Working together with the SADC to grow a stronger voice for small-scale fisheries

Since December 2025, NFDS Africa has been implementing the project” Institutional Strengthening and Advocacy Training of small-scale Fisheries Organizations in Angola, Namibia and South Africa” – a special initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) focusing on Transformation of Agricultural and Food Systems”. This Project is co-funded by the European Union as part of the Blue Benguela Current Action (BCCA), implemented by the Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). This programme aims to enable small-scale fisheries (SSF) actors to have a stronger voice in policy dialogues, in line with the SADC Protocol on Fisheries, in particular Article 9 (law enforcement) and Article 12 (artisanal, subsistence and small-scale commercial fisheries), respectively. This project has the goal to capacitate ten SSF organisations/groups (of which five are women-led) to cooperate more efficiently and to establish structures through which their voice can be heard at policy level and through which they can be further involved in the design and implementation of key policy interventions. A priority is set on empowering women and youth. The project will be implemented in close collaboration with the SADC Secretariat and GIZ and will run until July 2027.