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By working closely with existing Centres of Expertise in the region, Mami Wata will support technical and institutional capacity for Integrated Ocean Management.

Capacity development is a core aspect of the Mami Wata project. Through training workshops, expert and practitioner exchange, knowledge sharing and online learning, the project will enhance knowledge of and competence on Integrated Ocean Management (IOM) in the Abidjan Convention Region. The capacity development activities are especially designed to create stronger and more connected networks between the countries, institutions and stakeholders. They are undertaken in partnership with regional and international initiatives, making use of existing solutions and practical experience.

Centres of Expertise

The Mami Wata project is collaborating closely with existing Centres of Expertise, which are providing leadership on themes that are supporting the development of IOM in the region. These Centres of Expertise provide best practices, research, support and training on a focus area, during the course of the project and beyond.

The Mami Wata project collaborates with organisations acting as hub for a communities of practice for the three IOM tools (Ecologically or Biologically Significant marine Areas (EBSA), Marine Environment Reporting (SoME) and Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) ). The objectives of the collaboration between the are to make existing expertise in the Centres available to the countries in the region, to develop further capacity within those Centres, and to enable the Centres to continue to provide technical support to the region after the duration of the project.

The Mami Wata project is collaborating with the Centre de Suivi Ecologique in Dakar, Senegal, serving as the Centre of Expertise on EBSAs, making available its expertise on spatial data and management, and cooperating on training workshops and capacity development initiatives.

Discussions with potential Centres of Expertise for MSP and SoME are ongoing. More information will follow.

Training and Webinars

The Mami Wata project is collaborating with partners and Centres of Expertise to provide training workshops and webinar courses in English and French. The training courses provide technical capacity development and knowledge sharing on the three IOM tools (EBSA, SoME and MSP).

The training courses will be held in the Abidjan Convention Region, and provide a key opportunity for participants to further develop their capacities and competences on the IOM tools. Face-to-face training workshops and technical courses will be held on each of the three IOM tools (identification of EBSAs, MSP and SoME), in English and French.

The online webinars will raise awareness and facilitate communications between practitioners in the region. However, it will also build global links between experts and users of IOM tools around the world, and contribute to a wider project engagement of marine practitioners around the world. The webinars will be used for facilitating knowledge exchange, for example through sharing experiences, tools and solutions. It will also reinforce the face-to-face training activities initiated by the Mami Wata project, support the developing new ideas, and showcase the progress of the Mami Wata pilot projects.

News from the Project

“This kind of training is useful for Sao Tome and Principe, taking into account its geographical location in the Gulf of Guinea, surrounded by the sea with a very rich marine species diversity, and having neighboring countries as big oil producers”

Paloma Santos, Sao Tome e Principe