Enhancing sustainable fisheries management and aquaculture development in Africa

A dialogue meeting was held between the African Union InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), the AUDA-NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA), and the Regional Economic Communities from 28th November, 2021 to 1st December, 2021. The three leading implementers of the Fisheries Governance 2 Project met to develop and establish a mechanism for regular dialogue on emerging issues of the Fisheries Governance project phase two (FishGov2) Project and sensitize the RECs on their potential role in the project. The meeting under the support from the European Union was attended by twenty-two participants, who included AU-IBAR and AUDA-NEPAD staff, two representatives from six RECs; namely: ECOWAS, UMA, EAC, COMESA, ECCAS, and SADC. 

The RECs delivered presentations that touched on the background information of their establishment, statistics, and role of fisheries and aquaculture in the regions, guiding sectoral, regional policy and regulations, fisheries and aquaculture projects and activities in their regions. 
 
The RECs play a pivotal role as an interface between continental initiatives and the AU member states. Speaking during the opening session of the meeting on behalf of the AU-IBAR Director, Mrs. Patricia Lumba echoed the need for regular dialogue with the RECs to ensure that all parties are on the same level of information as the activities of the project are being rolled out. It also provides opportunities for the RECs to give feedback and recommendations and for AU-IBAR to convey them to the donor, i.e., the European Union.

In addition, Mr. Clement Adjorlolo, who spoke on behalf of Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, the CEO of the AUDA-NEPAD reminded delegates that RECs are forefront in the implementation of AU Decisions, including CAADP and PFRS agenda, as well as acting as entry point for AUDA-NEPAD and our key partners to their Member States. 

In addition to the workshop exploring mechanisms for establishing regular dialogue on emerging issues of the FishGov2 and sensitization of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) on their potential role for the project, other sessions of the workshop included: 
                  i. Developing and agreeing on a mechanism for regular dialogue on issues of the project
                ii. Presenting the FishGov 2 project activities and work plan
              iii. Sharing activities and identifying areas for collaboration
              iv. Developing modalities for implementing some activities in the Action

The meeting, among others came up with the following outcomes:

1.    Information was shared on the FishGov2 Project Activities in the following areas;
a.    Project Activities and implementation Mechanisms
b.    The Roles of RECs in supporting the implementation
c.    Communication and visibility as well as Monitoring and Evaluation of the Project
2.    The RECs also shared information on their respective Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Blue Economic activities.
3.    Expert’s information and perspectives on enhancing linkages and cooperation in Fisheries, Aquaculture and Blue Economy in Africa was also shared.
4.    Issues in regional cooperation, collaboration with regards to AU-IBAR/AUDA-NEPAD in projects, programmes related to Fisheries Aquaculture and Blue Economy were identified, their challenges enumerated, and solutions proffered as recommendations for each of the identified issues.
5.    The meeting provided an excellent forum for the RECs to interact amongst themselves, share ideas, enhance communication between them for knowledge and awareness of each other’s activities, and brainstorm effective ways to move the sector forward individually and collectively. 
 
The implementing agencies will prepare a comprehensive Work plan for 2022 and share it before the next dialogue meeting in the First Quarter of 2022. Additionally, there was a proposal to consider and brainstorm a mechanism for establishing a platform of RECs on Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Blue Economy for more effective and productive dialogues in the sector. The meeting in pictures: RECs present on role of fisheries and aquaculture in their region.
 

