

Despite the fact that the Sector Strategy and Stakeholder Participation Template are not approved yet and consequently can not be submitted along with this concept note, the country has described its long-term vision for a sustainable fisheries sector and its contribution to poverty alleviation, as well as the key activities needed to achieve that vision, including those that are or would be supported by other donors;

The proposed project will be used to cover the incremental costs of activities with environmental benefits that extend beyond national borders, without these incremental resources many of the proposed project activities would likely go unfunded in the face of the numerous competing demands on the country’s extremely limited budgetary resources;

The proposed project financing meets the three donor dollars to one GEF dollar co-financing ratio: The US$5 million from Partnership Investment Fund will match the US$51 million of IDA credits.

Finally the proposed project is consistent with the 10 operating principles of the Strategic Partnership.

Proposed preparation schedule

The MACEMP was approved by the World Bank’s Board of Directors on July 21, 2005.

Annex 5. Example of a Country-Level Project: Proposed Concept for Senegal

Senegal

Integrated Marine and Coastal Resources Management Project

(Supplemental Grant)

PROJECT CONCEPT NOTE

Africa region

AFTS4

Date:

Country Director: Madani M. Tall

Sector Manager/Director: Mary Barton-Dock

Project ID:

Lending Instrument:Team Leader(s):

Sectors: General agriculture, fishing and forestry sector (100%)

Themes: Environmental policies and institutions (P) , Biodiversity (P), Other environment and natural resources management (S)

Global Supplemental ID:

Lending instrument:

Focal area:

Supplement fully blended?:Team Leader(s):

Sectors: General agriculture, fishing and forestry sector (100%)

Themes: Environmental policies and institutions (P) , Biodiversity (P), Other environment and natural resources

management (S)Project Financing Data:[ ] Loan [ X] Credit [X] Grant [ ] Guarantee [ ] Other:

For Loans/Credits/Others: 3.5

Total Project Cost (US$m.): 13.5 Cofiancing:

Total Bank Financing (US$m.): 10.0SourceLocalForeignTotalBorrower

IBRD/IDA

GEF

Others

10.0

3.5

10.0

3.5Borrower: Government of Senegal

Responsible Agency: Ministry of Maritime Economy, Dakar, SénégalProject implementation period: 2006 - 2010Sector Unit Estimate of Resources Required for Preparation and ApprovalSource of FundsIdentification and preparation Expenses to Date (US$)Estimate of Resource Requirements (US$)Bank BudgetFrom systemTrust FundsFrom system

Key development issues and rationale for Bank involvement

The marine ecosystems of Senegal are characterized by major up-welling currents that bring nutrient rich waters to the coastal zone between the months of November and June. Nutrients in the Senegalese waters, in combination with light (sunshine, i.e. primary productivity in shallow coastal areas) and wind (which supports mixing of deeper water with surface water), support large and diverse fisheries resources – many of which are bottom-dwelling (i.e. demersal) species highly dependent on the coastal habitats. These fisheries resources play a critical role in Senegal's economy, contributing approximately 2.3 percent to GDP in 2002. If all sector related activities such as processing and marketing are included, the gross value of fish production in 2002 was approximately US$550 million, and the domestic value added approximately US$370 million. Senegal's fisheries also directly or indirectly employ some 600,000 people (roughly 17 percent of the active workforce), including a total of over 52,000 full-time artisanal fishers. In 1999, Senegal exported roughly 124,000 tons of fish products (over 60 percent intended for the European market), with a commercial value of over US$300 million, representing between 25 percent and 30 percent of the country's exports.

