Livelihoods

Women play an important role within small-scale fishing communities in sub-Saharan Africa through engaging in fish value chain activities and contributing to household food security and income. There is, however, little empirical information about the nature of women’s engagement in small-scale fishery value chains and the outcomes of that engagement especially in Malawi, our study country.

In developing countries, small-scale fisheries are both a pivotal source of livelihood and essential for the nutritional intake of larger food insecure populations. Distribution networks that move fish from landing sites to coastal and inland consumers offer entry points to address livelihood enhancement and food security objectives of rural development initiatives. To be able to utilize fish distribution networks to address national development targets, a sound understanding of how local systems function and are organized is imperative.

Climate-smart aquaculture provides a means to ensure sustainable fish supply to those who experience negative impacts of climate change. However, there has been little research on possible benefits of climatesmart aquaculture for enabling the empowerment of women who are fish farmers. This brief outlines the key findings of a study that investigated a WorldFish homestead pond intervention, which is considered a climate-smart practice. In particular, the study assessed whether this intervention acted as an enabler toward empowerment for women in two divisions in rural Bangladesh.

Capture fisheries in small island developing states (SIDS) have the capacity to increase access to vital micronutrient-rich food to tackle malnutrition, but when fishers are restricted to nearshore habitats by limited capacity (boats, engines, fishing gear), fisheries production can be low. This is the case of coastal Timor-Leste, where some of the world’s most diverse coral reefs are juxtaposed with one of the world’s most undernourished populations.

Improving livelihoods and livelihood opportunities is a popular thrust of development investments. Gender and other forms of social differentiation influence individual agency to access, participate in, and benefit from existing, new, or improved livelihood opportunities. Recent research illustrates that many initiatives intended to improve livelihoods still proceed as “gender blind,” failing to account for the norms and relations that will influence how women and men experience opportunities and outcomes.

FISH made significant progress during 2018 in producing and disseminating a suite of research innovations for the sustainable development of fisheries and aquaculture across Africa, Asia and the Pacific.