Smashing gender stereotypes in plumbing

DOREEN NAWA, Lusaka
WITH a tidy, well-kept hairstyle and conservatively coloured lipstick, Elizabeth Banda has the look and manner of a stereotypical career woman, but her oversized flannel jacket and work boots hint at a career without a dress code.
She is now a professional, and the drips of solder stuck to the front of her dusty shirt and the smears of white caulk on her blue jeans are evidence that Elizabeth makes her living in plumbing and mending tanks.
She co-owns a firm called The Banda’s Plumbing, with her husband, William Banda.
“People think when they see me on the job that I’m just his helper, but they don’t know I’m also a journeyman plumber just like my husband and I am his wife. I was actually introduced to this job by my husband,” Elizabeth said.
Elizabeth achieved her journeyman’s work five years ago after just a month as an apprentice under her husband William, who is a master plumber.
The two have worked side by side for five of their almost six years of marriage.
Elizabeth said her husband needed someone reliable to assist him to do the work and he looked no further than his wife.
She said she gladly accepted to be her husband’s helper because she did not want an income meant for their home to be shared with an outsider.
“When we got married, almost six years ago, I found my husband already into plumbing. And each time he went out for his usual jobs, he would tag me along. Then one day he suggested that I should learn the art of plumbing and I did so just in a month,” Elizabeth said.
From small beginnings, their plumbing business has become a well-known initiative in Lusaka and beyond.
Having witnessed first-hand how good business practice can transform lives, William and Elizabeth have set their eyes on this initiative which is their main source of income.
The down-to-earth couple of Lusaka’s Zingalume Township is now sought-after because of their neatness in all their works.
Over the years, the couple have installed and mended water tanks in various towns countrywide.
“We get clients from as far as Ndola, Kapiri Mposhi and to our surprise, people that call for plumbing work grows every day,” Elizabeth said.
And her husband William said when he got married to Elizabeth, he saw it fit to incorporate her in his trade and the only way was to train her.
Throughout their career as plumbers, William and Elizabeth have balanced working together with raising two children and managing their many church commitments.
“She is a fast learner. It only took a month for her to learn the art and she was good to go. It was not easy. Issues of mistrust especially when she is hired to do the work through her own connections,” William said.
Asked how he manages to work with his wife, William said it didn’t go over so well the first few months.
“My wife and I had a hard time separating work from family. It was not very easy. We started arguing on petty issues. But after three months of working together, we decided that it wasn’t working for us to live argumentatively. Surprisingly, since then it has worked so well and it’s five years now,” William said.
He said the couple has been working in harmony since then.
“I’ve learned that the key to working with your spouse at work isn’t that different from learning to work with your spouse in a marriage,” he said.
He said from their experience, one of the most popular benefits of running business as a couple is having the flexibility to spend more time with the family.
“You’re the boss and can set your own hours. As a couple, we decide which job to take up and at what time. We decide what time to be home,” William said.
He admitted that having his wife as a business partner has provided an advantage for what he does as a plumber.
“We have our times, but you know, usually she will be doing one part of the job and I’ll be doing another part so we are always together in the same place,” William said.
He said a jealousy mentality once creeped in especially when his wife got a contact with clients who knew her better.
With time, William said he has learned to trust his wife and through that, he has noticed an influx in female clients who want to deal directly with the wife.
“I used to be so insecure but I am glad I have learned to trust her more now because she has proven to be trustworthy in our plumbing work. A lot of times in plumbing, you’re dealing with women, so when they have another woman to talk to they connect better,” William said.
He said a natural balance has emerged over time. According to him, consulting with customers and helping them decide on fixtures and designs is Elizabeth’s favourite part of the job.
While he likes new construction, his wife likes to do repair works. He hates service calls and she doesn’t mind them. He said while he does all the bidding on jobs, his wife does the bookkeeping.
William specialises in installing and mending works. Elizabeth helps him but leaves the technical stuff to her husband.
When it is a dirty job or an emergency, William usually takes the call, not because Elizabeth won’t go, but because they are one and the same profession.
“My dad taught me from a very early age. He always said to me, ‘don’t ask anybody else to do something you would do yourself.’ So, I don’t think twice about it, I just do it.
“My life as a plumber was not an accident. I grew up in a home where plumbing was the sole profession for my father, who worked for Kazuma Plastics repairing water tanks and fixing water reticulation related issues in households, offices and other premises,” he said.
William said his wife’s arms are scarred from hot solder drips and her knees are creaky and worn.
“We make enough to survive and we are grateful to our clientele for making it happen for us. Sometimes business is slow but we still have clients that opt for the two of us,” William said.

PUBLISHED IN THE ZAMBIA DAILY MAIL ON MARCH 14, 2021.

 

Nobody is safe until everybody is safe

‘Nobody is safe until everybody is safe’ has become a cliché over managing the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet until now the behaviour of most nation states has been the exact opposite. Britain astutely grabbed multiple pharmaceutical contracts nearly a year ago, so that aged 71, I have had my Oxford- Zeneca vaccine when my similar-age cousins in South Africa (from where my family originates), haven't.

With one of the very worst infection and death rates in the entire world, Boris Johnson has transformed his reputation for Covid incompetence into praise for his vaccination programme. Yet Britain is an island economy dependent upon trade. People have to fly or sail in (or drive in from Europe) for us to feed ourselves and survive economically.

So Brits can all be vaccinated to kingdom come, but we cannot isolate ourselves from the rest of the world. Even during lockdown, people steering planes, ships and lorries have poured in. Under globalisation’s financial and technological integration, no country and nobody can be an island.

But it’s hardly surprising that the world has splintered, competed and disputed over vaccine supplies. Because that’s how the world has been run over recent years. Nationalism has vanquished internationalism; unilateralism has overwhelmed multilateralism.

President Trump epitomised that, by abandoning the Climate Change Treaty and side-lining the UN, NATO and the EU. He even left the World Health Organisation in the middle of the pandemic. His ‘America First’ was paralleled by ‘Russia First’, ‘China First’ and ‘India First’.

Trump, Putin, Zi, Modi – as well as Bolsonaro, Erdogan and of course Brexit – all reflected a me-first world just at a time when climate change and then the pandemic needed the very opposite.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa – also chair of the African Union – pleaded at the Digital Davos in January for ‘rich countries’ to release ‘their hoards’ of Covid-19 vaccines – and he denounced ‘vaccine nationalism’. In South Africa around 50,000 have died from Covid-19 and 1.5 million have been infected, though numbers are probably higher than these official estimates.