Despite the economic importance of the fisheries resources and the marine ecosystems that support them in Senegal, a recent sector study (ESW) by the World Bank reported that the high-value coastal demersal fish stocks are rapidly declining, and the fisheries dependent upon them (largely artisanal fisheries) are facing a crisis. The coastal demersal species are the most valuable of the fisheries resources in Senegal in the sense that they generally represent more than 25 percent of all catches in the country, and as much as 50 percent of the total value of fisheries exports. However, at the same time, the coastal demersal species are also the most heavily over-exploited in the country. A growing body of evidence points to a substantial decline in the overall biomass of these species in recent years, notably those with the highest commercial value, as well as a corresponding decline in catches. For example, models of Senegal’s marine ecosystems suggest the total biomass of five of the most valuable coastal demersal species on the continental shelf (Pandoras (Pagellus bellottii), White groupers (Epinephelus aeneus), Sea breams (Pagrus caeruleostictus), Goatfishes (Pseudupeneus prayensis) and Lesser African Threadfins (Galeoides decadactylus)), declined by roughly 75 percent over the fifteen year period from 1983 to 1998, while effective fishing effort for these species more than doubled over that same period. In particular, the abundance of white groupers declined from 60,000 tons in 1971 to 7,000 tons in 1999. Similarly, catches of coastal demersals have also declined, although these five species still constituted 15 percent of the total catch of coastal demersals in 2000. While catches of high value species have often been replaced by catches of lower value species (somewhat masking the extent of the over-exploitation in this fishery), total catches of coastal demersals have declined from a peak of over 140,000 tons in 1997 to an estimated 84,000 tons in 2002. In terms of high value species, the decline was even more dramatic, as the relative share of lower value species in the catch increased.

While the stocks of coastal demersal species have declined, artisanal fishing efforts targeting these resources have continued to increase over the years. Their catches of high value coastal demersal species have substantially declined, but by increasing fishing effort to catch alternative and often lower value species they have tried to make up the difference. They have also compensated by traveling farther to fish, and as a result some estimates suggest up to 30 percent of the coastal demersals landed in Senegal by artisanal fishers is currently caught outside of the country. The artisanal fishers in Senegal are some of the most prolific fishers in West Africa, and this fishery has now become a significant transboundary fishery, with environmental and economic implications for neighboring countries such as the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Mauritania, as well as Guinea. As the Senegalese coastal demersal fish stocks become more and more over-exploited, and the marine ecosystems that support them more heavily degraded, this large artisanal fishery dependent upon them will likely continue to migrate into neighboring waters and countries in West Africa, incurring higher costs and lower profits. For all of these reasons, the World Bank study concluded that the coastal demersal fish stocks in Senegal and the transboundary artisanal fisheries dependent upon them were facing a crisis.

As a first step towards addressing this crisis, on November 11, 2004, the World Bank’s Board of Directors approved the Integrated Marine and Coastal Resources Management Project (GIRMaC). This project includes a component aimed at empowering artisanal fishing to sustainably co-manage the coastal demersal fisheries and the ecosystems that support them, in three large pilot sites. These sites are intended to serve as models that could be replicated in artisanal fishing communities throughout the country. This artisanal fisheries co-management component of the GIRMaC is financed by a US$10 million IDA credit. This supplemental GEF grant is being requested from the Strategic Partnership for a Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund in the Large Marine Ecosystems of Sub-Saharan Africa to co-finance this component, and allow the lessons learned in these pilot sites to be disseminated and replicated at both the national and regional level, particularly through a network of protected areas and ecosystem rehabilitation.

The proposed project will therefore supplement the GIRMaC project, as a supplemental GEF grant from the Strategic Partnership. The proposed project is consistent with the strategic orientations of the PRSP and the CAS for Senegal, most particularly the need to “pursue the rational management of natural resources and the environment for sustainable development”. It also fits into the Capacity building and social services pillar, in that it will help develop Senegal’s “natural capital” including natural resources and the stock of biodiversity. It meets the concern expressed on page 31 of the CAS that “rapid growth and lack of national management capacities subjects Senegal's coastal and marine biodiversity to over-exploitation while posing a serious risk to the sustainability of marine exports”.

The proposed project fits well with the GEF Biodiversity Operational Strategy and supports the objectives set out in the Operational Program on Coastal and Marine Ecosystems. It is in line with guidance from the first, second and third Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which stresses in situ conservation of coastal and marine ecosystems. It specifically responds to the Jakarta Mandate endorsed at COP2, by supporting conservation and sustainable use of vulnerable marine habitats and species. Senegal ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity in June 1994.

The proposed project is also aligned with GEF Strategic Priority #I: Catalyzing Sustainability of Protected Areas, Priority # II: Mainstreaming biodiversity in production landscapes and sectors and, Operational Policy # 8: International Waters: Large Marine Ecosystem. GEF support would significantly contribute to strengthening the network of coastal protected areas in Senegal. This would include participation of local communities residing in and around protected areas in co-management, and lead to increased stability of the coastal protected area network.

