Coastal fisheries and food Security
Coastal fisheries and food Security
Location: Kilifi County, Kenya
Lab Personnel: Rachel Cohn, Ivy Blackmore, Sarah Bacci
Collaborators: Lora Iannotti, Carolyn Lesorogol (Washington University in St. Louis); Andrew Wamukota, Innocent Wanyonyi, Christopher Cheupe, Joaquim Mwaganda (Pwani University); Elizabeth Kamau-Mbuthia, Catherine Sarange (Egerton University) — scroll down to learn more about the field team.
Goal: Investigate the multidimensional impacts of a fishing gear modification and social marketing awareness campaign for coastal small-scale fishing families. We are assessing health and wellbeing impacts alongside fishery yields to determine how interventions can simultaneously achieve sustainability and food security goals.
Significance: Achieving sustainable fisheries production in coastal Kenya while improving access to nutrient-rich fish has large-scale implications for food and nutrition security, gender equity, and health outcomes such as stunting, anemia, and malnutrition.
Background: Coastal fisheries in Kenya have seen a four-fold decrease in their catch since the 1980’s. Nearly half of the Kenyan population lives below the poverty line, and vulnerable groups show low dietary diversity with only 21% of children reporting consumption of fish, meat, or poultry. Our previous assessment of local coastal fisheries using nutrition and health indicators in combination with information on local market conditions and social norms of fish consumption indicated that certain marine species can be targeted for more sustainable, nutritious, and financially secure outcomes (see ‘SecureFish’ in past projects). Coastal Kenyans are some of the most vulnerable people globally to stunting and malnutrition, and this project hopes to improve the situation through a multi-faceted intervention enrolling 400 fishing families.
Scientific Milestones: Forthcoming
Funding: US Agency for International Development (USAID)
Kenya FIELD Team
Kenya FIELD Team
Christopher Cheupe
Chris is an experienced qualitative data collector. He was a student at Mount Kenya University completing his Bachelor’s degree focused on development studies. Previously, Chris worked with an ESPA funded project called Sustainable Poverty Alleviation from Coastal Ecosystem Services (SPACES) as a Project Research Assistant. Chris has experience in data collection, entry, and presentation, and also prides himself on his communication and writing skills, having been involved in writing several SPACES reports. In this project, Chris is a Field Project Manager for implementation and data collection alongside Joaqium.
Catherine Sarange
Catherine is a registered nutritionist with experience in health sensitization and promotion, capacity building, health and nutrition surveys, monitoring and evaluation of projects/programs in multi-cultural settings. She has knowledge in reviewing data collection tools, collection of data using both electronic and paper media, data entry, reports writing, management and accounting of project resources. In this project, Catherine is a Research Associate. Her career goal is to utilize her professional expertise in the betterment of livelihoods.
joaquim mwaganda
Joaquim is a trained and experienced data collector. He has worked on various research projects including the Sustainable Poverty Alleviation from Coastal Ecosystem Services (SPACES) project which was funded by ESPA, and GOVERNANCE ASSESSMENT under IIED & CORDIO EA. Joaquim’s role is a Field Project Manager for implementation and data collection. His ultimate professional objective is to promote sustainability of the coastal ecosystem.
Francis Mbogholi
Francis is a registered nutritionist who studied Food Nutrition and Dietetics at Egerton University. His passion in nutrition is a journey towards solving the world's health problems. He enjoys working with children and mothers in particular. This project has given him the opportunity of being a Nutrition Educator Assistant. Francis enjoys scientific presentations, a skill he learned while doing Continuous Nutrition Education during his internship. His career objective is to help alleviate chronic malnutrition in Kenya especially in his coastal community.