News

IMM has updated its Service Sheets.

IMM was asked to design and run a training course on sustainable livelihoods approaches for the Regional Fisheries Livelihoods Programme RFLP. RFLP is funded by Spain (US$ 19.54 million) and will operate for 4 years in Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam.

RFLP management, including the Regional Manager and the Technical Advisor are based in the FAO Asia and the Pacific ffices in Bangkok, Thailand; while each country will have a national RFLP office located locally.

Ben Cattermoul from IMM provided the training and facilitation inputs to the workshop. The aims of the workshop were:

1. To develop a common understanding of the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach for
the RFLP and build the capacity of the participants to apply this in their work;
2. To develop indicators for the 5 programme outputs;
3. To design baseline surveys for the 5 RFLP outputs

Philip Townsley, IMM's social development adviser, was asked to participate in a team involved in the detailed planning of the Fisheries Management and Sustainable Livelihoods (FIMSUL) Project in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, India.  This  was originally designed in 2005, in the period immediately following the tsunami disaster of 2004, by a team of national and international experts working for the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, the UN Development Programme and the World Bank.

The project was designed to address the critical issues in the fisheries of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, namely to improve the standard of living of the people in the coastal fisheries. It was recognised that this would depend upon the fisheries being better managed in the future, and by specifically addressing the free and open access arrangements that currently persist.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in collaboration with the Government of India (Tamil Nadu and Puducherry) will implement the FIMSUL project with funding from the World Bank. The project will operate from 1 March 2010 for 18 months with a base in Chennai.

RESTORATION AND IMPROVEMENT OF FISH LANDING CENTRES WITH STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION IN MANAGEMENT – SRI LANKA

An IMM team of Philip Townsley and Ben Cattermoul have been asked to implement livelihoods training for project staff in the "Restoration and improvement of fish landing centres project" in Sri Lanka.

The project is being implemented jointly by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Government of Sri Lanka and support key components of the fisheries Master Plan (developed jointly with FAO). The project is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) for a period of three years. The key components of the project include capacity building for the Ceylon Fishery Harbours Corporation (CFHC), development of harbour management groups (with community participation), and rehabilitation of improved FLC (according to international and national standards).

In a recent study to identify areas to strengthen the response of UK marine NGOs for marine conservation it was recognised that a wide array of data on socio-economic issues in the fisheries sector existed but that this it was not being used very effectively by the NGOs. In part this problem reflects the accessibility of socio-economic knowledge. However, it also reflects the attitudes and skills of NGO staff to the uptake and use of such knowledge. Where there is a lack of socio-economic understanding it can adversely affect the quality of the strategies which NGOs adopt to promote sustainable fishing practices.

The better application of existing and new socio-economic knowledge has the potential to inform the debate around fisheries and marine biodiversity and help to achieve a better balance between social, economic and environmental concerns. To achieve this potential the right amount of socio-economic information about the right issues, needs to be available to NGOs in the right form so that they are willing and able to use that knowledge to increase their effectiveness in delivering sustainable impacts.  

IMM Ltd. have been asked by the Tubney Charitable Trust (UK) to support their efforts to help UK NGOs to become more effective in delivering their services in support more sustainable fishing practice. To this end, IMM Ltd. are currently undertaking a review of how UK NGOs utilise socio-economic information to inform their strategies and actions. The review is focused around three tasks:

1.  A basic review of current knowledge of the socio-economic impacts of fisheries management and policy designed to achieve biodiversity conservation. 

2.  An assessment of the applicability and usefulness of the current knowledge to NGOs seeking to achieve biodiversity benefit in UK waters. 

3.  Identification and prioritisation further research needs and opportunities to develop models of sustainable fisheries delivering biodiversity benefits appropriate within the context of UK Waters.

The work will be undertaken between September 2009 and March 2010.

IMM have been commissioned by the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture department to finalise a series of guidelines for post-emergency damage and needs assessment. The guidelines provide advice on process and a structure for assessing the requirements of relief and rehabilitation relating directly to fisheries and aquaculture.

IMM is working with the Fisheries Administration in Cambodia to develop its own Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CamCode).  A draft of this has now been produced and has gone out to wider consultation before it goes for final approval at the ministry.

The development process in Cambodian fisheries is a difficult challenge. Physical, financial and human resources are scarce, and FiA is in the early stages of developing the institutional structures and processes needed to achieve the potential of the sector. A Policy and Institutional Reform process has begun within the sector. 

IMM has been working with the government and civil society in Cambodia since 2002 on a range of development issues. A recent development has been helping the Fisheries Administration develop a ten year Strategic Planning Framework (SPF), a three year rolling plan and an annual planning process.  The 10 year SPF has now been launched for wider consultation with development partners befors going to the ministry for approval.  The SPF is a major step forwards in sector planning in Cambodia and aims to maximise the contribution of fisheries to national development.

IMM have been involved in the development of a Socio-economic Monitoring (SocMon) manual for South Asia. The manual was launched at the World Conservation Congress 2008 and will be available in hard copy in early 2009. 

The SocMon South Asia monitoring guidelines have been developed to provide direction in carrying out socioeconomic monitoring for managers of coastal and marine habitats, environment wardens and volunteer teams. SocMon South Asia provides a framework for practitioners to design a monitoring programme, which is suited to local needs and objectives. It is designed to be used alongside the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) Socio Economic Manual (published in 2000).  SocMon South Asia sets the framework and the GCRMN Manual the tools for implementing it.  

In early 2007, IMM was asked to lead a two-phase Evaluation Process of the Livelihoods  Development Project, an EU-funded, UNDP-implemented project in the North and East of Sri Lanka. The LDP project was formulated as part of the European Commission’s response to the Indian Ocean tsunami which struck Sri Lanka on 26^th December, 2004. It aimed to support the process of recovery from the disaster in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka by helping people to re-activate their traditional livelihood activities, identify and initiate new activities and reconstruct community infrastructure. The UNDP Transition Recovery Programme, which was already working in the area supporting the process of rehabilitation and recovery from the on-going civil conflict, was selected to implement the project. During the initial phases of project design, the coverage of the project was expanded to cover both tsunami and conflict-affected communities. Given the level of aid response that the tsunami generated in Sri Lanka, the project ended up paying special attention to non-coastal communities that were not targeted by tsunami relief programmes but were struggling to re-establish their productive sectors in the wake of years of conflict and displacement. The project was working with people from both Tamil and Sinhala, as well as Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian communities and was active in promoting peace and reconciliation between these groups.

The Evaluation Mission was divided into two phases. During the 1° Phase, in early 2007, the team was asked to review progress, paying special attention to the project’s exit strategy, given that it was due to be completed in early 2008, and make recommendations regarding any eventual extension of the project period. Given the mission’s recommendation that the project be extended in order to complete the work that it had initiated, the 2° Phase mission was postponed until late 2008 when a proper evaluation of the impacts and performance of the project was carried out.