The conservation and sustainable use of coastal and marine ecosystems have been identified as priorities within the national biodiversity strategy and action plan. The proposed program recognizes the importance of conserving ecosystem structures and functions in order to maintain, increase and diversify ecological services of global, national and local benefit. This integrated approach to the management of coastal ecosystems represents a strategy that promotes conservation and sustainable use of natural resources in an equitable way.

Proposed project development objectives

The project’s development objective is to promote sustainable co-management of marine and coastal resources by artisanal fishing communities and the Government of Senegal. Sustainable co-management includes responsible exploitation of resources combined with protection of the ecosystems and ecological processes critical for their replenishment. As such, the project would aim to integrate conservation priorities and sustainable use into existing area-based fisheries management practices by local fishing communities, extending the area of influence of the GIRMaC outside the existing three pilot areas to the entire country, and placing these activities within the regional context and understanding of the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem.

The global environmental objective of the Project is to further secure the conservation and co-management of Senegal's key marine and coastal ecosystems critical to supporting the country’s transboundary artisanal fisheries and, which are globally significant and vital to the sustained livelihoods of coastal communities.

Preliminary project description

The proposed project, which would be supplemental to the IDA-financed component A (Management of sustainable fisheries) of the GIRMAC, would include the following components and activities:

Component 1: Co-management of the transboundary artisanal fisheries (particularly the coastal demersal fisheries). This component would seek to build on and expand the co-management activities in the pilot sites of the GIRMaC, both at the national level and to local communities. This would include: (i) adapting the institutional and legal framework at the national level to support co-management; (ii) promoting together with stakeholders and fishers a code of conduct for responsible fisheries co-management (based on the FAO Code of Conduct); (iii) building on activities piloted through the assistance of the Government of Switzerland and the GIRMaC project to implement national registration of all artisanal fishing vessels; and (iv) replicating the examples in the three pilot areas of the GIRMaC to a broader number of coastal communities throughout the country.

Component 2: Implementation of 5 Management Plans for key coastal demersal fish stocks. This component would seek to build on both the pilot activities supported through Component 1, as well as the larger sub-regional activities supported through the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem Program, in order to develop and implement national, ecosystem-based Management Plans for 5 high-value and overexploited coastal demersal fish stocks. This would include: (i) developing and implementing mid-term Management Plans for 5 key coastal demersal fisheries and the threatened coastal habitats they depend upon; (ii) consensus-building with stakeholders for implementation of the plans; (iii) establishing a real time monitoring system of the implementation of these Management Plans, including the status of the resources, ecosystems and fisheries, as well as an information system to monitor the landings of artisanal fishing fleet and the industrial vessels targeting coastal demersals; (iv) supporting the expansion of a network of MPAs for the protection of the key habitats that support the coastal demersal species included in the Management Plans; (v) enhancing the participation of the Government and coastal communities co-managing the coastal demersal fish stocks and the transboundary artisanal fisheries that exploit them in the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem Program, ensuring that their efforts are based on principles of management for large marine ecosystems and promoting bi-lateral agreements with neighboring countries on management measures for shared fisheries and stocks; and (vi) supporting participatory surveillance and enforcement of the Management Plans.

Component 3: Rehabilitation and restoration of critical coastal habitats, in order to help rebuild coastal demersal fish stocks. This component would follow the principles of ecosystem-based management (as well as the guidance on the large marine ecosystem from the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem Program) to promote the rehabilitation and restoration of the key habitats that support the transboundary coastal demersal fisheries. This would include: (i) supporting the creation of artifical reefs where appropriate and based on good practices; (ii) promoting and disseminating methodologies and technologies for sustainable fish capture, such as those technologies that could help reduce by-catch, as well as the use of traditional capture techniques.

Component 4: Sustainable finance for co-management of the transboundary artisanal fisheries. This component would aim to ensure that the activities promoted in the previous three components would be sustained long after the close of the project, so that a durable financing mechanism would be in place to support conservation of the critical coastal habitats and the co-mangaement of the transboundary artisanal fisheries. This would include: (i) conducting a feasibility study for the establishment of a trust fund to support sustainable fisheries management; and (ii) establishing an eco-labeling system for sustainable fish products, including dissemination of best practices and support for economic management and marketing of products.

IV. Proposed arrangement for project implementation and coordination

The proposed project will supplement GIRMAC’s component A and benefit from the already established Project Management Unit. Thus, an additional component for project management and monitoring was not necessary, because the resources for these activities already exist under the GIRMaC. Furthermore, the proposed project will reinforce the capacity of the Ministry of Maritime Economy to supervise and monitor project implementation. The project will be implemented in collaboration with the Commission Sous-Régionale des Pêches (CSRP), and the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem Program.

