Project Detail

“Capacity Building and Empowerment of the Chunox Fishers for Improved Management of the Marine Resource through Education and Participation in Fisheries Management"

This project will be implemented over a 12 months period and will seek to achieve the following objectives;
1. Build the human, and infrastructure capacity of CFA to represent fishers at local, national and international forums
2. Develop well defined strategic and operational plans that would lead to achieving the objectives of the association
3. Promote responsible fishing practices and provide fishers with reliable and timely information on the fishery sector.
4. Collaborate with partners to develop, plan and implement fisheries diversification, economic alternatives or any activity that results in a reduction of cost of living and improvement on the fisheries stocks.

Project Snapshot

Grantee:

Chunox Fishermen Association

Country:

Belize

Area Of Work:

Biodiversity

Operational Phase:

OP5 – Y4 (Jul 14 – Jun 15)

Grant Amount:

US$ 25,000.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 25,000.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 40,500.00

Project Number:

BZE/COMPACT/OP5/Y4/CORE/BD/14/03

Start Date:

9/2014

End Date:

8/2017

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Photo Gallery

View photo gallery

Project Characteristics and Results

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

? Environmental (ecological): There is no guarantee that the environmental results will be maintained as CFA members are only one stakeholder of the many groups that use the BBRRS-WHS. However CFA is committed in sharing their experience with other stakeholders to encourage them to fish responsibly. CFA will encourage its members and other fisher to report illegal activities that degrade the marine ecosystem. ? Social (empowerment): This project will equip CFA with the necessary tools to be able to access project grant funds to further its objects. CFA will strategic plan will seek to make the management of CFA into a self-sustained association within 5 years. The resource center will have a financial mechanism to ensure that revenue is being collected for the use of the equipment to ensure that the equipment can be maintained and/ or replaced. The computer center will provide the community with a close location for the access of information and will assist students of the community to fulfill their school assignments in a safe environment. The resource center will also serve as a location for the Fisheries Department or Port Authority to conduct licensing process. This will translate in thousands of dollars in annual savings to this fishing community. Economic (community livelihood): This project is just the first step towards attracting donors to invest in this community. The CFA will partner with programs for economic alternative such as the ones allocated under the Turneffe Marine Reserve Management, micro enterprise program established by Belize Audubon Society and the National Economic Alternative and Fisheries Diversification program under the Replenishment Zones program. CFA will also encourage it members to take up opportunities being offered by the Belize Federation of Fishers.

Notable Community Participation

CFA is very keen in developing its capacity to participate in meeting and forums such as advisory boards or committee that deal with the day to day management of the marine reserves. CFA will also represent fishers at the Managed Access Program being implemented by the Belize Fisheries Department.

Inovative Financial Mechanisms

CFA is very keen in documenting all the steps it has taken to organized itself and want to be an example to other fishing communities. CFA board of director is already working with fishers from Copper Bank to share their experience. CFA would invite other fishers? organizations to visit them as Fishers Exchange Programs. CFA is also coordinating with a NGO in the area a possible fishers exchange to Honduras and one to Mexico. These exchanges will be for member to be exposed to conservation actions taken place in other locations that still allow for a viable level of extraction. CFA will also establish a Facebook page to share their stories with the world. CFA will as try to access radio and television shows to talk about their activities to encourage other fishers to be more responsible. CFA will invite local media to cover the inauguration of the office and resource center

Gender Focus

Fishing is predominantly a male activity in Belize however the women in the community play a key role of supporting important activities. Women are in most case the house leaders as they are often left alone with their kids whilst their husbands are away. CFA will encourage the Fishermen to invite their wife?s to form a women?s group of the Fishermen Association and integrate activities to develop women agendas with the Strategic Plan of the Association.

Project sustainability

One of the major strengths of the Association is the Office Resource Center. The Resource Center can form the basis of a revenue generation system for the CFA, through the provision of the following services: printing, copying, word processing, filling out of application forms (fishing license applications, visa applications, etc.), meeting venue, and training sessions. The target market would be primarily fishers, as well as students at the secondary and tertiary education level. Other villagers could also utilize the various services offered. It would, however, be essential to conduct and sustain a regular marketing and promotional campaign to ensure that potential users are aware of the services offered. It is also important for the Resource Center to have a permanent employee stationed there. At the least, CFA scholarship recipients or other students could manage the Resource Center a few hours per day and on weekends on a rotational basis and on a volunteer basis.

