A rapid gender analysis shows that majority of Belize?s fishers including those that operate in the TAMR are men. Absence of female fishers is mainly as a result of fishing being a rugged profession that takes the fisher away from home in some cases days. This often times conflict with the female?s traditional role of taking care of the family at home. Nonetheless, there are no other major barriers for females to become fishers. With this in mind, TASA operates within a gender inclusion framework and actively engages female stakeholders (fishing and tourism sectors) in all its initiative. While there are no female fishers at the TAMR, TASA will actively engage female stakeholders to specifically participate in the stakeholder meetings to as part of the seaweed mariculture policy. In addition, it will promote seaweed mariculture as a livelihood opportunity for female participation.
Output 2.1: Fishers are aware of the negative effects of climate change and measures for improving adaptability Activity 1: Design climate change awareness program TASA will build on its existing education outreach programme and design a component that specifically addresses climate change and demonstrates the linkages between fishers? experience (anecdotal data) and science and more specifically with establishing the seaweed banks This is essential as fishers have discussed the changes that they have been observing at the TAMR over the years. The awareness building will let them know why those changes are happening and what needs to be done to adapt to them.
Activity 2: Prepare tools to aid in climate change awareness outreach Some collateral material like brochures and flyers will be designed and distributed to use as part of the awareness program.
Activity 3: Implement climate change outreach program Targeted meetings at fishing camps and boat to boat sessions will be conducted as part of the awareness program. In addition, a presentation will be conducted with leaders and some members of the Belize City Central Fishermen Association whose members make up majority of TAMR?s users.
Capacity - Building Component
TASA is a registered non-governmental organization based in Belize that was formed by Turneffe stakeholders for the sole purpose of managing the TAMR. In October 2013, TASA was designated as a co-manager of the TAMR along with the Fisheries Department. TASA has been enforcing fisheries and TAMR regulations since 2014. TASA?s Operation team now has thirteen (13) Conservation Officers and two (3) Security Officers operating from three bases, Calabash HQ, Mauger Caye and Caye Bokel Conservation Posts. Despite this, there are still many illegal activities in the area. TASA perform the daily enforcement to ensure stakeholder?s compliance with the TAMR and fisheries regulations.
TASA actively works with all the stakeholder groups, including Government Organizations and other partner NGOs focused on marine protected areas management in Belize. The organization also works very closely with the six buffer communities of the marine reserve namely; Copper Bank, Chunox, Sarteneja, San Pedro, Caye Caulker, and Belize City.
A 7-member Board of Directors governs TASA with representatives from the fishing sector (2), tourism sector (2), University of Belize (1), conservation expert (1) and the Executive Director of TASA as ex-officio.
Project sustainability
The evaluative findings suggest that the viability of this project after project closure is high. There continues to be a commitment by The Nature Conservancy, the Belize Fisheries Department and TASA in championing and supporting the establishment of seaweed mariculture policies for Belize. The fisherfolks engaged in the training remain enthusiastic in establishing their farms and willing to supply product once an enabling system is established at the national level. At a national and international level there is interest in processes that advance the country?s capacity to successfully manage climate risk and to support adaptation efforts (CCPS 2014-2016). At the organizational level, the Turneffe Atoll Sustainability Association (TASA), like many other not for profit organizations, require donor support to fully maintain their mandate. However, TASA?s record demonstrate their ability in attaining funding. Therefore, with the interests and capacities at various levels this project has a high probability of continuation after project closure.
Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods
The project is being piloted to introduce climate resilient supplemental livelihood activities to the TAMR fishers who depend solely on fishing extraction for their livelihood which is under threat by climate change and other factors. Once the appropriate farming methodology succeeds, this initiative with the continued assistance of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) will be replicated and scaled-up to include additional fishers of the reserve. The intended impact is that there would be reduced pressures on the fishery in the area because fishers will be engaged in a supplementary livelihood activity and equally important is that fishers will not have to abandon the sea entirely in order to survive.
Replication of project activities
The seaweed production training included persons from various entities that it is deemed replicable as the knowledge garnered can be shared with others interested in entering into seaweed mariculture. Should the seedbank established under this project prove successful, then TASA, TNC and the fishers are committed to establishing the other three remaining farms as promised under this project. This would then support the expansion of farms in the TAMR while producing seaweed for the market.
While the interest is high in fishers to commence seaweed farming, some fishers expressed their reliance on TASA and TNC to find the market for their product. Therefore for successful project expansion to occur nationally, it is vital for the relevant policy makers of all relevant departments to work collaboratively and simultaneously with the NGOs in creating an enabling environment to encourage fishers to invest in this area as an alternative livelihood.
As it pertains to the awareness component of the project, Climate Change is a focal area in the management plan for the TAMR therefore TASA?s outreach program can easily integrate climate change information in their educational materials.