Potential risks and mitigation

The following key issues have been raised as potential risks at this early stage:

Government does not formally recognize the right of local communities to manage fisheries;

The institutional structure of the Ministry of Maritime Economy will not be adapted to support artisanal fisheries co-management;

The organization, responsibilities and funding of surveillance and enforcement activities to support co-management of the artisanal fisheries will not be rationalized between the national and local levels; and

The fishing capacity of the industrial fleet and influence of foreign fleets will not be reduced and will adversely impact the coastal demersal fish stocks.

Conformity with the goals, objectives and eligibility criteria of the Strategic Partnership

The proposed project complies with all eligibility criteria as proposed in the Strategic Partnership:

Despite the fact that the Sector Strategy and Stakeholder Participation Template are not approved yet and consequently can not be submitted along with this concept note, a long-term vision for a sustainable fisheries sector and its contribution to poverty alleviation, as well as the key activities needed to achieve that vision, are described in the World Bank ESW;

The proposed project does not overlap with ongoing activities. As supplemental to the GIRMAC it will focus only on promoting sustainable co-management of fisheries resources in collaboration with the CCLME;

The proposed project will be used to cover the incremental costs of activities with environmental benefits that extend beyond national borders, without these incremental resources many of the proposed project activities would likely go unfunded in the face of the numerous competing demands on the country’s extremely limited budgetary resources; and

The proposed project financing meets the three donor dollars to one GEF dollar co-financing ratio: The proposed US$3.5 million from the Partnership Investment Fund will match the US$10 million of the IDA-financed component A of the GIRMaC.

Finally, the proposed project is consistent with the 10 operating principles of the Strategic Partnership.

Proposed preparation schedule, team composition

The project will follow the project cycle defined by the Strategic Partnership, pending approval of the first tranche of the Partnership Investment Fund by the GEF council:

Preparation of the concept note and submission to the World Bank as the Implementing Agency;

The World Bank sends the Concept Note and Sector Strategy and Stakeholder Participation Template to the RAC for comments and advice;

The World Bank submits the Concept Note and Sector Strategy and Stakeholder Participation Template to the GEF for approval, after giving full consideration to any comments from the RAC;

Once the Concept Note has been approved, the World Bank will notify the Country and the Country can apply for and receive a GEF Block B preparation grant of up to US$350,000 (or the Country can also submit the application for preparation funding together with the Concept Note);

The Country prepares a detailed Project Brief (including co-financing) and submits it to the World Bank. At this stage, i.e. the Project Brief, firm commitments for the required co-financing will be included;

The World Bank submits the Project Brief to GEF for approval;

Once approved by GEF, the World Bank sends the approved Project Brief to the RAC for information;

The implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Project begins; and

The results and any monitoring and evaluation findings of the Project are sent to the RAC as inputs to its regional monitoring and evaluation function.

Annex 6. Final Report of the First Consultation, Dakar, Senegal

OPENING

The First Consultative Workshop of the Strategic Partnership for a Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund in Sub-Saharan Africa was held in Dakar, Senegal, 18 – 20 January 2005. The list of participants in the workshop is shown in Appendix B. The documents which were before the workshop are listed in Appendix C.

Dr. Papa Samba Diouf welcomed the participants on behalf of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). He noted that WWF’s interest in this initiative stemmed from the fact that a crisis of overfishing is occurring throughout the Africa region, resulting in the need for strengthened fisheries management. He asserted that solutions to the crisis, such as improved fisheries governance and management, co-management, etc., are in reach and could be implemented through a process that includes local views. He hoped that the Strategic Partnership initiative will help contribute to such an effort. His full statement is given in Appendix E.

Mr Waly A. Ndiaye welcomed the participants on behalf of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). He noted that the Strategic Partnership initiative was a significant opportunity to promote sustainable fisheries, economic growth, food security and poverty reduction in the region. The proposed fund could help strengthen initiatives already underway in the region to improve fisheries management and support sustainable fisheries livelihoods. He closed by stating that FAO is happy to collaborate with countries in the region, the Large Marine Ecosystem programmes, WWF and the World Bank in the development of this initiative, and thanked the GEF for its support of this effort. His full statement is given in Appendix F.