Policy Influence

This project did not influenced policy

Capacity - Building Component

This project goal is to build the capacity of the Chunox Fishermen Association so that it can effectively address issue of overfishing, illegal fishing, build climate change resiliency, improve standard of living and promote responsible fishing practices ensuring healthy fishery stocks and ecosystems for current and future generations.

Project Results

This project, Capacity building and empowerment of the Chunox fishers for improved management of the marine resource through education and participation in fisheries management, was an important undertaking for the community of Chunox. The fishers underwent managed access training, fisheries regulations, conflict resolution, and leadership training; making them adept to the sustainable world of fishing. Even after the completion of the project, several members of the CFA have received funding for their personal economic alternative (business) ventures. One lady received funding for her catering business, and one man received funding for his plantain chips production business. The majority of the project has been completed since the project commenced in September 2014. However, with better leadership and management, more could have been accomplished. The Office Resource Center building was completed, but there is still no insurance in place for the building. If anything was to happen to that building, the CFA would be taking a big step backwards. The office building is barely being used by the community since there is no one to administer the use of the resource center and computers. As a result of the project, scholarships were granted to students in Chunox. To show their gratitude and incentive towards their studies, these students should be encouraged to volunteer their spare time at the CFA office, thus making the Resource Center available for community use. A few of the drawbacks that may have contributed to diminishing interest among CFA members is that the scholarships were not awarded to children of CFA members. Rather, scholarships were given to the children of non-members who reside in Chunox. Another drawback that discouraged members is that one of CFA?s goals was to be a part of the TAMR Advisory Board, but CFA only accomplished to be involved in the TAMR managed access committee. Possibly as a result of this, members feel that the CFA?s voice was not heard when they spoke out against the creation of Replenishment Zones (No Take) Zones in northern Turneffe. Northern Turneffe is one of the most important fishing grounds for Chunox fishers, and CFA wanted to negotiate for the Replenishment Zones to be off-limits to specific species only instead of having the zones be completely No Take. The subsequent declaration of the Replenishment Zones (No Take) Zones in northern Turneffe was therefore very discouraging to a lot of the members, which may explain why only 15 out of the 51 CFA members are currently active. One of the major concerns for the CFA is that the Belize Fisheries Department stopped visiting the Northern fishing communities to process license applications and renew fishing licenses. The trek to Belize City to renew licenses is a long journey that cost fishers a full day?s salary. In order for the Government to listen and respond to this need, the fishing community needs to be more cohesive and organized, so that they could effectively lobby for their voices to be heard.
Page | 12
Another challenge to the CFA is that the Association?s leadership is too dependent on their Mentor. For example, they rely on their Mentor to prepare grant proposals, which is something that the CFA should be doing for themselves by now. The CFA needs to be trained to fully understand the logistics of preparing a grant proposal, or at least to determine the main elements and budgets of projects.
At the beginning of the COMPACT project, the CFA was relatively well-organized and focused; thus achieving a lot of their project actions. The CFA still has some key actions that need to be implemented and completed ? see Section 4.1. These actions that require completion are as follows:
· Establish an electronic and physical library at the Office Resource Center; · Create a business plan for the Office Resource Center for the use of equipment and service; · Present Strategic Plan to the CFA Board of Director for their input and information; · Present the Strategic Plan to the general membership via a quarterly meeting of the Association; · Liaise with BFF to ensure representation at the Turneffe Atoll Marine Reserve Advisory Board; and · Prepare and submit project proposals to donor agencies to support Economic Alternatives projects for Chunox fishers. With only BZ$2,000 in their bank account and key actions that need to be completed, the CFA members are getting increasingly discouraged. CFA members need to join forces with the other northern fishing communities, Sarteneja and Copper Bank, in order to form a regional alliance that will work together to achieve their mutual goals.

+ View more

Indicators

Livehood

Number of individuals (gender diaggregated) who have benefited* from SGP project 50

Back to search results

Countries

Regions

Project Snapshot

Photo Gallery

Partnership

SGP Country office contact

Address