COVID-19: Why Zambia can’t lockdown

DOREEN NAWA
Lusaka

WHILE the COVID-19 crisis is sending shock-waves in the country and around the globe, low-income developing countries like Zambia are in a particularly difficult position to respond.
As evidenced from the daily updates given by the Ministry of Health, Zambia has been hit hard by the pandemic this time around.
The disease is claiming lives at an alarming rate compared to what it was last year.
The COVID-19 crisis presents the world and Zambia in particular with a huge challenge as every aspect of life has been affected.  
While coronavirus is a health crisis, it is also an education crisis, an employment and economic crisis.
COVID-19 is also a crisis of hunger and poverty and, in some countries it is a crisis of governance and political stability too.
The pandemic has caused panic everywhere with some sections of society suggesting that the country should consider a total lock-down in order to combat and reduce the risks of COVID-19 infections.
 Different stakeholders are divided about the response. Some want a lock-down, while others feel that Zambia cannot afford these restrictions as there is no money to distribute food or support small businesses and the self-employed.
So far, there has been temporary lock-downs imposed in selected towns such as Kafue and Nakonde in order to carry out tracing and testing.
At national level, schools and universities were closed in March last year as well as bars and restaurants.
Only a limited number of people are allowed to attend funerals, weddings and churches.
Civil servants go to work but are on a rotational schedule so as to limit the number of people in offices. Many companies and organisations have also adopted this approach.
But with the coming of the second wave of COVID-19, the cases and deaths are skyrocketing.
No day passes without recording a COVID-19 related death and this has caused panic among the public with some calling for a total lock-down.
But last week President Edgar Lungu said while in Isoka that he would not close the country’s economy as a result of escalating cases of coronavirus because this can cause more harm to people’s lives.
Looking at the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, President Lungu said a lock-down is not a solution to stopping the spread of COVID-19 but adhering to preventive measures set by health experts such as wearing of face masks, social distancing and avoiding gatherings.
“I won’t allow the economy to close like other countries have done. Some people have advocated for a curfew, but I have said no,” he said.
President Lungu feels businesses will be negatively affected if the country is locked down or a curfew is imposed.
“We should find practical solutions to the challenges we are facing. I am an advocate that we should keep the economy running because if we, for example, close butcheries, people won’t have anything to eat,” President Lungu said.
Business people have been urged to ensure that their customers always wear face masks before entering their premises to prevent the spread of the virus.
“Government knows that when the private sector collapses, there will be no jobs. We need to see how we can help you by giving you incentives,” President Lungu said.
President Lungu’s justifications for not locking down the country have been backed by different people in various sectors of the economy.
Economic Association of Zambia president Lubinda Habaazoka says the benefits of lockdowns as a containment strategy for COVID-19 are still uncertain for developing countries like Zambia.
Dr Habaazoka says Zambia cannot survive a lock-down because it is a small economy with the country’s population depending on informal jobs.
He says Covid-19 threatens to undo progress achieved towards the country’s economy over the recent decades, worse off if a lock-down is imposed.
“I think the stance taken by President Lungu not to lock-down is best because the country needs to be on its wheels to recovering whatever was lost last year during the pandemic. All we have to do is adhere to the COVID-19 restrictions that have been lined up,” Dr Habaazoka says.
Dr Habaazoka says the strategy of testing, tracing and isolating is the only feasible way to allow economies like Zambia to operate with minor interruptions and allowing people to mask up all the time.
He says a total lockdown would stop the spreading of the disease sooner but would cost many lives and cause social devastation to the country.
“We are a small economy and we know the risks that COVID is has posed on us all. But locking down the country is not the solution, doing so will worsen the progress made in developing different sectors of the economy,” Dr Habaazoka says.
A cross-section of people in Lusaka also feels that a lockdown is not possible because the country has fewer people in formal jobs.
Precious Sichivula, a trader on Lusaka’s Cairo Road, says a lock-down would be far more difficult for Zambia because the country’s social protection systems are often lacking.
“Even where they exist, they often fail to reach people in the informal economy, who are the most vulnerable and often constitute a majority. So lock-down is not possible,” she says.
Ms Sichivula says there is an urgent need for the international community to support vulnerable countries in developing and implementing strategies for restarting their economies.
Ms Sichivula says COVID-19 is a health and economic crisis and if a lock-down is imposed, the pandemic risks turning into a financial crisis, which can be contagious as the recession in 2008 showed.
According to the country’s Economic Outlook released by the African Development Bank, preliminary forecasts show that the country’s economic activity growth is rebounding moderately to 2.4 percent in 2020 while in 2021 it shows an improvement of 2.9 percent.