On behalf of the World Bank, Mr. Francois Le Gall welcomed the participants and thanked the Government of Senegal for hosting this event. He explained that the World Bank has recently highlighted the importance of sustainable fisheries to poverty reduction in many areas of the world. For this reason the World Bank made a formal decision to re-engage in the fisheries sector to assist developing countries to improve the governance of their fisheries. It was in this context and the anticipated need for country-level investments to complement the LME programmes that the GEF Secretariat requested the World Bank to develop the concept of a Strategic Partnership for Sub-Saharan countries with FAO and WWF as planning partners. He stressed that it was up to this workshop and the stakeholders in the region whether or not to go forward with this initiative and how it should take shape. His full statement is given in Appendix G.

Mr Sidy Guèye, Directeur de Cabinet au Ministère de l’Economie Maritime du Sénégal welcomed the participants on behalf of the Government of Senegal. He noted that fisheries in the Africa region are under heavy pressure from artisanal, industrial and foreign vessels, and the impacts from this overexploitation can be disastrous. He noted that because of the shared nature of the resources, the problems cannot be solved in isolation, but rather would require working through a partnership. For this reason, he noted that the concept for the Strategic Partnership was in line with the vision of Maître Abdoulaye Wade, President of Senegal, who had recommended a financing mechanism for environment protection and sustainable resources management at the NEPAD Ministerial Meeting held in October 2004 in Dakar. He also pointed out that this workshop was the first to examine the possibility of a sustainable financing mechanism for fisheries in the region. Finally, he thanked the planning partners for choosing Dakar to hold the first consultative workshop for the Strategic Partnership and declared it open. His full statement is given in Appendix H.

Mr Alassane Dieng was elected Chairman of the workshop.

The agenda shown in Appendix A was adopted by the workshop.

At the request of the Chairman, the meeting observed a minute of silence for the victims of the 26 December 2004 tsunami.

Introduction of the Strategic Partnership Concept

Mr Francois Le Gall introduced the Strategic Partnership Concept.

The objectives of the Strategic Partnership were to support country level strategies and investments to:

reverse the depletion of fisheries in the large marine ecosystems (LMEs) of SSA,

assist the individual coastal countries bordering these LMEs to meet the fisheries targets and poverty eradication goal of the WSSD, and

complement the ongoing LME initiatives in SSA.

In order to attain these objectives, GEF would create a Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund of US$ 60 million (disbursed in 3 tranches over 10 years). This Investment Fund would be available to co-finance country-level projects aimed at helping countries in SSA meet the WSSD fisheries targets and poverty eradication goal.

The Investment Fund would be co-financed through the World Bank’s Global Programme for Fisheries (PROFISH); IDA loans and through other interested multilateral and bilateral donors. As a co-financing ratio of one to three was targeted by GEF, the total anticipated funding volume of the Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund was US $ 240 million.

The Strategic Partnership would be advised by a regional advisory structure comprised of representatives of the various stakeholder groups including relevant government ministries (e.g. fisheries, environment, planning & finance), regional fisheries management organizations, the Large Marine Ecosystem programmes, economic groupings, private sector and civil society organizations, donors and others, as appropriate. The Partnership would facilitate regional learning exchanges and coordination between country-level investments.

The types of country-level projects that could be potentially supported by the Strategic Partnership would include, for example:

Community-driven development programs to introduce co-management

Long-term strategy for management of the sector

Strengthened monitoring, control and surveillance of fisheries

Effective networks of marine protected areas

Alternative livelihoods to fishing

In concluding his overview, Francois Le Gall stressed that the purpose of the planning phase and especially this first consultative workshop were to allow for broad-based consultation among the stakeholders in the Sub-Saharan region on the objectives of the Strategic Partnership and on options for its governance structure, to develop transparent eligibility criteria for the kinds of country-level projects to be supported by it, to identify monitoring and evaluation indicators of country-level projects and the overall Strategic Partnership, and the mechanism for information and lessons learned sharing and communication and coordination. In addition, the planning phase also included the preparation of Concept Notes for the first two country-level projects to be funded by the Partnership.

