Building the next generation of coastal practioners through academic training

Abstract

Coastal communities need to participate in the management and conservation of coastal and marine resources. However, some of the limiting factors in sustainable use and management of these resources include; insufficient capacity, inadequate skills and knowledge among the communities. In developing countries, coastal communities are some of the most vulnerable populations with high rates of school and college drop-outs due to lack of financial resources. Based on Kenya's Coastal Counties Integrated Development Plan report, the transition rate of the coastal region from primary to secondary education (13-16 years of age) is 67.5%. The transition rate from secondary to tertiary institutions (17-20 years of age) is even lower at about 20%. Further, baseline surveys on education levels in the coast region show that less than 28% of the population in each of the six counties have completed primary school education, while the proportion of the population having completed secondary school education is less than 31%. In addition, Kenya's coastal region ranks comparatively low on accepted development indicators such as literacy rates. Therefore, building capacity of coastal communities is critical for sustainable use and conservation of these resources for livelihoods and development of the Blue Economy. Various approaches have been adopted in the past by multiple organizations to enhance the capacity of coastal communities for sustainable utilization of marine and coastal resources. Such include projects aimed at participatory processes and awareness creation among coastal community groups for management of sustainable natural resources and livelihood options. These include collaborative projects undertaken by institutions such as Coastal and Marine Resource Development (COMRED), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN); Coastal Oceans Research and Development-Indian Ocean (CORDia) and the East African Wildlife Society (EAWLS) and the Wildlife Conservation Society. The main challenge is that there are limited initiatives geared towards providing financial resources for coastal communities to undertake academically oriented training in tertiary institutions. Such opportunities are often presented by some private sector institutions such as Equity Bank and usually too competitive for most of the coastal communities to access. KCDP, through its Capacity Building (CB) subcomponent, developed strategic approaches to supporting coastal students in this regard. World Bank approved the KCDP-CB program in July 2013, but was effectively rolled out from February 2014, with the following main objectives: i. To strengthen the capacity of coastal communities in the management of coastal and marine resources; ii. To strengthen the capacity of KCDP Implementing Agencies staff for effective delivery of KCDP targets; and iii. To strengthen the coastal academic institutions' network for community capacity building.