Hadley Becha, CANCO Executive Director, listening to a reaction from one of the participants at the Advocacy and Governance Training in Msambweni, Kwale County | Photo By Mazera Ndurya At the crack of dawn Biasha Omar is already up and running preparing to set off for Mkunguni beach, a place where she ekes her living…
Community members prepare to plant Mangrove seedlings at Mida Creek in Kilifi County.Photo by Charo Ngumbao. Charo Ngumbao, the Chairperson of the Arabuko Sokoke Forest Adjacent Dwellers Association (ASFADA), could not hide his excitement as more than 200 local community members gathered at Mida Creek in Kilifi County to mark this year’s International Day for…
Whale surfacing with cargo ship in the background| Photo Courtesy of Ifaw When an elder from Kiunga in Lamu County, told scientists that they would regularly come across rare marine species like dugongs in their youthful days, it signaled something far critical. Elderly fishers along the Kenyan Coast are speaking out pointing out the many…
Fish dealer Mariam Masudi preparing fish for the market at the Mkunguni Beach in Kwale County. Women are at the forefront in fisheries enterprise| Photo By Mazera Ndurya She did not just stumble into leadership – her path to leadership started way back in primary school from a class prefect to head girl at Mkwiro…
Amina Ahmed (Mama Pweza), chairperson of Shanga Ishakani Women Fishers Group displaying one of her catches of the day in Lamu| Photo By TNC In the sunbaked creeks of Lamu and Kwale counties, women like Amina Ahmed popularly known as “Mama Pweza”, wade through the ocean daily for octopus, a lifeline for food security and…
Healthy Seagrass| Photo Courtesy On March 1, 2026, globally acknowledged as World Seagrass Day, the Kenyan coastal community was not left behind in celebrating such an important marine ecosystem. Fishers, conservation activists, civil society organizations, scientists and government officials converged in Kilifi for a day that was filled with wide-ranging activities including a beach clean-up…
Women harvesting seaweed in one of the seaweed farms in Kibuyuni, Kwale County| Photo courtesy Along Kenya’s vast coastline, an unassuming marine crop is quietly emerging as a cornerstone of the blue economy, offering a powerful solution to some of the region’s most pressing challenges of climate change, declining fisheries, poverty, food security and limited…
A woman from Pate Kwabagua preparing the hapahapa pots for mangrove seedlings under the Pate Resources and Tourism Initiative (PRATI), with support from Wetlands International Eastern Africa |Photo by Wetlands International Eastern Africa On the far-flung shores of Pate Island in Lamu County, the ocean is more than a backdrop; it is life itself. Generations…
The Director of Coast Women in Fisheries Enterprises (CWIFE) Mercy Mghanga facilitating at the training on financial management for women in fisheries from Kwale and Taita Taveta Counties in Msambweni. The training organized by CANCO brought trainers from Equity Bank Group through the Equity Foundation |Photo by Mazera Ndurya Once perceived as a preserve for…
Mombasa Ocean Festival. Photo Credit: @mapicha_makes_memories. On a rainy Tuesday morning in Mombasa, despite the heavy downpour, more than 250 pupils from nine schools attended the opening ceremony – Ocean Movie Day at Nyali Cinemax. This event marked the beginning of the Mombasa Ocean Festival, a weeklong celebration aimed at raising awareness about the importance…