In the discussion that followed, participants noted that while the presentation is clear, the concept will need to be sure to harmonize efforts with existing initiatives such as integrating the results of the Africa Process led by NEPAD and projects proposed through that process, as well as the Strategic Action Programmes prepared by the Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) projects. The importance of avoiding duplication, filling gaps in the implementation of existing efforts to improve fisheries governance and coordinating with ongoing initiatives was reiterated by several participants, as was the importance of sharing information and lessons learned. Participants also seconded the concept of country-level projects (which might evolve into sub-regional projects) as the focus of the Strategic Partnership, noting that while issues are common throughout the region, solutions are often national and local. However, it was stressed that country-level projects should coordinate together in order to, for example, contribute towards solving transboundary management problems.

The need for and potential role of the Strategic Partnership as an additional funding mechanism

Participants considered three premises that provided the rationales for the Strategic Partnership initiative:

There is overfishing throughout the region as a result of inadequate governance and fisheries management;

Sub-Saharan coastal countries and governments need increased donor assistance to meet the WSSD targets of sustainable fisheries and poverty eradication

The Strategic Partnership is a suitable mechanism to help provide such increased donor support.

There was agreement among the participants on these three premises provided that the Strategic Partnership acted to support and complement, but not duplicate, existing initiatives. However, it was noted that US$60 million over the next 10 years might not even be enough to ensure sustainability in the fisheries of one or two individual countries in the region much less the entire region. Thus, while participants agreed to the need for and concept of the Strategic Partnership and the Fund, they felt it would need to be bigger, and would need to leverage significant additional donor resources, in order to accomplish the objectives.

Discussion in Working Groups

The workshop divided in two working groups. WG 1 examined the goals and objectives of the SP, the types of country level projects it should support and the specific results it should seek to achieve.

WG 2 discussed the possible governance structure of the SP and the roles and responsibilities of the different partners.

The reports of the two working groups were presented and discussed in plenary. The final text as agreed in the plenary session is presented in the following.

Goals and Objectives of the Strategic Partnership

Goal: Within a regional context, encourage country-level investments aimed at: (i) building the capacity of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to implement policy and institutional reforms needed at national level in order to meet the fisheries targets of the WSSD and contribute to the achievement of the poverty reduction targets (e.g. halving by 2015 the proportion of the people in the world who suffer from hunger), and (ii) promoting the sustainable management of fisheries resources in the large marine ecosystems (LMEs) of Sub-Saharan Africa. The intended result would be sustainable fisheries achieved in at least 10 countries by 2015 and an enhanced contribution from the fisheries sector within these countries to meeting the UN Millennium Goals.

Objectives:

Encourage country-level investments in order to support individual coastal countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to undertake the necessary governance (i.e. policy, legal, and institutional) reforms and sector adjustments to sustainably manage their fisheries in a way that ensures a distribution of benefits that will contribute to poverty reduction and food security.

Assist individual coastal countries to build the capacity to participate in the ongoing GEF-led Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) projects and other regional and sub-regional initiatives as well as collaborate through these projects to implement management measures for the marine ecosystems and the transboundary fisheries resources that would be more appropriate at the sub-regional scale (e.g. sub-regional monitoring, control and surveillance systems, management of fishing capacity, sub-regional research initiatives, networks of marine protected areas (MPAs), etc.); and

Promote learning, information exchange and capacity building at the regional level, to ensure that the lessons from successes and failures of country and LME level investments are adequately disseminated.

Provide direct financial support to the fisheries sector in order to meet the sustainable development objectives in fisheries and a reduction in poverty

Types of Country-Level Projects to be Supported by the Strategic Partnership

The workshop agreed that country-level projects to be supported by the Strategic Partnership should address the following areas:

A long-term strategy for the fisheries sector

Improving fisheries sector governance

Effective legal and administrative framework and related human resources, capacity-building

Strengthening the capacity to negotiate equitable fishing agreements

Measures to enable increased domestic value-added for fishery products

Co-management measures

Strengthening the capacity of artisanal fishers and fishworkers to participate in co-management schemes

Rights-based fisheries management

Fisheries monitoring, control, surveillance and law enforcement measures

Where overcapacity exists, fishing capacity and effort reduction measures

Effective networks of marine protected areas that assure benefits to coastal communities

Promoting the conservation of ecologically important areas for fisheries

Promotion of alternative sources of income

Strengthening of fisheries research and fisheries management capacities

Assessment of fishery resources

Enhancing communication skills and capacities

Strengthening fisheries administrations

Enhancing the capacity of civil society organizations

Protection of threatened species

Reduction of bycatches

Assistance to product quality improvement and exports