Policy Influence
This project had an output that aimed to draft a Seaweed Mariculture Policy. This output was not achieved under this project. However, there were some progress with the drafting of a terms of reference for the hiring of a resource personnel to draft a Seaweed Mariculture Policy. A total of three meetings were held under this project dated: June 18th 2020, June 30th and July 15th 2020. It is important to note that discussions towards the development of a Seaweed and Mariculture Policy had commenced under a previous project funded by MCCAP and coordinated by TASA and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) through a seaweed working group. Through the previous project TNC had recruited two lawyers, Jane Pine and Judith Epstein, through their worldwide office, who assisted in putting together the proposal Re Seaweed Mariculture Policy and Belize Memo Re Mariculture Regulation Policy. They also assisted in the drafting of the TOR for the drafting of the seaweed mariculture policy. TASA and TNC are currently waiting for the Belize Fisheries Department?s official endorsement letter highlighting the areas where they would like support from TASA and TNC in the drafting of the seaweed policy.
Notable Community Participation
Youth fishers of the TAMR will be specifically targeted as part of the education outreach. Recognizing that the younger fishers now operate in an environment of dwindling fish stock and changing environmental conditions, it?s very important that they be engaged and made aware of the impact of climate change and how it affects and continues to affect them. Equally important is that youth fishers be brought on board from now to participate in and trained in supplemental livelihood activities and be exposed to other adaptive measures.
Project Results
This project is in line with TASA?s mandate and is linked to TAMR?s Climate Change component in its management plan. The evaluative findings regarding project design was that the intervention was structured to (i) Build capacity in Fishers in an alternative livelihood namely: seaweed farming (ii) creating an enabling environment by the establishment of policies to govern a sustainable seaweed mariculture industry in Belize and (iii) increase awareness of fishers in Climate Change.
Therefore, the project concept is highly relevant to national needs and there is clear logic in the project design, goals, objectives, outputs, and activities. The project also aligns directly with the
thematic area number six (6) Natural Resources Management, ?Loss of natural resources and associated damage to livelihoods, ecosystems and economy reduced? of the UNDP-GEF CBA country portfolio for Belize.
There were minor discrepancies in the report writing of the project but not too significant to impact on outcomes and/or objectives. There is a need to ensure consistency in the narrative of the project with the logical framework matrix. For the narrative to be clearer, proper numbering of objectives, their direct outputs and activities should be done in an easy to follow manner. The following would be recommended so that activities can clearly be distinguished as to what output they fall under.
It is also strongly recommended that the logical framework matrix be completed properly and that it strongly influences narrative. Project components should easily be understood from the logical framework matrix. Indicators should be specific, measurable, and relevant to the stipulated outcomes to facilitate evaluation of projects. With regards to the implementation phase of the project, a weakness highlighted was in the implementation of the activities. This project commenced in December 2019 and was scheduled to be completed in April 2020, for a total project timeline of five (5) months. The planned timeline was later extended to August 2020 due to the interruptions and delays caused by the State of Emergency at the end of March due to the SARS-COV2 pandemic. However, based on the documents reviewed and the first progress report, it is noted that the project was behind schedule in the first couple of months after the commencement of project implementation. This was later impacted by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the declared state of emergency that occurred in late March. Activities related to output 1.1 were behind schedule for the first reporting period. Minutes reviewed indicate that scheduled meetings occurred in June and July when it was scheduled to have been completed in April 2020. Activity 1.2 was not executed.
Under Output 2.1, only activities 2.1 and 2.3 were completed on schedule. Activity 2.2 was to be completed in February, but it was completed in July depicting a five months lag time. Activity 2.4 commenced in August and currently on-going during the end of project evaluation. This was scheduled to commence in February and completed by May 2020, therefore exhibits a 6 months lag time from its planned start date. Activity 2.5 occurred in February as planned but a second monitoring was not conducted as planned.
Activities related to Output 2.2, activity 1 commenced on schedule and in the first progress report had identified 6 fishers to partake in the training, however the target of 15 had not been reached and this activity was to continue. Activity 2 and 3 under output 2.2. were identified in the first progress report as behind schedule and were to be conducted in mid-March and April however were unable to be executed due to the SARS-COV2 pandemic. Based on the fact that planned activities were not carried out as planned, the efficiency in the implementation of the project was impacted. This does not necessarily reflect on TASA?s capacity to execute a project but can be attributed to inadequate timelines used in the designing of the project further impacted by the onset of COVID-19. Other issues that face NGOs are the limited staff responsible for executing multiple projects along with other organizational responsibilities. The overall strengths highlighted by the project beneficiaries and stakeholders that were built into the project design are:
1. The exchange of knowledge from the Placencia Cooperative to the TAMR fishers while visiting the existing seaweed farm off of Little Water Caye, Placencia;
2. Practical (hands on) teaching of the various phases required to establish a seaweed farm.
3. The teamwork exercised in the construction and deployment of the submerged raft during the training;
4. Startup material to be provided to fishers for the establishment of four seedbanks at the
TAMR;
5. The adequate selection of motivated and interested fishers in seaweed farming; 6. The blend of youths, females and elders in the training; 7. Strong media presence highlighting the project which led to an upsurge in interest in participating in seaweed farming as well as the purchasing of seaweed. 8. The passion and energy brought by TNC and TASA to champion the commercial undertaking of seaweed. 9. The support from the Belize Fisheries Department understanding that seaweed mariculture has high potential as an alternative livelihood especially at this time with the derailing of most industries and severe lowering of pricing of prime products like conch and lobster.
